Well, we haven't covered Eastern Europe lately so here is this gem from Reuters 3/23/2007:
BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungary's Catholic military bishop has resigned because he wants to marry a woman he met in the church's renewal movement, media reported Friday.
Brigadier General Tamas Szabo, 50, has been preaching to Catholic soldiers, border guards and their families since 2001.
The Roman Catholic Church insists priests remain celibate and has ruled out letting them marry.
The Hungarian Catholic Church said on its Web site that Pope Benedict had accepted Szabo's resignation.
Szabo told national news agency MTI: "I do not want to talk about my private life, I don't think that is a public matter."
We always knew "renewal" was good for the Church...
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Monday, March 26, 2007
Priest urges Catholics to stand up for change
Maine Press Herald
Saturday, March 24, 2007
By KELLEY BOUCHARD, Staff Writer
Roman Catholics should push for a stronger role in the church and seek greater accountability from the clergy, a noted theologian told an audience of 80 people in Portland Friday evening.
The Rev. Donald Cozzens, a Catholic priest, professor and author, said the denial and secrecy that pervaded the church's reaction to the priest sexual abuse scandal exposed its feudal structure, in which priests are viewed as lords of the manor and church members are expected to be docile serfs.
Cozzens said the church must abandon its feudal roots to survive and grow beyond the priest scandal and other challenges facing parishes around the world.
"These are not easy times for the church and these are not easy times for people who love the church," Cozzens said. "This is the laity's moment and we need good leadership."
Cozzens spoke at St. Pius X Church hall at the invitation of Maine Catholics Together, a fledgling organization of several groups, including Pax Christi and Voice of the Faithful, that are seeking church reform. It was Cozzens' first visit to Maine, which has 193,228 Catholics, according to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland.
"He presents an honest, reasonable appraisal of the church with a laity that has a secondary role. He encourages us to move away from the mindset of pray, pay and obey," said John Wirtz, a member of Maine Catholics Today who lives in Scarborough and attends St. Patrick's Church in Portland.
Cozzens is writer-in-residence and professor of religious studies at John Carroll University, a Jesuit school in Cleveland, Ohio. He has written several books on issues facing today's church and its shrinking priesthood, including "The Changing Face of the Priesthood: A Reflection on the Priest's Crisis of Soul" and "Sacred Silence: Denial and the Crisis in the Church."
In his latest book, "Freeing Celibacy," Cozzens, who is celibate, proposes making celibacy optional rather than mandatory. He said such a change in church doctrine would recognize that the call to celibacy is a gift and not one that can be demanded from God or expected of every man who wants to be a priest.
"I think we would have a lot more men in the priesthood if celibacy were optional," he said. "I think we would have a healthier and stronger priesthood."
Cozzens said today's younger Catholics aren't interested in institutions, so they're more likely to demonstrate their faith by volunteering at a soup kitchen than attending Mass. Since the 1960s, he said, the number of Catholics who attend Mass every week has dropped from 70 percent to less than 30 percent.
He said many Catholics suffer from a crisis of belief rather than a crisis of faith. They no longer have confidence in official directives or decisions of the institution, but they hold true to Christ's teachings.
He said lay members should have the courage to examine the church to forge a deeper faith and a stronger relationship with God. The church's structure, he said, should further its mission and reflect the fact that all Catholics are disciples of Christ, whether they are ordained or not.
Cozzens' talk drew different reactions from the audience.
"There's a lot of truth in what he said, but my experience with the church has been very positive," said Lori Arsenault, a Gorham resident who is a member of the Sacred Heart and St. Dominic Parish in Portland.
Brian Trask is a Chelsea resident who is Catholic and no longer attends church.
"I'm interested in the subject and interested in the role of celibacy in the church," Trask said. "I think the institution of the church is collapsing."
Staff Writer Kelley Bouchard can be contacted at 791-6328 or at:
kbouchard@pressherald.com
Saturday, March 24, 2007
By KELLEY BOUCHARD, Staff Writer
Roman Catholics should push for a stronger role in the church and seek greater accountability from the clergy, a noted theologian told an audience of 80 people in Portland Friday evening.
The Rev. Donald Cozzens, a Catholic priest, professor and author, said the denial and secrecy that pervaded the church's reaction to the priest sexual abuse scandal exposed its feudal structure, in which priests are viewed as lords of the manor and church members are expected to be docile serfs.
Cozzens said the church must abandon its feudal roots to survive and grow beyond the priest scandal and other challenges facing parishes around the world.
