tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-103541092024-03-07T04:45:23.475-05:00RentapriestA conversation about the married Catholic priesthood and church reform.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14315936198315018045noreply@blogger.comBlogger633125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10354109.post-70655247272650087142014-06-18T13:40:00.001-04:002014-06-18T13:40:07.145-04:00Number of priests leaving the Church to get married is growing in PortugalBy Lusa (English translation by Rebel Girl)<br />
<a href="http://www.publico.pt/sociedade/noticia/numero-de-padres-que-deixam-a-igreja-para-casar-esta-a-aumentar-em-portugal-1638484">Público</a> <br />
June 3, 2014<br />
<br />
The number of priests in Portugal who are leaving the priesthood to get married is growing, now exceeding 400, according to the <a href="http://fraternitasmovimento.blogspot.com/p/quem-somos-o-que-pretendemos-e-o-que.html">Associação Fraternitas</a> movement, which is concerned about the sudden abandonment and definitive break with the Church by some priests.<br />
<br />
"We have seen an increase in the number of priests asking for dispensation. The numbers are upwards of 400," Fernando Félix Pereira, president of the Associação Fraternitas movement which brings together and supports priests who have asked for dispensation from the priesthood, whether they get married or not, told Lusa.<br />
<br />
Fernando Félix Ferreira, 44, asked for dispensation from the priesthood to marry in 2000, a process that lasted almost a year and a half, and he was accompanied by a Jesuit priest. The president of Fraternitas is concerned about the current trend of sudden abandonment and definitive break with the Church by some priests.<br />
<br />
"Lately we have witnessed a phenomenon which concerns us and that is self-dispensation -- young priests and others who aren't so young who just abandon the ministry and don't want to go through any process of seeking dispensation," he added. He also pointed out that, to reconciliation to life in the Church, these priests respond with "an adamant 'no'."<br />
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Fernando Felix Ferreira says he has no global figures on this trend, but adds that recently in the Diocese of Santarém, six priests left the priesthood overnight. The Association Fraternitas movement currently includes 115 priests who have asked for priestly dispensation and it is recognized by the Portuguese Episcopal Conference (CEP).<br />
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The association supports priests being able to choose between being single or getting married, and it also wants to open the priesthood and the Church to married men who would like to be priests. So the recent words of Pope Francis who stated that priestly celibacy is not a "dogma of faith" in the Catholic Church, that there are married priests in the Eastern rites, and that "the door is always open" to address the subject, were well received by the association.<br />
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"A decision coming from the top would cause divisions. Something sensible that will emerge from the Synod on the Family [convened by the Pope for October] is that each local church make its way and that each diocese see if it's possible to have married priests along with single priests. That there would be a sort of gradual learning process, so that people get used to it," he argued.<br />
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The president of the Fraternitas thinks that Pope Francis is giving back to countries decisions that used to be concentrated in the Roman Curia, but he believes that in Portugal this question will not be "resolved peacefully". "The Portuguese bishops are quite dependent on the decisions of the Vatican [...] and have great difficulty in being pioneers," he says, pointing out as exceptions the bishops of Viseu, Ilídio Leandro Pinto, and the retired bishop of Fatima, Serafim Ferreira da Silva.<br />
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Pope Francis' words might encourage the Church's process of opening itself to married priests and there are other indications that this change might go forward. "We have done a study of every document that each priest receives from the Vatican when he asks for dispensation from priestly obligations. Before, it was called "reduction to lay state" and a lot of people thought that the priest who asks for dispensation becomes a layman. There have been changes and there is no longer that expression just to say "'dispensation from priestly obligations' and with that, it is acknowledged that the priest remains a priest for life," he explained.<br />
<br />
The earlier document in particular forbade priests from giving classes in Catholic universities and seminaries, from leading liturgies, or giving homilies. According to the president of Fraternitas, the new text moves to another context where "the theology education, the family experience for catechesis, for working with married couples and young people" are valued.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10354109.post-72908225387083682602014-06-11T18:55:00.000-04:002014-06-11T18:55:20.612-04:00Priests' wives break their silence<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9J_eki2ZVLEG1z-Ea_eTlDXkIkCjxD9HSQJrHiM-Yu1J4V_fF5YgxKYxwSfaIvspUH7ZGk7WKree9exwo4YH1vZ-Ln-2i8WmdV9XZ-eMrwqelk0cYvRa7cg00t7LgLmM_-8B69A/s1600/priest-lady-hands.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9J_eki2ZVLEG1z-Ea_eTlDXkIkCjxD9HSQJrHiM-Yu1J4V_fF5YgxKYxwSfaIvspUH7ZGk7WKree9exwo4YH1vZ-Ln-2i8WmdV9XZ-eMrwqelk0cYvRa7cg00t7LgLmM_-8B69A/s200/priest-lady-hands.jpg" /></a></div>
By Juan Carlos Rodriguez (English translation by Rebel Girl)<br />
<a href="http://www.excelsior.com.mx/nacional/2014/06/08/963942">Excélsior</a> <br />
June 8, 2014<br />
<br />
MEXICO CITY -- The protagonists of the following stories were asked if they wanted to remain anonymous. They all answered no, that falling in love with priests and starting families with them was no reason for shame or a sacrilege, even though it was thought so for many years.<br />
<br />
Three Mexican women agreed not only to give their names but to share with <i>Excélsior</i> their positions on the statements of Pope Francis, who recently agreed that celibacy is not a dogma and that "the door is open" to discuss the possibility of it being an optional decision.<br />
<br />
They are Susana, Silvana, and Judith, and like the 26 Italian women who wrote to the Pope to explain that priests would perform their ministry more passionately if they were supported by a woman who loved them, the three partners of Mexican priests think that a minister with a wife and children has more insight and sensitivity to understand the problems of the community, support youth, and help married couples.<br />
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Their own families called them "demonic". Neighbors shunned them because they thought them "impure." They were told their children would be born with Down syndrome because of being the product of a sacrilegious relationship. They were marginalized and for years lived their idylls secretly, tormented by the dilemma of remaining silent or suggesting that their partners leave the priesthood.<br />
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"For years I had to bow my head to the people who pointed at me. They called me 'the mistress', 'the sinner'. They said it was my fault that my husband left the priesthood," says Susana Magallanes from Guadalajara.<br />
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"We women are more repudiated. We are the ones who incited it. They think we premeditated the conquest, but it's not like that," adds the woman from Guadalajara who thinks that society is rarely aware of the suffering involved in falling in love with someone whom the world considers untouchable.<br />
<br />
On May 19th, the Italian newspaper <i>La Stampa</i> published a <a href="http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/news/detail/articolo/francesco-francisco-francis-preti-priests-sacerdotes-34149/">letter</a> in which a group of 26 lovers of Catholic priests appealed to Pope Francis to put an end to mandatory celibacy for clergy as well as telling him their feelings and the suffering that brings.<br />
<br />
"We humbly place our suffering at your feet in the hope that something may change, not just for us, but for the good of the entire Church," the letter says.<br />
<br />
And it adds, "We love these men, they love us, and in most cases, despite all efforts to renounce it, one cannot manage to give up such a solid and beautiful bond... The only other alternatives are either for the priest to abandon the priesthood or for the relationship to carry on in secret.<br />
<br />
Continuing to be celibate, despite having a woman quietly on the side, can seem like a hypocritical situation, but unfortunately they are forced into this painful choice," they conclude.<br />
<br />
For the first time in Mexico, wives of Catholic priests are raising their voices about celibacy and supporting the Italian women's petition.<br />
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"Being celibate doesn't make men different. Every man is born complete with sexuality and emotions. The choice of having or not having a wife should be optional," says Silvana Tamayo from León, Guanajuato.<br />
<br />
"Mexico is very traditional. We are taught under the principle of reward and punishment. They view God as a crazy man who watches you all the time to see if you make a mistake. I would rather see a God of love and forgiveness."<br />
<br />
For her part, Judith Bojórquez admits that at the beginning it was hard to overcome the feeling of guilt and face the families and people around them. "The families reject you and the neighbors turn away from you, thinking you threw yourself at the priest."<br />
<br />
At the beginning, their relationships were carried on in secrecy. Until the priests decided to end their double lives and ask for dispensation from their vows. But then another problem began as ecclesiastical authorities, instead of accepting the ministers' arguments, threatened them if they did not leave their wives, forget their children and change parishes so that they wouldn't abandon the priesthood.<br />
<br />
<b>The Church offers a change of parish</b><br />
<br />
In <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Heaven_and_Earth">Sobre el cielo y la Tierra</a></i> ("On Heaven and Earth"), a book that then Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio published in 2012, co-authored with Rabbi Abraham Skorka, today's Pope Francis said that "if a priest comes to see me and says he has made a woman pregnant, I listen to him, I try to calm him down, and gradually I make him understand that natural law comes before his right as a priest. And therefore he must leave the ministry and take responsibility for the child."<br />
<br />
But in the case of Father José González Torres, today the husband of Susana Magallanes, it didn't happen like that since the church authorities, upon becoming aware that he was going to have a daughter, offered to move him to another parish in exchange for forgetting the woman and the girl that was on the way.<br />
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The petition for dispensation from his vows -- a process done by Catholic diocese at the Vatican when a priest decides to leave the ministry -- was denied him from the beginning because bishops prefer to tolerate a priest leading a double life than lose a good resource.<br />
<br />
José already had two children and continued to minister when he was presented with a trip to Peru for a mission that he could not escape. The journey lasted two years and on returning to Mexico, he again sought dispensation but his superiors offered him a change of diocese again.<br />
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It wasn't until 2007, ten years after his relationship with his current wife began, that José decided to get married civilly, whereupon his superiors would no longer have any argument to retain him. The letter of acceptance arrived in 2012 and the following year, the religious wedding took place. José and Susana now have four children, ages 14, 13 , 10, and 5. <br />
<br />
<b>"My daddy does all that, my daddy is a priest"</b><br />
<br />
One morning, a group of Catholic seminarians from Guadalajara came to a primary school to talk to a group of students and tell them what a priest does. The goal was to promote priestly vocations and, to this end, they had chosen first grade students.<br />
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The missionaries were explaining the art of celebrating Mass, giving communion to parishioners, confessing sinners and helping needy communities, when one of the little tykes jumped up from his desk to exclaim, "My daddy does all that, my daddy is a priest!"<br />
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At first the seminarians and teachers thought the boy was deluded and called the mother to clarify the situation, but the child wasn't lying. His mother is Susana Magallanes and last May was the one year anniversary of her marriage to José González Torres, a priest who for more than ten years fought to be given dispensation from his vows in order to unite in marriage and tend to the four children they procreated.<br />
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"It's very sad but in Mexico there are many women in love with priests who experience remorse and are demonized by society," Susana says. "My husband and I know many ministers who long to have a wife and children, and who swear they would do their work better if they had the motivation that a family gives," she adds.<br />
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Therefore she asserts that priestly celibacy should be optional. "I don't deny that there are holy people with a vocation to being celibate, but there are many others who could exercise their ministry with all the needed love if they were allowed to have a partner."<br />
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Susana and Jose's story began in 1997 when she was a catechist and he came to replace the priest in the parish where Susana worked in the capital of Jalisco. The working relationship during the youth sessions and communal labor changed into friendship and soon outings to the movies and to have coffee began.<br />
