Celibacy in priesthood is 'soon to be a thing of the past'

The Vatican might be a little surprised at the prognostication delivered by Fr. Shay Cullen (photo) during an interview with the Irish TV program "The Meaning of Life." Fr. Cullen, a priest in the Missionary Society of St. Columban and founder of the Preda Foundation which works primarily to protect the human rights of women and children in the Philippines, told program moderator Gay Byrne that celibacy in the Catholic Church was a "business arrangement" that would soon be a thing of the past.

"Celibacy is only a practice mostly to keep property out of the hands of married couples," Fr. Cullen said. "It's more sort of a business type of arrangement...All of the other Christian churches manage very well and many Anglicans who were married and had family and children and came over to the Catholics and were warmly accepted. Now we have many married priests in the Catholic Church and it is working, so why not? It is only another step to abolishing this celibate thing and getting on with life."

The priest, who has been nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize, then went on to discuss his work protecting children from the abuses of the sex trade...

My life as a married Catholic priest

By R. Scott Hurd
Washington Post
1/13/2012

This priest is a married RC priest with three children and Vicar General for the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter.

"...In my new role as Vicar General of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter, established on January 1 by Pope Benedict XVI, I’ll continue to serve with married clergy. This time, however, they will be married priests. I happen to be one of them. By the end of 2012, there may be as many as 140 married priests in the U.S....

...When we answered God’s call to Catholic ministry, we didn’t set out to break the mold. None of us, to my knowledge, want to be “poster boys” for a new paradigm of priesthood. Instead, we wished to be obedient, and wanted an opportunity to serve. We’re deeply grateful for the opportunity we’ve been given...

...In our day, debates about celibacy swirl in Catholic circles. This ancient and biblical discipline has both its defenders and critics. Speaking for myself, I feel uncomfortable when circumstances like mine are used to further an argument or make a point. I’m simply honored to serve the Lord I love while being blessed with a family I love. I can’t imagine life without either--and I’m glad I don’t have to. .."

Well, you get the idea...I find this whole "I've got mine, Jack, so I'm not gonna risk my position by denouncing injustice so you can get yours too" attitude that Fr. Hurd and the other married pastoral provision priests have adopted to be really infuriating. Yes, you men ARE poster children for why the Church can -- and should -- make celibacy optional. Every day, just by doing your jobs, you prove that there's no fundamental conflict between a vocation to the priesthood and married life. Maybe if the Vatican opened its eyes, it would see that too.

Losing his vocation, not his religion

By Manya A. Brachear
Chicago Tribune
January 15, 2012


Like many Roman Catholic men who feel called to the priesthood, the Rev. Jim Hearne wrestled with whether ordination was right for him.

The youngest of seven in an Irish Catholic family, he saw the joy of family life firsthand and never could quite extinguish the desire to one day have children of his own. But spurred to help stem the priest shortage and strengthen the integrity of the cloth, Hearne donned a priest's collar in 2005 at age 25.

Now he wonders if his six years in the pulpit as "Father Jim" might have been preparation to become Jim, the father. After a six-month leave of absence from St. Giles Roman Catholic Church in Oak Park, Hearne has decided he will not return to the pulpit, but he will stay in the pews and pray to one day start a family of his own.

He has no intention of turning his back on Catholicism. Rather, he wants to be more faithful to the church he calls home, and faithful to his feelings.

Hearne has fallen in love....

Full text of article...

Photo: Jim Hearne in his new uniform as a security guard.

The Vatican's problem with fathers who are fathers

by Sophia Deboick
The Guardian
January 6, 2012

Last week it emerged that Gabino Zavala, the auxiliary bishop of the Catholic archdiocese of Los Angeles for nearly 18 years, has a secret family. The existence of his two teenage children has been deemed a sufficiently "grave cause", as defined by Canon 401 of the code of canon law, that he has been obliged to resign. Memories of other notable cases resurface: the Eamon Casey scandal of the early 90s, when revelations that he fathered a child two years before his episcopal appointment led to his resignation as Bishop of Galway; the more recent case of the founder of the Legionaries of Christ, Father Marcial Maciel, who had as many as six children (although accusations of paedophilia and incest make this alleged offence pale into insignificance). Zavala is hardly the first priest to break his vow of celibacy in such spectacular fashion, and in fact the church has struggled with the problem of "Fathers who are fathers" for centuries.

The children of Catholic priests have historically presented a double problem to the Latin Rite church: clearly they give the game away about dad's lack of conformity to the requirement for celibacy, but they also put a financial burden on his employer....

Full story...