"These are not easy times for the church and these are not easy times for people who love the church," Cozzens said. "This is the laity's moment and we need good leadership."
Cozzens spoke at St. Pius X Church hall at the invitation of Maine Catholics Together, a fledgling organization of several groups, including Pax Christi and Voice of the Faithful, that are seeking church reform. It was Cozzens' first visit to Maine, which has 193,228 Catholics, according to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland.
"He presents an honest, reasonable appraisal of the church with a laity that has a secondary role. He encourages us to move away from the mindset of pray, pay and obey," said John Wirtz, a member of Maine Catholics Today who lives in Scarborough and attends St. Patrick's Church in Portland.
Cozzens is writer-in-residence and professor of religious studies at John Carroll University, a Jesuit school in Cleveland, Ohio. He has written several books on issues facing today's church and its shrinking priesthood, including "The Changing Face of the Priesthood: A Reflection on the Priest's Crisis of Soul" and "Sacred Silence: Denial and the Crisis in the Church."
In his latest book, "Freeing Celibacy," Cozzens, who is celibate, proposes making celibacy optional rather than mandatory. He said such a change in church doctrine would recognize that the call to celibacy is a gift and not one that can be demanded from God or expected of every man who wants to be a priest.
"I think we would have a lot more men in the priesthood if celibacy were optional," he said. "I think we would have a healthier and stronger priesthood."
Cozzens said today's younger Catholics aren't interested in institutions, so they're more likely to demonstrate their faith by volunteering at a soup kitchen than attending Mass. Since the 1960s, he said, the number of Catholics who attend Mass every week has dropped from 70 percent to less than 30 percent.
He said many Catholics suffer from a crisis of belief rather than a crisis of faith. They no longer have confidence in official directives or decisions of the institution, but they hold true to Christ's teachings.
He said lay members should have the courage to examine the church to forge a deeper faith and a stronger relationship with God. The church's structure, he said, should further its mission and reflect the fact that all Catholics are disciples of Christ, whether they are ordained or not.
Cozzens' talk drew different reactions from the audience.
"There's a lot of truth in what he said, but my experience with the church has been very positive," said Lori Arsenault, a Gorham resident who is a member of the Sacred Heart and St. Dominic Parish in Portland.
Brian Trask is a Chelsea resident who is Catholic and no longer attends church.
"I'm interested in the subject and interested in the role of celibacy in the church," Trask said. "I think the institution of the church is collapsing."
Staff Writer Kelley Bouchard can be contacted at 791-6328 or at:
kbouchard@pressherald.com
A son of a priest argues family case for church reform
Vows of celibacy weren't always required; for 1,700 years, priests often got married
Zachary Slobig
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Sometimes my dad celebrated Mass in our kitchen.
I grew up thinking this was completely normal. The seven of us sat at our scarred wooden table in Washington, D.C., while he walked us through the entire Catholic liturgical service. Sometimes I wondered what Mass looked like in my friends' kitchens. Was their Eucharist made from wheat or white? How did their fathers sound when they sang the Beatitudes in Latin? Did the other congregants giggle during that moment of silence after the Nicene Creed? Certainly, we could not have been the only kids on the block who spent an occasional Sunday morning in our underwear passing around a chalice filled with the blood of Christ.
Some Sundays other families joined us for "church." My father would don his 20-year-old stole, a strip of fabric 4 inches wide and 80 inches long, reserved for ordained priests and bishops. With the defiance and subterfuge of the early Christians, he would lead his congregation to our damp basement. On a carpet patterned with Chinese checkers, hopscotch, and tic-tac-toe, he expounded on the Holy Trinity while my mother strummed her rosewood guitar and softly sang folk renditions of church favorites.
Like that musty basement, my Catholicism is subterranean. I am certainly no church historian. In fact, you might find it odd for me to argue for an end to priestly celibacy when I haven't been to church in quite some time. Still, I have a stake. I am a reformed, if not lapsed, Catholic arguing for Catholic reform. I am a son arguing for his father, a prodigal son appealing to a prudish church.
That chalice, the same one my father held aloft above his altar so many years ago, that stole, the subversive memento of his calling -- these objects were part of the radical, celibacy-questioning church of my youth. Few acknowledge the remarkable fluidity with which the church has treated the vow of chastity. Here I stand aligned with a grand tradition within Catholicism, as old as the church itself.