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For six months they dated secretly until Susana got pregnant. Unlike his family who approved of the relationship because of the loving bond, her mother disapproved so much that the girl had to leave her home. "This is a thing of the devil and this baby is a child of sin," she scolded.<br />
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In an effort to prevent her daughter's partnership, the woman even filed a lawsuit against the priest for kidnapping. However, Susana decided to face her family's rejection and the neighbors' condemnations and have the baby and start a family with the priest who had promised to leave the priesthood and be her husband.<br />
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"Life is a gift from God, not from the devil," Susana reflects 14 years after those episodes. Although she admits that it was hard to find peace and convince herself that she didn't rob the Church of a priest, but that society gained a loving, honest, and supportive father.<br />
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Susana says that once, a friend spoke to José in the middle of the night to tell him that a relative was very ill and needed the presence of a priest to give him unction. José gave him various phone numbers but no one was available. In face of the emergency, José proposed that he himself could attend the person who was dying.<br />
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"They went at one in the morning and returned at four thirty. José had to get up at 5 to go to work so he didn't sleep, but he was happy. He told me that day that he would go back to being a priest with pleasure, that it wouldn't matter to him if they didn't pay him, that he could support himself with his work, but that of a thousand loves, he would go back to being a priest."<br />
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<b>"Everything ended when my husband was honest"</b><br />
<br />
Silvana Tamayo thinks that family life would help reduce sex abuse.<br />
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"We love these men and they love us. It's very difficult to cut such a strong and beautiful bond that carries the pain of what hasn't been fully experienced. A tug of war that lacerates the soul -- if you choose a definitive separation, the consequences are no less devastating than the alternatives of leaving the priesthood or persisting forever in a secret relationship."<br />
<br />
On reading the fragment of the letter the Italian women sent to Pope Francis on May 19th, Silvana doesn't hesitate to subscribe to it. She has also experienced it and thinks that celibacy is a measure that not only forces thousands of women and men to live in hiding, but deprives priests of knowledge, feelings, and experiences that would bring them closer to the Christian community.<br />
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A native of Leon, Guanajuato, Silvana says that while her husband was in ministry, he was an exceptional priest, since in various cities in the country he formed youth groups to take them away from drugs and he engaged in intense efforts to rescue street children. "However, all that ended when he decided to be honest and tell his superiors that he was in love and had a daughter. These men can do a lot of good, but the Church would rather cast them aside."<br />
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Silvana and her husband formed an aid group in Leon which is attended by couples in the same situation as them, where there are women in love with priests and active-duty priests who are maintaining a romantic relationship. She says that only one in five is not afraid. The rest live with remorse, keeping their relationships secret or preferring not to say that they've already married.<br />
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The mother of an adolescent girl, Silvana firmly believes in optional celibacy. She asserts that the measure would help to reduce sex abuse by priests, would increase vocations and give society more humane priests. "How can a priest give advice if he hasn't felt anguish about a child who doesn't come home, if he doesn't know that if you don't work, you don't eat?"<br />
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Silvana and Roberto met in 1996. She supported her parish in youth ministry and he was a priest, 15 years older than her. The daily work with the young people, similar ideas, constant conversations and admiration for the priest's work made Silvana realize one day that she didn't want to stop seeing Roberto.<br />
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They dated for three years and she got pregnant in June 1999. When Roberto told his superiors everything, they sent him to Hidalgo to a retreat center where they sent priests who were alcoholic, homosexual, or in love. Silvana asked to go with him but they didn't allow it, so she went through her pregnancy alone.<br />
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Silvana says that during this time Roberto's superiors ordered her to be monitored so that she wouldn't tell her story to the bishop of the diocese. A car was posted outside her house. Her university companions were prohibited from approaching her. When the baby was born, Roberto's parents went to the hospital to blame her because their son had lost his vocation.<br />
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In the spring of 2000, the baby was eight months old when the priest got out of the retreat center and returned to his family. Roberto asked for dispensation but the Church authorities told him that that license is only issued for "more serious" offenses so eight months later, without waiting for that process, they got married civilly.<br />
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The day before the wedding, her in-laws came to see Silvana one more time to tell her that she was the personification of the devil and that her children would be born with Down syndrome. The scandal spread and even the grocery stores denied her goods.<br />
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<b>Even though they've removed you, to me you're a priest</b><br />
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Abandoning priestly ministry is something more than just leaving the habit, since Church "deserters" go into the street with no compensation at all and with skills little required in the labor market.<br />
<br />
In the case of Roberto, his training as a theologian, philosopher and spiritual guide made it hard for him to find work when he left the priesthood to marry Silvana.<br />
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The owner of a bus line in Leon who knew him when he was a priest, hired him as chaplain. "It doesn't matter that they've thrown you out of the Church; to me you will always be a priest," he told him. And Roberto became a counselor for the operators.<br />
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There are a lot of family conflicts among the bus drivers. Given that they have to travel a lot for long periods of time, family breakdown is frequent. So Roberto is in charge of giving them spiritual help.<br />
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He was in ministry for 10 years. When he asked for dispensation, the diocese made a curriculum vitae to assess his career where his work with youth and street children was noted.<br />
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To date, the dispensation has not arrived because "more serious situations" than the fact of having a wife and children are required for the process to flow faster.<br />
<br />
<b>Good priests are being lost</b><br />
<br />
On the night of June 15, 2003, Judith Bojórquez received the most shocking phone call of her life.<br />
<br />
- "Well..."<br />
<br />
- "How are you, my love?"<br />
<br />
- "Fine, Beto...What happened?"<br />
<br />
- "I've just celebrated my last Mass...tomorrow I'm coming for you..."<br />
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- "Seriously?"<br />
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- "I want to be with you the rest of my life. I love you; you're everything to me..."<br />
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The call was from Father Alberto de León, who had decided to leave the ministry that day. He had already been dating Judith, who he met in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, for three years and he couldn't wait to propose. Three months earlier, he had gone to Irapuato on orders from his bishop. Two days later, on June 17th of that year, they were both living together in Guanajuato.<br />
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Eleven years have passed since that event and Judith is convinced that the Church is losing good priests because of celibacy."In our circle of friends, there are many priests and we all agree that a minister would be better if he had a woman who loved him at his side. That would give them more experience for dealing with the faithful," she states.<br />
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"How are you going to give advice if you've never been a dad? How are you going to talk to couples about living together and understanding if you've never known the love of a spouse?"<br />
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Judith agrees with those who state that there are economic reasons behind the celibacy rule since a priest alone requires less support than one with a family. "Going forward, in case celibacy is optional, there should be very clear rules about economy and administration because it's obvious that a priest's wife and children involve expenses and it's not about taking money away from the churches."<br />
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The Sinaloan woman says that one motive that pushed her husband to leave the ministry was seeing that many priests die alone, without family to assist them when they're sick. "I like what I'm doing, I love God, but I don't want to die in those conditions," Beto told Judith.<br />
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Judith was 19 years old when she left her family and friends to follow the priest whom she had met two years earlier. They both worked organizing activities for Catholic youth groups. She admits that after the parish sessions, she would secretly see the then 34-year-old man.<br />
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After three years of service in Los Mochis, Father Beto received the news that he had to go back to Irapuato. Judith went into shock. He promised her he would leave the ministry and come back to take her to Bajío. The couple said goodbye. She thought it would be forever. Three months later came the call that brought joy back to Judith.<br />
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"You don't know. It was a whole show," Judith remembers. "His mom said, 'It can't be. How can my son -- the one I gave over to God -- come and tell me he now has a woman?' He told them, 'I'm in love; I want you to understand me!', but gradually I won her over.<br />
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"The one who was hard for me to reconcile with was my mom. She wanted me to stay in Los Mochis to finish university but Beto wasn't willing to leave me alone."<br />
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Judith and Alberto currently have three children -- ten, eight, and four. She is leader of a Boy Scout group in a Salesian congregation. He is director of a school at La Salle University in Salamanca and teaches psychology classes at a prep school in the afternoon.<br />
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<b>"God hasn't put up any barriers, only blessings"</b><br />
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"Just tell me that you don't want to go and we'll take care of everything." That was what they told Father Alberto de León when he informed his superiors that he was in love, that his wife was pregnant, and that he wanted to resign from the ministry to start a family.<br />
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"But it's that I want to be with my wife," Alberto insisted.<br />
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"That's not a reason for you to leave us," his superior answered.<br />
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"She's going to have my child..."<br />
<br />
"Don't worry about her. She'll have her child. We can send you on spiritual retreats."<br />
<br />
Alberto has not received his dispensation to date, despite being civilly married to Judith.<br />
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Pope Francis, who has said he is in favor of discussing the viability of optional celibacy, wrote the book <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Heaven_and_Earth">Sobre el cielo y la Tierra</a></i> ("On Heaven and Earth") in which he reflects on priests who have gotten a woman pregnant. "They should leave the ministry and take responsibility for the child, even if they decide not to marry the woman, because just as that child has the right to have a mother, he also has the right to have a father with a face."<br />
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"Now, if a priest tells me he has let himself get carried away by passion, that he has made a mistake, I help him correct himself...A double life isn't good for us. I don't like it. It means giving substance to falsehood," the book says.<br />
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Judith thinks her husband has done things right. "I tell him he should always hold his head high since he is living love. If God hadn't wanted us to be together, He would have put up barriers but, on the contrary, He has only given us blessings."Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10354109.post-54741023866359533312013-11-19T15:59:00.000-05:002013-11-19T15:59:14.070-05:00Fr. Kevin Lee, RIP<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCE3PyxUvltJkffNV9LNgLyjch3TPtheNQV8vHBRC3WJYUZhOD8AMASVcRL0hnFsov6BhqVJWqQZkpm-fSmQoljCu2XMaL3-pvLROGPPzOSKOcWqqkPti03xdlur9EvTe6sAG-nA/s1600/kevinlee-baby.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCE3PyxUvltJkffNV9LNgLyjch3TPtheNQV8vHBRC3WJYUZhOD8AMASVcRL0hnFsov6BhqVJWqQZkpm-fSmQoljCu2XMaL3-pvLROGPPzOSKOcWqqkPti03xdlur9EvTe6sAG-nA/s200/kevinlee-baby.jpg" /></a></div>