Bishop resigns after disclosing he is father of two children

By John Thavis, Catholic News Service
National Catholic Reporter
Jan. 04, 2012

Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop Gabino Zavala has resigned after disclosing to superiors in mid December that he was the father of two minor teenage children who live with their mother in another state. Bishop Zavala told Archbishop Gomez that he had submitted his resignation to Pope Benedict XVI. Since that time, Bishop Zavala has not been in ministry and "will be living privately," Archbishop Gomez said.

"The archdiocese has reached out to the mother and children to provide spiritual care as well as funding to assist the children with college costs. The family's identity is not known to the public, and I wish to respect their right to privacy," Archbishop Gomez said...

Bishop Zavala, a native of Guerrero, Mexico, has also been the bishop-president of Pax Christi...

The Catholic priest with nine children

by Joanna Moorhead
The Guardian
12/16/2011

Father Ian Hellyer is a Roman Catholic priest – but far from being celibate, he's a father. Not just to a couple of children, either: in true Roman Catholic fashion, Father Ian has lots of them – nine, in fact, ranging from 18-year-old Clare to seven-month-old Rose – taking in Teresa (17), Angela (15), Martha (11), John (nine), Luke (seven), Simeon (four) and Gregory (two) in between...

For more information on Fr. Hellyer, a recent "pastoral provision" convert from Anglicanism to Catholicism, see full text of article.

Catholic splinter expands

By Hilton Otenyo
The Nairobi Star
12/16/2011

A Roman Catholic Church splinter group, the Kenya Ecumenical Reformed Catholic Church has said celibacy forms the basis on which the church would grow and expand. Head of the church archbishop Godfrey S. Wasike said the rule requiring that catholic priests live a chastity life is promoting faster growth of his church. “The catholic church should re-look at the rule with a view of opening up to realities of nature and allow the church priest to marry and raise families if it expects to remain relevant to the dynamic world,” said Wasike. He said that celibacy in the church has rocked families of faithful and it was not good for the practice to continue.

He spoke during the ordination of four priests of the church in Kakamega. Wasike, an ordained Roman Catholic priest is married to Stella. Wasike conducted the ordination of Fr Lucas Musamali who now becomes the parish priest for the Ikonyero church in Kakamega, Fr George Musembi (Thika) Fr Gregory Maeke, lecturer at Masinde Muliro University and Fr John Muyore (Trans Mara). The church head also ushered in Saustine Nalianya from Bungoma and Protus Asiango (Shibuye, Kakamega East district) to become church deacons.

On Saturday, Rev Wasike conducted the wedding ceremonies for two priests; Fr Maeke who wedded Jackline Mumbi and Fr Chrisanthus Shikokoti who wedded a teacher Evelyn Nanjala...

Between a rock and a hard place: love or the collar

By Carmen Villar (English translation by Rebel Girl)
Faro de Vigo
11/27/2011


It's now been 14 years since former priest José Antonio Fernández lost his job as teacher of religion because he was married. It seems that a photograph in a newspaper in which he came out with his wife and children as a member of Movimiento pro Celibato Opcional was to blame. Now the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg is reviewing his case. What José Antonio Fernández denounces is the hypocrisy surrounding his dismissal since, he argues, the Bishop of Cartagena is hiding behind "respect for parents' feelings" in order not to renew his contract, when he states that he introduced himself in each class -- from 1991 to 1997 -- to his students and their parents as a priest who didn't hide his status.

Fernández Martínez isn't the only case among priests who formalize their relationships with women. Movimiento pro Celibato Opcional ["The Optional Celibacy Movement"], whose very name already proclaims one of its objectives, estimates that around a quarter of the priests who are working in Spain got married between 1970 and 1990 or 1995, a figure that one of its members, Ramón Alario, who represents MOCEOP in the European Federation of Married Priests, thinks can be extrapolated to Galicia. In some countries in South America, such as Brazil, the number would even increase to one third, without the Christian communities raising many objections. "Many believers accept it as normal that the priest would live a normal life, but since it isn't lawful, practical acceptance is limited to small communities," he states.

This man who has a degree in Philosophy and a doctorate in Theology from the Universidad Pontificia de Comillas is happy that, since this organization was founded in the mid-70s, "many married priests have come out of the closet", which he considers an "achievement". "From living clandestinely, in hiding, with feelings of guilt, they have managed in many cases to help people live normally and not have problems of conscience and many communities have no problem with having a married priest who lives a normal life," he asserts.