The years of my father's priesthood, the mid-1960s, marked a burst of church reform with the Second Vatican Council. The winds of progressive change swept through the pews, anointing "the people" as the church. Now you will hear Mass in your native tongues! Now priests will no longer celebrate the liturgy with their backs to the congregation! Now the Virgin Mary will be referred to as "the Blessed Mother of the church!" An invigorating time for a young rabble-rousing priest, but one untouched third-rail reform would send my dad packing.
My mother was a young social worker in a Chicago settlement house when she met brash and outspoken Father Frank. The archdiocese suspected he was a communist sympathizer. He hadn't waited for the decrees of the Second Vatican Council to face the congregation and engage them in Spanish. His parishioners referred to him affectionately as "Padre Poncho." He broke up knife fights between battling gangs, marched with Martin Luther King, and once slept on Cesar Chavez's couch.
He had taken two vows long before he met my mother: chastity and poverty. She likes to joke that he only kept one. For a decade as a parish priest, before he became so enamored of my mother, he was enamored of liberation theology. The gravity of those two bodies -- the church and my mother -- pushed and pulled. Finally, he went to Archbishop John Patrick Cody of Chicago and announced his departure. My dad didn't kneel, and he certainly didn't kiss the crusty conservative's ring. "If they changed the rules, I'd still be wearing a collar," he insisted ever after.
As it turns out, the church's absolute celibacy dogma is relatively recent, a mere half-millennium old in the grand span of Catholic history. So why has the church maintained this curious anachronism that disallows priests from marriage and a family? Ask St. Paul. "The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord; but the married man is anxious about worldly affairs, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided," he wrote in celebration of celibacy. And St. Augustine warned, "Nothing is so powerful in drawing the spirit of a man downward as the caresses of a woman."
On the other hand, St. Peter, the first pope, that revered rock upon which the church was built, was a husband. Close Bible readers know this because St. Mark's gospel makes elliptical reference to the apostle's mother-in-law.
For 1,700 years, priests often married. The 43rd decree of the Council of Elvira in the fourth century, for instance, stated that any priest who slept with his wife the night before celebrating mass would lose his job. By the sixth century, the vow of celibacy had actually loosened further, with satisfaction of the flesh by married priests calling for a penalty of temporary excommunication for just one year. Pope Pelagius II instituted a policy in 580 of allowing priests to marry as long as they did not transfer property to wives or children. Not until the Council of Trent in 1563, however, did the Vatican gavel fall resoundingly in favor of absolute celibacy.
Let me add that I find myself heartened by these unsung chapters of church history, knowing that the clerical and the domestic once overlapped, that back in the day other kids had dads who did say mass and not just in their kitchens either. It seems I am not a freak. Not with those scores of ancestral cousins whose dads were Fathers.
The Catholic Church's current view of celibacy has created a labor shortage. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, not known for being cheeky, the dearth of Catholic priests is expected to persist, "resulting in a very favorable job outlook continuing through the year 2012."
As in any demanding job, improved working conditions would ease the recruiting effort. So to Pope Benedict XVI, I say this: Loose the Catholic Church from its chastity belt and let the seminaries swell. If St. Peter could be both priest and husband, why not today's padres? Why not my own father, even now?
"Once a priest, always a priest," my dad used to say. Two of his younger siblings in his raucous Irish Catholic family would later take holy vows as well. My uncle John is a parish priest in a rapidly aging community in Phoenix. My aunt Joan, a vocal death penalty critic in the order of the Sisters of Providence in Terre Haute, Ind., is the administrator of two parishes without a single priest.
True to form, my father continues to adhere to his vow of poverty. These days my parents have taken up residence in the rectory housing of a Silesian parish in Quito, Ecuador. They have come full circle, returning to the spartan milieu of their courtship. There, in the hills 10,000 feet above sea level, they work with the disenfranchised street kids.
One Ash Wednesday, my dad sat at the family's kitchen table, the seven of us huddled in observance, while he carefully burned palm fronds in a ceramic bowl. One by one, he bent and folded them, bringing a match to their frayed ends. Smoke wafted to our yellowed ceiling. Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return. He closed his eyes, doing his magical priestly work on those dried palm leaves, transforming the black ash into the substance that would mark his familial flock as Catholic. Suddenly, the bowl shattered into a dozen pieces. Looking down in horror at the shards and the smoldering leaves strewn about and my father stubbing out small fires with his thumb, I began to consider the possibility that most kids didn't have a church in their kitchen. I gasped. Was it a sign? Had we transgressed? If He was angry on Ash Wednesday, what smitings might be in store for Easter?