Last year, we shared the <a href="http://rentapriest.blogspot.com/2012/05/from-radio-to-reality-australian-priest.html">story</a> of Australian Catholic priest Fr. Kevin Lee who was defrocked after revealing that he had been secretly married to a Filipina woman. Fr. Lee moved to the Philippines with his wife and went on to write a book about the sex abuse scandals in the Catholic Church in his homeland called <a href="http://unholysilence.com/About_this_book.html">Unholy Silence: Covering Up the Sins of the Fathers</a>.<br />
<br />
We are sad to report that Fr. Lee's story <a href="http://www.watoday.com.au/national/expriest-kevin-lee-dies-in-typhoon-haiyan-in-philippines-20131110-2xa5o.html">has come to a tragic ending</a>. On November 9th, shortly after becoming the father of a baby girl, Michelle, Fr. Lee's body was found. The 49-year old former priest had drowned in the surf off Samar Island in the Philippines, one of the thousands of victims of Typhoon Haiyan. <br />
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In addition to his widow, Josefina, and his daughter, Fr. Lee is survived by his parents and nine siblings.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10354109.post-31791612086417620392013-11-19T15:31:00.004-05:002013-11-19T15:31:46.231-05:00Slowly, Priest Realized Celibacy Was A 'Destructive' Force<b>Source:</b> National Public Radio, <i>Weekend Edition Sunday</i>, 11/17/2013
<br />
<br />
In 1968, Thomas Groome was ordained as a priest. Even then, he wondered about the requirement that priests remain celibate.<br />
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"I was in an old Irish seminary back in the late '60s, early '70s," he tells NPR's Rachel Martin. "At that time, we thought everything was going to change," because the church had recently made changes to the mass.<br />
<br />
But in the years following, the rule didn't change, and Groome became more and more conflicted about his own celibacy. He slowly started to realize it wasn't nurturing him and giving him life...<br />
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<a href="http://www.npr.org/2013/11/17/245629104/slowly-priest-realized-celibacy-was-a-destructive-force">More...</a> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10354109.post-28159137094889455292013-11-05T17:00:00.004-05:002013-11-05T17:00:58.416-05:00Remembering Clelia Luro de Podesta<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjpFIXpLU6fNDvwj0LNy4nKXkwW4TE59tSOlDJ-Ai6_fa7A2Hm2fzI0l2NQDrQKsPmWplpYaGADQv5GH7rmK6JRXGfR0S7RTQY-nosEuyuIJxOZh1qvd2D5cXTVZIZmrKnbZ_y/s1600/clelia-jeronimo-rip.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjpFIXpLU6fNDvwj0LNy4nKXkwW4TE59tSOlDJ-Ai6_fa7A2Hm2fzI0l2NQDrQKsPmWplpYaGADQv5GH7rmK6JRXGfR0S7RTQY-nosEuyuIJxOZh1qvd2D5cXTVZIZmrKnbZ_y/s200/clelia-jeronimo-rip.jpg" /></a></div>
by Jesús Bastante (English translation by Rebel Girl)<br />
<a href="http://www.periodistadigital.com/religion/vaticano/2013/11/05/fallece-clelia-luro-viuda-de-jeronimo-podesta-religion-iglesia-.shtml">Religion Digital</a><br />
November 5, 2013<br />
<br />
Clelia Luro, the widow of Jeronimo Podesta, former bishop of Avellaneda [Argentina] and a key figure in the Movement of Third World Priests, who had been hospitalized in the Güemes sanatorium there, died last night, according to a posting on theologian Leonardo Boff's Twitter account.<br />
<br />
Luro was born into a well-to-do family in the Recoleta neighborhood in Buenos Aires and studied at the Colegio del Sagrado Corazón. From her youth, she had a deep religious vocation and wanted to be a nun, but she also had "strong views of the Gospel, of Jesus' message, that I couldn't reconcile with the institutional Church," she confessed some years ago in a news report.<br />
<br />
She lived ten years in one of the Patron Costas' sugar mills and there, with the presence of a brutal reality, reached a different level of awareness. "My consciousness was raised there," she said.<br />
<br />
"From Santa Fe y Callao, I soon got married and went to live at the Salta mill and began to experience the reality of the indigenous people, the reality of the country. I was from an upper middle class family and had not had the opportunity to experience the tragedy of the people. I had taken courses in preventive medicine at the Red Cross, so I would grab the horse and go to the <i>huetes</i>, the harvest huts in Oran, to teach them how to feed the children, collaborating with the mill doctor. I was doing prevention because the kids there were dying like flies," she said.<br />
<br />
In 1966, back in Buenos Aires again, when she was now a separated woman with six children, she met Jeronimo Podesta who was bishop of Avellaneda, with whom she then shared her life -- love, advocacy, and the presidency of the Latin American Federation of Married Priests until Podesta's death at 79 on June 23, 2000.<br />
<br />
Remembering that time, she said, "Jeronimo was a leader in the country. He was the bishop of the workers. Any problem -- strikes, stoppages, he was with them."
<br />
<br />
<b>
Statement from Clelia Luro's family, as translated from her <a href="https://www.facebook.com/clelia.luro/posts/653060118049955">Facebook page</a></b><br />
<br />
<i>Dear mother, dear grandmother, dear great-grandmother, beloved friend,</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Last night, on November 4th, after a few hours of hospitalization at the Guemes Sanitorium, Clelia decided to go and be reunited with Jeronimo, who had departed 13 years ago.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>After Jeronimo's death, she was never the same. She missed him every instant of those 13 years.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>She stayed busy, restless, trying to edit his letters, writing books, spreading his thoughts, continuing the struggle for optional celibacy and for married priests, preparing the foundation that would bear his name. But it was a lot of grief that made her fade away.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Clelia was a warrior. She and Jero fought for their love all the way to the Vatican.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>A priest? No, he wasn't just a priest. He was the bishop of Avellaneda, Monseñor Jerónimo Podestá. </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>They suffered, But that made them stronger. They were assailed, exiled and persecuted. And they went on together, always together.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>The Church hurt her, and she was always present trying to help us to think of those who would make a real Church of the People of God on the March. The country hurt her, and she fought to support the processes of change that took place in those years when she thought and felt that Jeronimo would have liked to experience and share this vigorous United Latin America.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>They adored one another. They were very happy.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>A story of love and struggle, surrounded by daughters, grandchildren and great grandchildren, close friends, faithful and loyal companions.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>A rich life of knowledge and learning, added to their great Faith.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>A clear ideology, where being an individual was paramount.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>A very strong woman who defended her life story to the end.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Thank you for having given us life and having accompanied us with so much love.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Your big family will miss you...</i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10354109.post-71700638408558290592013-10-31T12:47:00.000-04:002013-10-31T12:47:21.850-04:00A 10-year relationship and a 2-year-old daughter add up to the end of a priestly careerBy Mariela Martínez (English translation by Rebel Girl)<br />
<a href="http://www.lavoz.com.ar/ciudadanos/sancionan-cura-que-llevaba-10-anos-en-pareja-con-una-hija-de-2-0">La Voz del Interior</a><br />
10/22/2013<br />
<br />
Roberto Ángel Maidana was a Catholic priest for 17 of his 46 years in Corrientes [Argentina] until last week when he was notified of the sentence of the church tribunal which prohibits him from continuing in his role.<br />
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<br />
Speaking with this newspaper, Maidana himself admitted that it was a "foregone conclusion". It's that, being a priest, he fell in love a decade ago with his current woman with whom he formed a couple ten years ago and has a two-year-old daughter.<br />
<br />
"I never concealed anything. I never played hide-and-seek. The community was always aware of who Maria Elena was. She was always at my side, getting things, working," he admits casually.<br />
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The Church deems that he committed three grave sins under Canon Law.<br />
<br />
"Ten years ago I made the mistake of using my heart; most priests don't want to use it. I fell in love. But I always went on working in the community," Maidana points out, throwing out the opening ball in the discussion of celibacy in the Church.<br />
<br />
"Two years ago we had a baby girl and that's when the persecution started," he says, alluding to the church authorities with whom, he asserts, he spoke "up front" about the issue.<br />
<br />
Maidana says that as soon as his daughter was born, he registered her in the Civil Registry in Corrientes with his last name.<br />
<br />
He notes that the church tribunal opened an investigation of him a year ago "while the baby girl's document, in my name, is from two years ago," he says, as if to point out the contradiction.<br />
<br />
Maidana fixes his attention on the celibacy tradition: "The activity of a consecrated man is not an impediment to having his own family. Since I've had my own family, I've been more committed to service. A man who doesn't have a family or children never reaches the fullness for which he was created by God," he argues. Then he emphasizes, "The more a priest is lonely, the less free he feels. He is so shut in that he doesn't have time for anything, which is also a distortion of celibacy."<br />
<br />
Maidana admits that he always knew his time would be up. "I knew it, I was going against a rule, a mandate. But I was also aware that in Latin America there are some 180,000 priests thinking about this. They aren't priests who have stopped being it, but people who go on working. There are even bishops who are fathers and are still active. If I hadn't given my last name to my daughter, I would have been one more in the statistics on priests who have children they don't acknowledge," he says.<br />
<br />
For Maidana, celibacy "is a discipline but not a dogma. It's an imposition by a Church that is stuck at some point in history." He also thinks that "chastity is a point within celibacy. It's not the absence of sex but sanctifying the sexual relationship within the marital bond. It's planning together through dialogue and mutual self-giving."<br />
<br />
From Corrientes, where he is still living, he admits to keeping "some hope" that the current Pope Francis will be the one to open the discussion to end celibacy.<br />
<br />
"I go on living the same way, in my mother's house, and selling food to cover expenses. I lived and was a priest in an extremely poor neighborhood, with a lot of needs. The Archdiocese never gave me a house," he says. <br />
<br />
According to the inter-diocesan tribunal of Corrientes, the Vatican dismissed Maidana as a priest for three reasons under Canon Law: violation of the celibacy rule, liturgical abuse, and violating the seal of confession.<br />
<br />
Maidana only accepts the first charge. He maintains that the other two "are serious" and he says he didn't sign the punishment because he doesn't acknowledge them. He also complains that he never faced the church tribunal "to exercise his right to defend himself."<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, Father Jorge Duarte Paz, a member of that inter-diocesan tribunal that evaluated his conduct, told this newspaper that in reality Maidana "didn't want to exercise his right to defend himself and that he also repudiated the authority of Archbishop Andrés Stanovnik (who received the complaints of the faithful and ordered the investigation of the case)."<br />
<br />
Duarte Paz says he was offered various opportunities to defend himself but never considered them. "The Holy See also offered him a quieter and more diplomatic way out, that he could ask for dispensation from the clerical state, which is a grace through which he would be removed from the responsibilities of ministry, dispensed from the celibacy rule and thus would be able to marry, but he refused," he said.<br />
<br />
The punishment, according to Duarte Diaz, "falls within the directives of Pope Francis so that serious delicts have a penalty, unless the priest repents and stops rebelling."Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10354109.post-64550171995872956192013-10-31T11:24:00.000-04:002013-10-31T11:24:07.748-04:00‘We’re Catholic priests who want to marry’<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhInVv3v7KqYmmka-uBfKBUBfd33xDqgA9Vev-AD_nEWoSSBZhZGJpS9KbGU6yWtwl3jh2Va8Lt4ZPA4xklgMuXwJekBlZJMwR2luNl11eM0yTRrhZlw1dyB4hcoeex3iT_m_Wojg/s1600/Siundu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhInVv3v7KqYmmka-uBfKBUBfd33xDqgA9Vev-AD_nEWoSSBZhZGJpS9KbGU6yWtwl3jh2Va8Lt4ZPA4xklgMuXwJekBlZJMwR2luNl11eM0yTRrhZlw1dyB4hcoeex3iT_m_Wojg/s200/Siundu.jpg" /></a></div>
By Natasha Prince<br />
<a href="http://www.thepost.co.za/we-re-catholic-priests-who-want-to-marry-1.1598866#.UnJ0sXCsim4">The Post</a><br />
10/29/2013<br />
<br />
Cape Town - A group of Catholic priests have gone against one of the major tenets of their religion by renouncing its celibacy vows.<br />
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This weekend saw the launch of an “alternative” following in Langa where four Catholic priests arrived from across the country to celebrate mass at the Red Cross Centre.<br />
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About 80 congregants celebrate mass with local priest Father Fano Ngcobo, a member of the new group, at the centre.<br />
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To mark the launch, Archbishop Godfrey Siundu of the archdiocese of Kitale in Kenya was the guest of honour. He has been given his title by the Ecumenical Catholic Church – a separate denomination in the universal Christian church.
