Swissinfo.chNovember 29, 2009 - 1:07 PM
A Swiss bishop says that married men should also be allowed to be priests in the Catholic Church and that celibacy should be voluntary.
Norbert Brunner, who takes over as head of the Swiss Bishops Conference at the start of next year, told the NZZ am Sonntag newspaper that most Swiss bishops were in favour of the move.
"There should be the possibility of making married men priests," Brunner said.
There was no fundamental link between celibacy and the priesthood, maintained the Bishop of Sion, but added that it should remain a choice for those who wanted it.
Brunner said that the Swiss bishops were "quite unanimous" in their support.
He had proposed the move to Rome several times, but admitted that he had, as yet, been unable to push his solution forward.
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2 comments:
Thank you very much
Married Catholics should be ordained priests
Majority of Indian Catholics are under the wrong impression that the tradition of Catholic priests remaining unmarried has been in practice since the times of Jesus Christ. It is not true. In fact, eleven out twelve disciples of Christ were happily married men. And, if you look at the history of the Church, it will be seen that earlier not only priests, but bishops and popes were also married. Some of them even had more than one wife and mistresses, too. It was at the general ecumenical council held at Lateran (Rome) in 1139 AD during the tenure of Pope Innocent II that the law was enacted for priests to remain unmarried for life. Actually, celibacy is glorious only when it comes from within oneself as a result of meditation and self-realization. It should never be imposed as a pre-condition to priesthood. But the Catholic Church has thrust it upon candidates desirous of becoming priests. Since priestly training begins at the young age and the candidates have to make decision too early in life, many priests have strayed at later stage in their life all over the world. Many have also left priesthood and got married. Some also question whether being unmarried is necessary to administer sacraments. Is the married state so bad that it disqualifies a person from worshipping? In Indian tradition, married life is never considered as a hindrance or against spiritual progress. No other religion in the world requires its priests to be unmarried. Even Christian denominations other than Catholics have married priests. The arguments put forth by the Church in support of celibate priesthood are not found convincing to the youth world over. Hence, there is acute shortage of Catholic priests. The Catholic Church should see signs of the times and ordain elderly married persons of sound character to the ministry of priesthood.
-Vincent Bagul, India
Email: vincent.bagul@gmail.com
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