Alario, who compiled the book "Curas casados. Historias de fe y ternura" ("Married priests: stories of faith and tenderness" - MOCEOP, 2011) that pulls together 23 of these cases -- acknowledges, nonetheless, that the married priests "boom" happened from the 70s to the 90s. "From that point on, we have questions. The younger priests who have been falling in love, do it secretely. There's no way to contact them," he explains. For Alario, this situation can be explained in part -- but only in part, he stresses -- by two factors. On the one hand, the economic situation. "It's not that it was easy for us, but some more, some less, found a civilian job and that's how we lived. The current situation means that anyone who abandons the ministry has more problems when he enters the labor market," he says. On the other hand, he adds, there's the generation gap and the concept of what the Church is. "Today's priests are more obedient and submissive to the hierarchy," he says. However, the priests of MOCEOP, he emphasizes, "are priests, and if the community "needs" them, they're "available."

This is the case, for example, of Galician former priest Juan Caamaño, now a driving instructor, who left the priesthood, not for love but to devote himself to that profession. "I changed because of life circumstances; I felt that my work was valued more," he explains. Love, he says, came later, and the family too, "a plus I hadn't counted on that gives me a lot of satisfaction."

Victorino Pérez Prieto: "God isn't jealous when the priest has a family"

La Opinion Coruña
11/27/2011

He was born in León, but almost all the publications of theologian Victorino Pérez, a member of the Movimiento pro Celibato Opcional ["Optional Celibacy Movement" in Spain], are in Castillian Spanish. He studied in Santiago -- although he got his doctorate in Theology in Salamanca, he was ordained a priest in Mondoñedo in 1981 and he was a pastor for 25 years in Galicia until he got married.

Is the priesthood compatible with being married?

I think it's perfectly compatible. God isn't jealous if you have a family and, moreover, things are going to have to change in the Church with respect to that. The problem is that the change that is already happening in practice is very slow at the level of the judicial structure of the Church, which has an atavistic rule that keeps it from seeing that this is not an impediment to being a priest. In fact, the priests in the Eastern rite Catholic Church can get married and married Anglican priests with their families have recently been admitted into the Catholic Church. So you can see how absolutely secondary this is. Moreover, in my case, I'm a theologian. I'm married and I work in Theology as much as the Church will allow me.

What does the fact that they can't get married mean?

The most serious problem for the priests who have a partner and can't get married is the tragedy of having to hide something beautiful that should be in the light. This makes them suffer unnecessarily. To those who claim we knew this before getting ordained as priests, I would say that we human beings evolve in life. Like what happened to me and to other priests -- you meet someone you love, and the love is reciprocal. And what love seeks is to be out in the light, not having to hide itself in any closet.

Many are in these hidden situations.

The lives of the those who live as a couple and who, legitimately, don't want to give up either their partner or the normal priesthood, are tragic. Sometimes it leads them to a shameful, sad, and hard situation, and even more so for the women than for the priests. Because they are the biggest victims. They live in an abnormal situation and in certain cases feelings of sin or abuse because of the lack of a normal emotional life can occur. It's true that there's a higher percentage of pedophiles among non-priests than among priests, but in most of these cases it happens because of not having normal healthy emotional lives. Loving and being loved by someone is the most beautiful thing that can happen to a person. Having to hide it creates a violent situation that's disastrous. Although celibacy isn't bad per se -- it has its good aspects and some live it out well -- it being mandatory for all has caused a lot of unnecessary suffering that is harmful to the Church.

The younger ones think about it more when the time comes to give up the priesthood for love. Is that due to the crisis or a different mentality?

There's a growing tendency for the younger cleric to be more conservative. But certainly in the current crisis situation, not having a normal working environment is a reason to live as a hidden couple. A somewhat important part is that the young cleric is more ritualistic than vocational -- he's simply a performer of rites and services through which he earns a living, but there's also a lot in the young cleric that's vocational and is healthy and well. But what's serious is that the Church isn't making a decision that it could have already made over 40 years ago at Vatican II. John Paul II said that he knew that in the future priests would be able to get married but he didn't want it to happen during his papacy, and now the same thing is happening [with Benedict XVI]. They keep passing the buck and not making a decision and by not making it, more suffering and tragic situations will continue to occur. Not to speak about when there are already children...

Parishes usually don't take it badly when their priests get married. What happened in your case?

I was a priest in Ferrol, in a large parish. When I announced it to the parish, one of the more conservative women told me I was worth as much to them married as single and she asked me if they could talk to the bishop, even though I explained to them that it didn't depend on him. And it's not about whether the people are more or less progressive, but common sense -- what the people want is for the priest to serve them. If there were a referendum, there would be all sorts [of responses] but those who agree with married priests would win.

Where's the future heading?

There's no going back on the fact that priests will marry. Thinking the opposite is going against history. But it doesn't seem like it's going to change immediately. It's something that should have changed through reflexion, not because the shameful situation of the Church, which has mortaged itself economically because it has had to pay for the abuses of its members, is going to make it change forcibly. Meanwhile, I won't allow my human and moral quality to be judged for having done it.