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<br />
Siundu, the first Catholic priest to be publicly married, said he was in South Africa “on a mission”.<br />
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He and Ngcobo have been promoting the rights of Catholic priests who are still practising their faith and say they want celibacy to be a choice, not a requirement.<br />
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“I was a priest who had a girlfriend and I felt I could no longer live in hiding,” Siundu said.<br />
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He would see his girlfriend on Friday and officiate at mass on Sunday.<br />
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“But I felt it could no longer go on like that.”<br />
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He had written letters about celibacy to his own bishop and to Rome.<br />
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During his 18 years as a priest before his marriage he had encountered many priests who were not living up to their vow of celibacy. “On a Sunday they look very holy on the altar.”<br />
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Siundu wanted to be the first to speak out about the matter and “came out”.<br />
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As he could not go back to his church, he started holding church services from his home.<br />
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“And that’s where I told them: we are going to be different. We are going to be priests who are able to marry.”<br />
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At the beginning it was very tough for both Siundu and his wife, but today his “alternative Catholic church” has a following of 30 000 congregants, and 24 validly ordained Roman Catholic priests.<br />
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They did not want to join other denominations, he said.<br />
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The alternative archbishop argued that the celibacy aspect was a rule created to manage the church.<br />
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Ncgobo said: “It’s not a biblical principle. It was brought in to manage the church, and control its assets.”<br />
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He said the alternative church was open to all – those who wanted to marry and those choosing celibacy.<br />
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“If you are able to live a celibate life and live it well, then so be it.”<br />
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The archdiocese of Cape Town was not available for comment on Monday.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10354109.post-89550584615082131822013-10-30T14:55:00.001-04:002013-10-30T14:55:20.246-04:00November 20, 2013: Teleconference on the Future of Priestly CelibacyJoin FutureChurch for an honest and thought-provoking conversation about the gifts, challenges and future of priestly celibacy for the 21st century with Fr. Donald Cozzens. Currently Writer in Residence at John Carroll University, this pastor, professor, and author is a noted national and international commentator on religious and cultural issues, especially those relating to the sexual and financial crises gripping the Catholic Church.<br />
<br />
Together we’ll explore parts of Cozzens’ award-winning and best-selling <i>Freeing Celibacy</i> (2006) and <i>Notes from the Underground: The Spiritual Journal of a Secular Priest</i> (Orbis Books, 2013). Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions as well.<br />
<br />
There are two teleconference times available on November 20th at 12:30 pm or 8:30 pm EST. To participate, please register on the <a href="http://www.futurechurch.org/downloads/teleconference/">FutureChurch website</a>. When you register, you will automatically download the phone conference packet with the call in number and password.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10354109.post-63454095751193887272013-10-02T17:21:00.001-04:002013-10-02T17:24:21.742-04:00Stockton priest steps down to become a dad<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtxelQeK65C8FxVGCBnRZjJaQLTYXWMHFMo-gVgKXHTLJ2wclRM-bbn14nOTosPCFGootarZn2MD7Smtlxh0Z6g794zM243JiTEfev6d2JbNUorWQIlxY7_8GtQtcqq7yGr_LdCQ/s1600/deanmcfalls.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtxelQeK65C8FxVGCBnRZjJaQLTYXWMHFMo-gVgKXHTLJ2wclRM-bbn14nOTosPCFGootarZn2MD7Smtlxh0Z6g794zM243JiTEfev6d2JbNUorWQIlxY7_8GtQtcqq7yGr_LdCQ/s200/deanmcfalls.JPG" /></a></div>
Fr. Dean McFalls, 58, who had been a priest for 18 years, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/30/dean-mcfalls-priest-fathers-child_n_4016571.html">left that role</a> abruptly last Sunday, following the birth of his son, Gabriel, on Saturday. Rev. McFalls has not publicly identified the mother of his child, although several news sources say she is one of his parishioners. He had been pastor of St. Mary's in Stockton, California, and also a chaplain with the city's police department. He has <a href="http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130925/A_NEWS/309250326">relinquished</a> both positions, having been placed on a personal leave of absence from active ministry and suspended <i>a divinis</i>.<br />
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McFalls issued a <a href="http://www.news10.net/news/article/258387/2/Popular-Stockton-priest-announces-hes-fathering-a-child">public statement</a> to his community, apologizing for any grief or hurt his actions had caused. He told them that "a child will soon be born, and I am the baby's father...I assume full responsibility for my actions and will do all that I can so that my child receives the care and love that he deserves. Once he was conceived, I had no other option, as a Christian and a priest, than to do everything possible that he might have life, and have it to the full." To the press, he added that , "what I did not want was to make the child or mother suffer for my sins. I don't want this child growing up in the shadows. The last thing you want is for an innocent child to suffer or go in exile or be terminated because of my mistakes. I am a pro-life priest in a pro-life church."<br />
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Apart from his public statement about his change of status, Fr. McFalls also had a few words for the Church which he served, saying that the time has come for a married priesthood. "If the situation in the Catholic Church were different, I would be a better man...More stable, more effective in the long run as a human being." He said he hopes to return to priestly ministry some day. "I look forward to the day when a married man can be a priest without having to come through the back door," McFalls said.
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10354109.post-26672627577161870292013-08-29T12:46:00.001-04:002013-08-29T12:46:38.323-04:00Gerônimo and Emília: A Love Story<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheLeGyB5twI3s4Y4w3PGF-PpAmZQL4poLNr1Kr3a8iGrd-1hyFvYukG1n5xcauEDja6FwHMdxmZvi3Ma52WF6e9Ctm0F6xAFhD6g6pMKV2OUvu9thmj6UPaSaj3ZBkFrAh-dgMPQ/s1600/geronimo-solo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheLeGyB5twI3s4Y4w3PGF-PpAmZQL4poLNr1Kr3a8iGrd-1hyFvYukG1n5xcauEDja6FwHMdxmZvi3Ma52WF6e9Ctm0F6xAFhD6g6pMKV2OUvu9thmj6UPaSaj3ZBkFrAh-dgMPQ/s200/geronimo-solo.jpg" width="150" /></a>By Brenda Coelho (English translation by Rebel Girl)<br />
<a href="http://g1.globo.com/bahia/noticia/2013/08/padre-larga-batina-e-assume-amor-apos-engravidar-jovem-na-bahia.html">G1 BA</a><br />
August 28, 2013<br />
<br />
A priest in Bahia surprised the faithful at Nossa Senhora da Conceição parish in Gavião, Brazil, when he announced that he would be leaving the religious life to take responsibility for his love for a young woman in the community who is pregnant by him.
<br />
<br />
At the masses last Sunday (the 25th), Gerônimo Moreira, 32, decided to read a letter announcing the decision. "As time went on, I noted that our friendship had something more -- love, but we had always tried to leave it just at the friendship level since I had said that if I perceived that I couldn't keep celibacy, I would leave the ministry before that so as not to scandalize the community. But ironically, fate didn't happen as I thought and we got involved and today she is pregnant and I want to assume responsibility for paternity," he says, in part of the letter.<br />
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Gerônimo says he met Emília Carneiro, now 23, in 2007, when he was still a seminarian. "I met her on September 20, 2007 at a youth encounter. We began a friendship and something different awakened, but I was thinking that I would be a priest and this would not be possible," Gerônimo, who grew up in a religious family and said since he was a kid that he wanted to be a priest in adulthood, remembers.<br />
<br />
For four years, Gerônimo came to the community where Emília lived to preach. During that period, the friendship between the two grew stronger and they were frequently in touch through phone calls and messages. "I went there once a year, talked to her sometimes by phone, sometimes I sent messages, but I never suspected that anything would happen or that she would be interested in me," he reveals.<br />
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<br />
Gerônimo became a priest in November 2009 and says that during his formation he never had any doubts about his religious vocation. "My family was religious, and since I was 7 years old, I've said I wanted to be a priest. At 13 or 14, I started to fall in love and stopped talking about wanting to be a priest, but at 20, I finished high school and decided that I had to choose what to do and went to seminary in 2002," he says.<br />
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It took six years of religious training, between studies of philosophy and theology and stints in the municipalities of São Gonçalo dos Campos, Salvador and Feira de Santana. The first parish where Gerônimo served was Valente, still as a seminarian, in 2008. In 2011, he took on Gavião parish.<br />
<br />
When he saw that his feelings for Emília were not just friendship, Gerônimo said he was in crisis. He talked with the girl, who revealed that she was also enraptured with him. "When the first kiss happened, we talked about how that should never have occurred. She was worried -- we were that way for a few days -- but we couldn't contain the urge to stay together," he declares.<br />
<br />
Since 2012, when the first kiss occurred, Gerônimo and Emília kept their feelings secret. "Nobody suspected, and if they did suspect, they didn't talk about it. We were the only two who knew," he asserts.<br />
<br />
Although they were afraid of people's reactions, the couple decided to reveal the relationship when Emília discovered her pregnancy back in May. "We needed to take responsibility. I immediately decided to take responsibility. We talked a lot about being scared of people's reactions; we didn't want to be a scandal to the community. Her father said that because of our friendship, he was afraid this would happen, but, because I've taken responsibility, her family has faced this more calmly," he says.<br />
<br />
"We went through this crisis between faith and love, but after we revealed everything, I was relieved. I'm happy," Emília declares.<br />
<br />
After the three Masses celebrated on Sunday, Gerônimo announced his resignation to the Church community. "I was very emotional and cried a lot; almost the whole church cried," he recalls.<br />
<br />
<i>G1</i> spoke with staff in the parish where Gerônimo worked and the feeling was sadness. "We're feeling a great loss. The atmosphere here is one of mourning, but we respect his decision. The revelation was a shock," said one of the staff who preferred not to reveal her name.<br />
<br />
"We heard it formally through the bishop. Who are we to judge? When someone comes to talk to me about the case, I quote Romans Chapter 14 [from the Bible]," says another employee who knows Gerônimo.<br />
<br />
Emília is three months pregnant and works as a secretary in a school in Bahia. Since Monday (the 26th), Gerônimo is now moonlighting as a mason, while he plans to go to college. "For now I'm working as a mason, because I only have general training in philosophy, which isn't recognized. I'm going to try engineering school because of the knowledge I already have in the field of civil construction," he explains.<br />
<br />
Gerônimo's brother's house in Feira de Santana is being remodeled to receive the family. "Initially we're going to be a little further away from the community," he adds. The couple plans to get married in a Catholic Church but for this, he needs authorization from Pope Francis. "I'm going to make a formal petition to marry. The bishop is going to inform himself about the procedures. I think the priest needs to write a letter asking for dispensation to marry in the Church. Generally the popes grant it," he states.<br />
<br />
About his relationship with God, Gerônimo asserts that his faith is the same. What has changed, he says, is the way of following the faith. "I'm just not going to serve as a priest, but we're going to continue to help in any way possible," he concludes.<br />
<br />
<i>RG- We wish this couple all the best and hope and pray for the day when the Catholic Church will abolish the celibacy requirement and Gerônimo can return to the priesthood because we think he and Emilia would make a great pastoral team!</i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10354109.post-26295794219349676412013-08-27T17:12:00.000-04:002013-08-27T17:12:01.547-04:00In Brazil, one out of every four priests leaves to get marriedBy Edison Veiga e José Maria Mayrink (English translation by Rebel Girl)<br />
<a href="http://exame.abril.com.br/brasil/noticias/um-em-cada-quatro-padres-deixa-batina-para-casar?page=1">EXAME.com</a><br />
August 22, 2013<br />
<br />
São Paulo - One out of every four priests leaves the priesthood to get married. This fact comes from the <a href="http://www.padrescasados.org/">Movimento Nacional das Famílias dos Padres Casados</a> (National Movement of Families of Married Priests), which estimates that more than 7,000 priests in the country have sought dispensation from the sacrament of Holy Orders in exchange for marriage. The National Conference of Brazilian Bishops doesn't divulge numbers on this issue.<br />
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Priests have not been able to marry for about 900 years (since the Lateran Council in 1139). The subject is taboo. Over the last two weeks, a reporter got in contact with 12 former priests, all of them married. Most of them didn't want to talk. Others contributed information but preferred anonymity, "to protect my wife and children."<br />
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Their stories and opinions, however, are similar. Almost all of them stated that they didn't leave the Church to get married -- but that they diverged on many things and marriage came later. They advocate optional celibacy.<br />
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Many play pastoral roles in their parishes and follow Pope Francis with interest. "We're happy with his spirit, his Christian words and attitude. But we don't know how he's going to deal with the reality of the nearly 150,000 married priests in the world," says João Tavares, spokesman for the movement.<br />
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Professor Eduardo Hoornaert, who is 82 and lives in Lauro de Freitas (BA), was a priest for 28 years. He left the priesthood in 1982, the year he got married. A historian who specializes in the history of the Church in Brazil and in Latin America, he still writes articles and books. He states that, although he has abandoned the rites, he hasn't resigned from the ministry "since the ministry is the Gospel."<br />
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Hoornaert believes that an eventual readmission of married priests is not a priority for the pope, who has other problems to solve. "Forming missionaries with good evangelical training, without this burden of 2000 years of dogma and laws, is the priority," he observes. "It's important to reformulate the ministry, and Pope Bergoglio knows this very well."
For the historian, who now participates in the married priests' meetings, this segment doesn't seem to be a storehouse of resources for the alleged priest shortage in Brazil, because it's heterogeneous. "Some priests who got married are moved by nostalgia and would like to come back while others have adapted. The Church has laws and one of them is celibacy," says Hoornaert. It's good to remember, he adds, that most of the married priests in the association are over 50. The younger ones who left the priesthood and got married are of a different mind. <br />
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Otto Euphrásio de Santana was working in ministry in the Archdiocese of Natal when he left the ministry and got married after ten years of service. It was a hard decision, especially because of his family. His two brothers who are bishops -- Cardinal Eugenio de Araújo Sales, Archbishop of Rio, and Dom Heitor de Araújo Sales, Bishop of Caicó (RN) and later Archbishop of Natal -- did everything for him not to leave the priesthood. He chose marriage and never repented. He is attached to the Church and enthusiastic about Francis' papacy.<br />
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<b>Social adapatation.</b> A resident of Vila Leopoldina in the western part of São Paulo, originally from Resende Costa in Minas Gerais, Francisco de Assis Resende, 72, was a priest for two years. He served in a parish in Vila Pompeia and was chaplain at the Hospital das Clínicas. He left the priesthood and got married to a woman who was a student in Pedagogy then, had two daughters and four grandchildren. He was widowed in 2010.<br />
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He says that the hardest thing was adapting to social life. "I entered the seminary at 12. It was 12 more years before I was ordained." He studied Social Work and had a career at Volkswagen in São Bernardo do Campo, where he lived with then union leader Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and retired. "In the beginning, I walked away totally from the Church. I became an agnostic. As the years passed, I acted in social ministry. Nowadays, I only go to Mass on Sundays."<br />
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Born in Videira (SC), Abel Abati is 73 and was a priest for four years. He also served at the Hospital das Clínicas. In 1970, he left the priesthood. That same year, he married a nurse from the hospital, Neide de Fátima, with whom he still lives today. "I wasn't going to be a bachelor," he says. The union produced four sons and four granddaughters.<br />
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He trained in Administration and worked in multinational pharmaceutical companies. In the 1980s, in a brief political career, he was regional administrator -- the equivalent of a sub-prefect -- of Campo Limpo, in the southern region of São Paulo. Since then, he has stopped going to church. "I don't want to be branded as pious."
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<i>Photo: Some of Brazil's married priests and their families.</i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10354109.post-45947377866997585612013-08-07T12:05:00.000-04:002013-08-07T12:05:41.976-04:00Lessons that can be learned from the love story of a priest and his wife<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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By Brian Eyre<br />
<a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/debate/editorial/lessons-that-can-be-learned-from-the-love-story-of-a-priest-and-his-wife-1.1478557">Irish Times</a><br />
7/30/2013<br />
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Can a priest love someone in particular and also be at the service of others? Is the love a priest has for his wife exclusive or can it be inclusive? These were some of the thoughts that went through my head 30 years ago when I took the decision to marry Marta.<br />
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I remember well that evening in Glendalough standing alone by the lake. With arms wide open I cried to Heaven: “My God what do you want of me?”<br />
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I felt a deep peace come down upon me and knew in my heart that I wanted to marry her. Looking back on these 30 years of married life, I know I did the right thing. I have been able to raise a family, have a secular job and do pastoral work. The sacrament of Matrimony has not been an impediment to my work as a priest.<br />
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To recall our 30 years, Marta and I have written a book: <i>I Only Want You to be Happy: The Love Story of a Priest and a Nun.</i> It is a simple story of how two people from different backgrounds and nationalities were drawn together until they discovered that they wanted to continue their lives together.<br />
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<b>Life-changing decision</b><br />
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It talks about our families, about my arrival in Brazil as a Holy Ghost missionary priest, how we gradually became closer to each other, about my return to Ireland to pray and to come to a decision. It describes our wedding, tells stories about our two children. It talks about my pastoral work and shows the good working relationship I have with parish priests and how the people accept this.<br />
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It is a love story of a priest and his wife. Do I hear voices in the background saying, “But a priest can’t love just one person, his love is for everyone.” Do you think St Peter loved his wife? Of course he did. Did she accompany him on his missionary journeys? St Paul in Corinthians, chapter 9 v 5-6 says: “Don’t I have the right to follow the example of the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Peter, by taking a Christian wife with me on my journeys?”
Priests in the Orthodox church are married. Do they love their wives? Have they time for ministry? Likewise the Anglican priests received with their wives into full communion with the Catholic Church.<br />
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Here in Brazil, people accept me as a married priest. They know who my wife is so there is nothing hidden. I do everything I did as a celibate priest except that I no longer have a parish. I always answer, and will always answer the call of the people to serve them.<br />
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I’m called to go to the cemetery, to administer the Sacrament of the Sick, to give Bible courses, to train lay missionaries, to give retreats, to organise prayer groups in apartments. Do I say Mass? Yes, in my own home, for the important occasions of our family.<br />
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I do not say public Masses. I respect canon law, although I don’t agree with it. Here there are many communities deprived of the Eucharist. I could be called to celebrate for them. The hierarchy needs to take a pastoral decision about this grave problem, which is not just confined to Brazil. In Disappearing Priests, Fr Brendan Hoban asks: “Who will break the bread for us?” He is talking about the shortage of priests in Ireland. Without priests we have no Mass. Without Mass we have no church.<br />
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When we pray for vocations we should be thinking of other forms of ministry and not just that confined to a celibate priesthood. When Marta and I got married, we took on secular jobs to live and support our children.
One of the arguments against a married priesthood is that the church won’t be able to sustain a priest with a family. But a parish could be divided up into communities. In these communities, a married priest could have his job, give spiritual assistance to the people, celebrate the Eucharist. I know what it is to have a family, have a job and find time to serve the community: it’s not easy but it is possible.<br />
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<b>Nurtured vocation</b><br />
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When I got married, I lost the position I had in society as a parish priest. I don’t miss that. My wife has helped me keep alive the flame of my priesthood. If anything, she is the one who has preserved and nurtured this vocation.
Our book may help priests who are in a relationship come to a peaceful decision. If they marry, may they choose well, as I did, a companion who can help them reflect on their ministry, someone who has experience of church work.<br />
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<b>MORE INFORMATION</b><br />
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The preface to this book was written by Marta's brother, Paulo Camelo, and is available in <a href="http://www.padrescasados.org/archives/13372/livro-de-padre-casado-conta-sua-historia/">Portuguese</a> and <a href="http://www.camelo.recantodasletras.com.br/visualizar.php?idt=4343430">English</a>. The book came out in Brazil last month.*<br />
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See also:
<br />
<ul>
<li> <a href="http://www.associationofcatholicpriests.ie/2011/11/reflection-of-a-married-priest-in-brazil-brian-eyre/">Reflection of a Married Priest in Brazil: Brian Eyre</a> (2011)
</li>
<li><a href="http://www.padrescasados.org/archives/1356/vila-sao-joao-apipucos/">Pastoral da Criança em Vila São João, Apipucos, Recife</a> (2011)
</li>
</ul>
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<br />
<b>A PRAYER REFLECTION ON MARRIED PRIESTS</b><br />
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This <a href="http://www.oraetlabora.com.br/encontro_da_virada.htm">reflection</a> was offered by the couple during Mass at a 2008 married priests' gathering in Camaragibi. It's lovely and we're pleased to bring it to you in English:<br />
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Brian: </b>I'm certain that at this moment Jesus is looking on this assembly and saying... <br />
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Marta:</b> Blessed are the married priests who promote peace, first within their own families and in the world of work where they act and in the communities in which they evangelize.<br />
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Brian:</b> Blessed are the wives of married priests who with their tenderness, humility, and kindness, help their husbands to be less dogmatic and authoritarian.
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Marta:</b> Blessed are the married priests who hunger and thirst for justice and fight for a better world.<br />
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Brian:</b> Blessed are the married priests who are persecuted because of their choice to marry, who have left and been forgotten by the Church they served with so much love.<br />
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Marta:</b> Happy are all those who get married priests to pray with them, share their difficulties, sorrows and joys, who accept and support married priests.<br />
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Brian:</b> Happy are you married priests and wives of married priests who, when you were despised and they spoke all manner of evil against you because you opted for life together, did not hide your love for one another.<br />
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Marta:</b> Happy are the married priests who, in spite of no longer belonging to the clergy, have not renounced the mission they received from Christ and continue to serve the people of God.<br />
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Brian:</b> Happy are the married priests who when they are treated with indifference by their celibate brothers, don't bow their heads and reciprocate with charity.<br />
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Marta:</b> Happy the children of married priests who bring us so much joy and call us to constant giving.<br />
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Brian:</b> Happy are the married priests who care about the financial, personal and family situation of other married priests. <br />
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Praised be Our Lord Jesus Christ.
</i><br />
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<i>* </i>Note: What we don't have at this time, unfortunately, is any information about where this book has been published and how to get a copy. I hope someone will read this post and supply these details. We do understand that the book is bilingual, Portuguese/English.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10354109.post-71877608018895707152013-05-15T12:28:00.000-04:002013-05-15T12:30:32.972-04:00Chloé, priest's daughterby Adeline Fleury (English translation by Rebel Girl)<br />
<a href="http://www.lejdd.fr/Societe/Religion/Actualite/Chloe-fille-de-defroque-606788">Le Journal du Dimanche</a><br />
May 11, 2013<br />
<br />
Over 40 years ago, Father Barreau got married. Today, his daughter Chloé reflects about the taboo on married priests and the situation of the hidden children of the Church. There are more than 10,000 of them in France.<br />
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October 8, 1971. <i>Le Club de la presse</i> ("Press Club"), the flagship debate program of the late 1960s, begins. The atmosphere on the set is heavy. A man with piercing eyes and frank speech is being questioned by four journalists. The tone is one of incredible freedom, but the subject triggers thunder. It's the celibacy of priests. And who better to talk about it than Father Barreau, this charismatic priest, known for being the priest of the <i>"blousons noirs"</i> (youth street gangs) of Pigalle, then head of the catechumenate for the diocese of Paris. The one through whom the scandal came up after he had publicized in <i>L'Express</i> the same week his decision to get married. The priest doesn't fall apart in the face of attacks by journalist Michel de Saint-Pierre, who accuses him of "playing the pin-up boy" in the headlines, and boasting about his "mistake". Jean-Claude Barreau can't see where the problem is: "Just let the priests marry and let's get to the point!" The point? The crisis of a Church that even then kept itself at a distance from the real world. The priest, to whom Rome had denied reduction to lay status, thought the Church was going to blow priestly celibacy away in five years anyway.<br />
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"The marriage of priests isn't happening tomorrow"</b><br />
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In 2013, more than forty years later, the Vatican still doesn't allow priests to get married, and the hidden children of men of the Church are still marked with the seal of dishonor. Jean-Claude Barreau, 80, and his wife, Ségolène, 69, are as in love as the first day. Their daughter, Chloé 35, takes her camera, invites her parents to tell their story and questions a still taboo reality in the documentary <i>La Faute à mon père, le scandale de l'abbé Barreau</i> ("My Father's Sin: The Scandal of Father Barreau" -- Award for Best European Documentary, Circom 2013). "Despite the hope of renewal brought about by the arrival of Pope Francis and his willingness to re-evangelize from within, the marriage of priests isn't happening tomorrow," says Chloé Barreau. Recognition of the children of priests isn't on the agenda in Rome either. Even if a wind of hope blew in 2009 on the pain of these daughters and sons of men of faith who weren't able to resist love's call.<br />
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Cardinal Claudio Hummes, then prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, held several meetings on the explosive issue. Objective: To prevent the existence of DNA testing from raising a multitude of suits to establish paternity in court, with the damage that would cause to the finances and the image of the Church. A kind of social contract guaranteeing the civil rights of the mother and the child was then discussed: the child could inherit the personal property of his father, and the latter transmit his name to him. The issue never came out from behind the walls of the Vatican. While obviously no official figures exist on the number of children of priests, according to the European Federation of Married Catholic Priests, there are 10,000 to 12,000 married former priests in France, and in northern France alone, a score of "households."<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmW-MGmDBhxWl01HPaEAidSmWO6r3P7NTqcxWFUvHZQVjYt9V4-Lj26PXX0pdUXFD647z8MTzfi5XQvm2KwtZHHJCPWu5RhA3aMKa_FhyphenhyphenU9SIQOJEGkmPInVfn5ncRo3QcTA5oTg/s1600/chloe2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmW-MGmDBhxWl01HPaEAidSmWO6r3P7NTqcxWFUvHZQVjYt9V4-Lj26PXX0pdUXFD647z8MTzfi5XQvm2KwtZHHJCPWu5RhA3aMKa_FhyphenhyphenU9SIQOJEGkmPInVfn5ncRo3QcTA5oTg/s200/chloe2.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
<b>"He regained his freedom as a final settlement"</b><br />
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These heirs of moral grief are upset about being the victims of one of the greatest hypocrisies of the Church. "My father had gone to see François Marty, Archbishop of Paris, to tell him his desire to marry. The Cardinal retorted that he was used to hearing this kind of thing, that my father could marry in secret, and that if he had children someday, the Church would deal with them ..." Father Barreau chose not to live a lie. "He regained his freedom as a final settlement," says Chloé, a proud daughter of a defrocked priest. The defrocked one is one whose successive decisions mark a faithfulness to himself, to what we are under the mask."<br />
<br />
"Children usually learn one day in a roundabout way that their father was a priest; I've never hidden it from them," Jean-Claude Barreau states. "Most priests who left the ministry to marry feel socially downgraded, they no longer have the influence their status conferred upon them. My father didn't experience this as a repudiation," says Chloé. Jean-Claude Barreau was an editor, an adviser to François Mitterrand, President of INED (Institut national d'études démographiques - "National Institute for Demographic Studies"), immigration advisor to Charles Pasqua... The former priest lived in the light; Ségolène, his wife, had to learn to deal with the cracks. In the eyes of society, she was the temptress, the one who led the man of faith astray. "I had the feeling of being the pastor's whore...," she dares to say to the camera. Chloé doesn't reject her roots at all: "This story gave me life, the taste for romance and one certainty: a love that struggles is a block of granite, the whole world in coalition will always break its teeth on it."
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<i>Photos: Fr. Jean-Claude Barreau and his daughter Chloé, then and now.</i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10354109.post-3242867186650074992013-05-14T11:22:00.000-04:002013-05-14T11:22:18.147-04:00Knowing Right from Wrong: Fr. Thomas Williams proves he does...in the end<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUHGH9zZLiVv6D08U5Ty5vXYScry4S0yYl8iCdTFPPkPLR_lkUIkYftmuFVjLx5iwTucV6s2QA9xsIvrgNMiY9j650Sm3HwyTudQ4fMGrHBmSzkRdJbPFtMpDnS6EuMLLWPx_zSw/s1600/ThomasWilliams.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUHGH9zZLiVv6D08U5Ty5vXYScry4S0yYl8iCdTFPPkPLR_lkUIkYftmuFVjLx5iwTucV6s2QA9xsIvrgNMiY9j650Sm3HwyTudQ4fMGrHBmSzkRdJbPFtMpDnS6EuMLLWPx_zSw/s200/ThomasWilliams.jpg" width="135" /></a>Fr. Thomas Williams, a priest in the Legion of Christ, had a promising church career. A moral theologian, Fr. Williams <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-D.-Williams/e/B001RAH1GS/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1">taught</a> Ethics and Catholic Social Doctrine at the Regina Apostolorum Pontifical Athenaeum in Rome, and served as Vatican Analyst for <i>NBC News</i>, <i>CBS News</i>, and <i>Sky News</i>. Fr. Williams served as superior of the Legion's general directorate in Rome in the 1990s. He has also written numerous popular works including <i>A Heart Like His: Meditations on the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Spiritual Progress: Becoming the Christian You Want to Be, Greater Than You Think: A Theologian Answers the Atheists About God,
The World as It Could Be: Catholic Social Thought for a New Generation, Can God Be Trusted?: Finding Faith in Troubled Times, Who Is My Neighbor: Personalism And The Foundations Of Human Rights, Building on Solid Ground: Authentic Values and How to Attain Them</i>, and <i>Knowing Right from Wrong: A Christian Guide to Conscience.</i><br />
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So the Catholic world was shocked in May of last year when the handsome mediagenic priest <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/16/prominent-legion-priest-a_0_n_1518729.html">admitted</a> that a few years earlier he had had an affair and fathered a child out of wedlock. Incredibly, along with Fr. Williams' confession, came a tacit admission from his superiors in the Legion of Christ that they knew of the affair and yet allowed Fr. Williams to continue to teach morality to their seminarians and speak publicly about ethics. In a <a href="http://www.regnumchristi.org/espanol/articulos/articulo.phtml?se=359&ca=84&te=782&id=36741">Q and A</a> posted on the Spanish version of the website of the Legion's lay movement, Regnum Christi, the order said that "the superiors advised Father Thomas to behave appropriately and to withdraw from public and they accompanied him in his reflection on his personal situation." However, they added that they should have taken faster and more stringent actions against the priest, and said that "the Director General and Council much regret not acting sooner with due firmness, take responsibility, and apologize for not doing everything possible to limit the scandal."<br />
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In a <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/deaconsbench/2012/05/lc-leader-admits-he-knew-for-years-about-williams-child/">communique</a> apologizing for his actions prior to taking a leave of absence for vocational discernment, Fr. Williams took responsibility for his failure to obey his superiors' advice to keep out of the public eye: "My superiors did on numerous occasions encourage me to keep a low profile, and I pushed to keep up a more active public apostolate. I foolishly thought that I had left this sin in my past, and that I could make up for some of the wrong I had done by doing the greatest good possible with the gifts God has given me. This was an error in judgment, and yet another thing I must ask your forgiveness for."<br />
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Now, a year later and after much reflection, Fr. Williams has decided to do the right thing. He has asked Pope Francis for dispensation from his vows and in a <a href="http://live.regnumchristi.org/2013/05/prayers-for-a-friend-and-brother-in-christ/">statement</a> published by his LC colleague Fr. John Conner, Fr. Williams says that "I came to the serene conviction that what God expects of me now is to devote myself to caring for my child and his mother. By responsibly and lovingly accepting the consequences of my actions, I will continue to serve God and his Church. I know I should be with my son and try to be the kind of father he needs."
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10354109.post-74730121642333637292013-04-30T16:41:00.000-04:002013-04-30T16:41:07.681-04:00Ex-bishop's widow wants optional priestly celibacy<br />
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She uses a wheelchair and carries the weight of her 87 years, but Clelia Luro feels powerful enough to make the Roman Catholic Church pay attention to her campaign to end priestly celibacy.</div>
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This woman, whose romance with a bishop and eventual marriage became a major scandal in the 1960s, is such a close friend with Pope Francis that he called her every Sunday when he was Argentina's leading cardinal.</div>
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Luro's convinced that he will eventually lead the global church to end mandatory priestly celibacy, a requirement she says "the world no longer understands"....</div>
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<a href="http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/apr/22/ex-bishops-widow-wants-optional-priestly-celibacy/">Full text from U-T San Diego...</a></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10354109.post-74650034742413029422013-04-04T13:47:00.000-04:002013-04-04T13:47:34.188-04:00From Africa...<b>KENYA: Kiambu married priest calls for an end to celibacy vow</b><br />
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A married priest in Kiambu has called upon Pope Francis to review the Catholic church vow of celibacy. Reformed Catholic Church Father Peter Kinyanjui said the vow is to blame for the scandals facing the church. Kinyanjui, who left the main Catholic church and married Emma Mugure three years ago, was speaking at an interview yesterday. "Many faithfuls feel Pope Francis is a safe pair of hands to redeem the church image. I believe that he will review the celibacy oath as a way to healing the catholic church from further destruction," he said. (The Star, 3/26/2013)...<a href="http://www.the-star.co.ke/news/article-113912/kiambu-married-priest-calls-end-celibacy-vow">More...</a><br />
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<b>UGANDA: Uganda's "Singing Priest" Suspended</b><br />
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Easily the most charismatic and best known Catholic priest in Uganda, you would think Fr. Anthony Musaala would be the last person the Church would want to suspend. Yet that is just what happened last month to the young clergyman...On March 12, 2013, Fr. Musaala, tired of the hypocrisy around sexual issues in the Catholic Church in his country, wrote an open letter to his clerical colleagues and superiors about the sexual abuse and celibacy violation issues in the Ugandan Church...In response to Fr. Musaala's letter, Archbishop Cyprian Kizito Lwanga suspended the popular cleric on March 19th. (Iglesia Descalza Blog, 4/3/2013)...<a href="http://iglesiadescalza.blogspot.com/2013/04/ugandas-singing-priest-suspended.html">More...</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10354109.post-54801505802935875522013-04-04T13:29:00.000-04:002013-04-04T13:29:10.404-04:00Ex-priests to Pope: Allow optional celibacyBy Tara Yap<br />
Rappler.com<br />
3/29/2013<br />
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LOILO CITY, Philippines — In time for Easter weekend, 3 Catholic Ilonggo priests with families renewed their call for optional celibacy. “Priesthood and marriage are not a contradiction. Marriage blends with priesthood,” said Fathers Hector Canto, Jose Elmer Cajilig, and Jesus Siva in a joint statement.<br />
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The 52-year-old Canto is married with 3 children, while 51-year-old Cajilig and 52-year-old Siva are both unmarried priests who have children. The 3 are hopeful that Pope Francis may be able to hear their plea to make celibacy optional in the Roman Catholic priesthood, which was hopeless during the papacy of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who affirmed the celibacy rule in several theological writings...<br />
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<a href="http://www.rappler.com/move-ph/25048-priesthood-catholic-priest-optional-celibacy">More...</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10354109.post-29547238033022562612013-04-04T10:47:00.001-04:002013-04-04T10:47:56.624-04:00British Catholic legislators ask pope to relax priestly celibacy rule<i>The Catholic Sun</i> (Catholic News Service)<br>
3/30/2013<br><br>
Twenty-one Catholic members of Parliament have written to Pope Francis to ask him to relax the rule on priestly celibacy for Latin-rite priests. The members of the House of Commons and the House of Lords said in a March 25 letter to the pope that the rule should be changed to allow married men to be ordained priests where pastoral needs required it...<br><br>
<a href="http://www.catholicsun.org/2013/03/30/british-catholic-legislators-ask-pope-to-relax-priestly-celibacy-rule/">More...</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10354109.post-57819755694530613642012-12-06T20:30:00.001-05:002012-12-06T20:30:13.452-05:00Widow of former priest gets pension rights<a href="http://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france/2012/11/14/01016-20121114ARTFIG00701-la-veuve-d-un-ancien-pretre-obtient-le-droit-a-une-pension.php">Le Figaro</a><br />
11/14/2012<br />
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The Strasbourg administrative court ruled that denying Helen B. the survivor's pension of her husband, who married her after his retirement, was contrary to the principle of equality.
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In Strasbourg, the Administrative Court ruled in favor of the widow of a former priest giving her the right to a survivor's pension from the state. Following the death of her husband in 2010, Helen B. was denied her right to the pension of her husband, who married her after his retirement.<br />
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In Alsace and Moselle, priests, pastors and rabbis are paid by the state because of the Napoleonic Concordat which is still in force. As such, widowers or widows of pastors or rabbis are entitled to a survivor's pension and the payment of the grace quarter (full treatment of the deceased for three months after his death). But not the widows of priests.<br />
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Helen B. had sought her husband's pension. But the Budget Ministry had rejected her demand in April 2011. To cancel this decision, Ms. B. lodged a complaint with the Administrative Court of Strasbourg, arguing that "this article is contrary to the constitutional principle of equality of rights and duties irrespective of religion." The Administrative Court ruled in her favor, deeming that Helen. B is entitled to receive a pension under the principle of equality.<br />
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For its part, Archbishop of Strasbourg said it was not involved in any way in this case. From the point of view of canon law, the priest -- even when retired -- contravened the rules of the Church by marrying, observed the chancellor of the Archdiocese Bernard Xibaut. But as for the widow, "it seems she was in a difficult financial situation, so it's good for her and her children," he commented.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10354109.post-11279073075927208242012-09-24T16:14:00.001-04:002012-09-24T16:14:32.400-04:00Brazilian archbishop believes time for optional celibacy has come<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwxYs9YTb_2Q74RSWfwwt4QhFdZHrKIjtIoYSepLue4g5i6ufSi3dKzLZF8jx2mEu8yG2Z_kqkOL4Y-GqjaM_44FhJYufmqoQdBXuwoKRMgXWiQTFisbCwjtBfcbY100QmVTYotw/s1600/domjacinto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwxYs9YTb_2Q74RSWfwwt4QhFdZHrKIjtIoYSepLue4g5i6ufSi3dKzLZF8jx2mEu8yG2Z_kqkOL4Y-GqjaM_44FhJYufmqoQdBXuwoKRMgXWiQTFisbCwjtBfcbY100QmVTYotw/s200/domjacinto.jpg" width="158" /></a></div>
Speaking to the <i>Folha da São Paulo</i>, the new Archbishop of Teresina, Dom Jacinto Furtado de Brito Sobrinho, <a href="http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/1157615-novo-arcebispo-diz-que-papa-nao-e-infalivel-e-que-padre-deveria-casar.shtml">told reporters</a> last week that, regardless of any opinions Pope Benedict XVI may have expressed on the importance of celibacy, the pontiff's words on this question are not infallible. He reiterated the Church teaching that the Pope is only considered infallible on matters of faith and morals and mandatory celibacy doesn't fit in those categories. The bishop added that "the fact that to be a priest you also have to be celibate is a discipline that the Church can change."
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Dom Jacinto also commented that many bishops would like to see the celibacy requirement removed. He said that opinion is shifting towards optional celibacy and that the Holy Spirit will blow on the Church and the Pope will decide to give the Latin rite Church both options, as priests in the Eastern rite Church already have. He also pointed to Benedict XVI's willingness to admit married Anglican priests into the Catholic priesthood as a sign that change will come.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10354109.post-43146741295169788312012-06-25T18:07:00.001-04:002012-06-25T18:07:28.149-04:00Seven suspended in PueblaVíctor Sánchez Espinosa, the Archbishop of Puebla, Mexico,<a href="http://www.milenio.com/cdb/doc/noticias2011/06214c1b1ed1865a57be68f734cf335a"> has placed seven priests in the Archdiocese on a 2 year leave</a> for vocational discernment for having violated their celibacy vows. The priests have been removed from public ministry during this time but can remain in dialogue with the archbishop as they make the choice between family and the priesthood.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10354109.post-46790545676367794872012-06-25T16:46:00.001-04:002012-06-25T16:46:26.600-04:00Bishop in beach photo scandal resigns<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn1AWo1aZQF_ypAgW0BfLwWnWXWYV0KoMgn6EoU7MP05EsEwMo0l688FwWEYupsxPkZTLEoaJnwzfMSntdOTDFB6DF-uvfDMtL-wA90i20J1vApL0rKeOhkEITJKPAJO3zQbnpAg/s1600/bargallo-obispo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn1AWo1aZQF_ypAgW0BfLwWnWXWYV0KoMgn6EoU7MP05EsEwMo0l688FwWEYupsxPkZTLEoaJnwzfMSntdOTDFB6DF-uvfDMtL-wA90i20J1vApL0rKeOhkEITJKPAJO3zQbnpAg/s200/bargallo-obispo.jpg" width="144" /></a>
You would think that after the Padre Alberto affair, priests would learn that it's risky to take your secret lover to the beach. Not (ex) Mons. Fernando Bargalló. Last week, Bargalló, who in 1997 was designated the first bishop of Merlo-Moreno in Argentina, became the latest casualty of <a href="http://www.clarin.com/sociedad/obispo-admitio-relacion-sentimental-renuncio_0_724127750.html">photos published of himself</a> cavorting on the beach at a luxury resort in Mexico, with a woman whom he first described as a childhood friend and then admitted was his lover.<br />
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Thus <a href="http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernando_Mar%C3%ADa_Bargall%C3%B3">a promising 34-year career as a priest</a> -- 18 of them as a bishop, first in Irina and Moron and then of Merlo-Moreno -- came to end as Bargalló submitted his resignation to the papal nuncio to Argentina. Bargalló was also president of Caritas for the Latin American and Carribbean region, a post to which he was elected in 2007. Some sources have suggested that, as one of the younger bishops, he might even have been in line to be the next Archbishop of Buenos Aires. <br />
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The couple are evenly matched in age -- he is 57 and she, 55, income, and social status. The woman is <a href="http://www2.cronica.com.ar/diario/2012/06/25/28368-exclusivo-el-obispo-habia-casado-a-la-novia.html">María de las Victorias Martínez Bo</a>, long divorced from her physician husband and mother of three children. She is a co-founder and owner of the stylish <a href="http://www.joliebistro.com.ar/">Jolie Bistro</a> restaurant. Mons. Bargalló performed her wedding and baptized her three children. In fact the couple <i>were</i> friends during childhood and adolescence since their families both owned vacation homes in La Cumbre. They separated only when Bargalló decided to carry on the family tradition of having a priest in each generation and entered seminary. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH2fsDTOrmvSCHfWjK9PTiIdl1J4mKAuI3ktgTzQeDLE19sgqKAkVlQIi_GK66KlbNMkGLAfczh7JXht5Bwk6GY9hEQGQvcZOB30xk0GT2B-Raam0WW9tekjnkQl11evN6TfPYnA/s1600/bargallo-caritas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH2fsDTOrmvSCHfWjK9PTiIdl1J4mKAuI3ktgTzQeDLE19sgqKAkVlQIi_GK66KlbNMkGLAfczh7JXht5Bwk6GY9hEQGQvcZOB30xk0GT2B-Raam0WW9tekjnkQl11evN6TfPYnA/s400/bargallo-caritas.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />
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Although having a vow of poverty as a priest, Bargalló was also independently wealthy as a result of a <a href="http://www.cronica.com.ar/diario/2012/06/22/28193-mas-detalles-exclusivos-del-obispo-enamorado.html">substantial inheritance</a> following the death of his mother. It is thought that he used these funds to subsidize his romance with Martínez Bo.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWoCd1uNz-iHEl-nint6DMnECH85ELxqLiYF3sTXTufoy2p_IR0C3BQNL22ZXARkJnHfoyY65yTZFfnQnUVID7WOcaGcbjifSDfXbQKQrYYb5Jv29f7c_SPNWWoZkxuUj8ub6DHw/s1600/bargallo-playa1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWoCd1uNz-iHEl-nint6DMnECH85ELxqLiYF3sTXTufoy2p_IR0C3BQNL22ZXARkJnHfoyY65yTZFfnQnUVID7WOcaGcbjifSDfXbQKQrYYb5Jv29f7c_SPNWWoZkxuUj8ub6DHw/s400/bargallo-playa1.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />
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According to the newspaper <i><a href="http://www.cronica.com.ar/diario/2012/06/21/28124-el-romance-del-obispo.html">Crónica</a></i>, the couple took great pains to conceal their romance and the Mexican getaway that resulted in the photos. They took separate flights to the United States and met there before travelling together, first to Mexico City and then to other vacation destinations. They also returned on separate flights.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcRH86_Ung1yCNglcI94VxNOxWkiSaiUrI2_wkAY2bAqcq6J6Aq86WL6LftOLGfJTys-ZvWmTOr2dZzDzC3unpFioy12kL4LF1ptOQWscMLjyPfWhzMqAE4LqSNAg72kSomOnqvQ/s1600/bargallo-playa2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcRH86_Ung1yCNglcI94VxNOxWkiSaiUrI2_wkAY2bAqcq6J6Aq86WL6LftOLGfJTys-ZvWmTOr2dZzDzC3unpFioy12kL4LF1ptOQWscMLjyPfWhzMqAE4LqSNAg72kSomOnqvQ/s400/bargallo-playa2.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />
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Immediately after the compromising photos became public, Bargalló issued a terse <a href="http://www.diariorumbosur.com/web/news!get.action;jsessionid=433FCD9CA708426C0AEDB4B00CBF57F0?news.section.id=5&news.id=45827">communiqué</a> in which he apologized for any harm the photos might have caused and reiterated his commitment to the priesthood: "I also want to clearly state that I am completely committed to God and to the Church in the mission that has been entrusted to me in this beloved Diocese of Merlo-Moreno and in the other responsibilities at the service of my brothers and sisters. I have deep feelings for my priesthood and dedication to Jesus the Lord and I want to persevere in it to the end."<br />
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In spite of these words, in the end, Bargalló became the second Argentine bishop after the late Jerónimo Podestá to step down because of a woman. Podestá and his wife became active and respected in the Latin American Federation of Married Catholic Priests. We can only hope that Bargalló and Martínez Bo will follow in their footsteps as they put this scandalous beginning behind them and live their love openly.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10354109.post-21662538122630166622012-05-23T11:19:00.001-04:002012-05-23T11:19:33.696-04:00Celibacy in the Eastern rite churchesOrthoCath, an Eastern rite Catholic blog, has an interesting article analyzing a recent comment by Cardinal Leonardo Sandri during the Eastern rite bishops' <i>ad limina</i> visit to the Vatican about the importance of embracing celibacy since it is the norm for Catholic priests in the United States. The blog writer believes that this is an indirect response from the Vatican to Melkite Greek Catholic Bishop Nicholas Samra's suggestion that he is considering directly admitting married men into seminaries to answer the priest shortage. This is a very thorough article on the celibacy tradition in the Eastern rite churches and includes links to other in-depth articles for those who want to know more about this.<br />
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<a href="http://orthocath.wordpress.com/2012/05/15/rome-to-us-eastern-catholics-new-priests-should-embrace-celibacy/">Full text of article...</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10354109.post-69730007134285246982012-05-15T13:09:00.000-04:002012-05-15T13:09:37.458-04:00European Human Rights Court rejects case of married priestJosé Antonio Fernández, a Spanish married priest, was dismissed from his job as a teacher of religion in 1997 after a newspaper published a photo of him and his family at a MOCEOP (Movement for Optional Celibacy) event. In Spain, teachers of religion, although they work in secular schools, are selected from a slate of candidates who have the approval of the Catholic Church, per a long-standing legal agreement between the Spanish government and the Church. Having exhausted all legal recourse in Spain to get his job back, Fernandez <a href="http://rentapriest.blogspot.com/2010/02/spanish-bishops-conference-defends.html">took his case to the European Court of Human Rights</a> in Strasbourg, claiming that his firing violated his rights to privacy and freedom of thought and expression.
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This week the European Court of Human Rights <a href="http://sociedad.elpais.com/sociedad/2012/05/15/actualidad/1337074753_763939.html">rejected</a> Fernandez's arguments and upheld the autonomy of the Catholic Church in making these decisions. Fernandez's attorney, José Luis Mazón, says they will appeal to the Court's Grand Chamber.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10354109.post-82463938856329907062012-05-15T12:43:00.001-04:002012-05-15T12:44:07.669-04:00Court in Colombia orders survivor's pension paid to male partner of Catholic priest<A HREF="http://www.clarin.com/mundo/Colombia-ordenan-pagarle-pension-sacerdote_0_696530541.html">Clarín</A><BR>
5/8/2012<BR><BR>
It was a hidden love. They kept it secret for almost 40 years. But after the death of the one, the other decided to come out to tell all and claim his rights. The gay partner of a priest is demanding that the Colombian government pay him a pension. That country's Constitutional Court has agreed with him.<BR><BR>
The man, whose identity has been witheld by court order, was the priest's partner for 28 years. In 2009, the priest died and "Pedro" -- as the Colombian media has been calling him -- began steps to be able to receive the pension like any other widower. But the Social Security Institute refused to pay, alleging that the priest could not have a partner because he should have been keeping his chastity vow. However, the Court rejected that argument and ordered payment of the pension.<BR><BR>
"Here the take-away is telling couples in the Roman Catholic Church that they also have rights and to demand them because we are in a country where democracy is important and the religious issue is separate, of no interest, since Colombia is a secular country," said attorney Germán Rincón, who is defending the priest's partner.<BR><BR>
"The fact taht there's a couple relationship between a priest and a civilian doesn't mean that there aren't any rights," Rincón added.<BR><BR>
"Hence this wider concept of family should be compatible with the consitutional prohibition against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or choice," the lawyer explained.<BR><BR>
For the high court, relegating homosexuals to second class citizenship isn't democratic.<BR><BR>
Although since 2007 Colombian law has recognized the property, health and pension rights of same sex couples, regardless of their social or religious condition, it's the first time that a pension has been granted to a homosexual couple that includes a priest.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0