Dioceses around the world have recently introduced a "prayer for the priestly vocations" into the Sunday Mass. Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles called in desperation for a "Special Year of Prayer" in 2006 to mitigate the manpower shortfall. "The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers," Mahony pleaded, quoting St. Matthew.
Why leave the future of the institution to the anemic power of prayer when the answer may be as simple as lifting the proscription on priests as patriarchs? The church may have taken away my father's vestments, but in his mind, no Cardinal could legitimately strip him of his priestliness. They would have to drain his blood.
Zachary Slobig is a student at UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism who had a fantastic in-house tutor for his high school Latin homework. Contact us at insight@sfchronicle.com.
Zachary Slobig
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Sometimes my dad celebrated Mass in our kitchen.
I grew up thinking this was completely normal. The seven of us sat at our scarred wooden table in Washington, D.C., while he walked us through the entire Catholic liturgical service. Sometimes I wondered what Mass looked like in my friends' kitchens. Was their Eucharist made from wheat or white? How did their fathers sound when they sang the Beatitudes in Latin? Did the other congregants giggle during that moment of silence after the Nicene Creed? Certainly, we could not have been the only kids on the block who spent an occasional Sunday morning in our underwear passing around a chalice filled with the blood of Christ.
Some Sundays other families joined us for "church." My father would don his 20-year-old stole, a strip of fabric 4 inches wide and 80 inches long, reserved for ordained priests and bishops. With the defiance and subterfuge of the early Christians, he would lead his congregation to our damp basement. On a carpet patterned with Chinese checkers, hopscotch, and tic-tac-toe, he expounded on the Holy Trinity while my mother strummed her rosewood guitar and softly sang folk renditions of church favorites.
Like that musty basement, my Catholicism is subterranean. I am certainly no church historian. In fact, you might find it odd for me to argue for an end to priestly celibacy when I haven't been to church in quite some time. Still, I have a stake. I am a reformed, if not lapsed, Catholic arguing for Catholic reform. I am a son arguing for his father, a prodigal son appealing to a prudish church.
That chalice, the same one my father held aloft above his altar so many years ago, that stole, the subversive memento of his calling -- these objects were part of the radical, celibacy-questioning church of my youth. Few acknowledge the remarkable fluidity with which the church has treated the vow of chastity. Here I stand aligned with a grand tradition within Catholicism, as old as the church itself.
The years of my father's priesthood, the mid-1960s, marked a burst of church reform with the Second Vatican Council. The winds of progressive change swept through the pews, anointing "the people" as the church. Now you will hear Mass in your native tongues! Now priests will no longer celebrate the liturgy with their backs to the congregation! Now the Virgin Mary will be referred to as "the Blessed Mother of the church!" An invigorating time for a young rabble-rousing priest, but one untouched third-rail reform would send my dad packing.
My mother was a young social worker in a Chicago settlement house when she met brash and outspoken Father Frank. The archdiocese suspected he was a communist sympathizer. He hadn't waited for the decrees of the Second Vatican Council to face the congregation and engage them in Spanish. His parishioners referred to him affectionately as "Padre Poncho." He broke up knife fights between battling gangs, marched with Martin Luther King, and once slept on Cesar Chavez's couch.
He had taken two vows long before he met my mother: chastity and poverty. She likes to joke that he only kept one. For a decade as a parish priest, before he became so enamored of my mother, he was enamored of liberation theology. The gravity of those two bodies -- the church and my mother -- pushed and pulled. Finally, he went to Archbishop John Patrick Cody of Chicago and announced his departure. My dad didn't kneel, and he certainly didn't kiss the crusty conservative's ring. "If they changed the rules, I'd still be wearing a collar," he insisted ever after.
As it turns out, the church's absolute celibacy dogma is relatively recent, a mere half-millennium old in the grand span of Catholic history. So why has the church maintained this curious anachronism that disallows priests from marriage and a family? Ask St. Paul. "The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord; but the married man is anxious about worldly affairs, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided," he wrote in celebration of celibacy. And St. Augustine warned, "Nothing is so powerful in drawing the spirit of a man downward as the caresses of a woman."
On the other hand, St. Peter, the first pope, that revered rock upon which the church was built, was a husband. Close Bible readers know this because St. Mark's gospel makes elliptical reference to the apostle's mother-in-law.
For 1,700 years, priests often married. The 43rd decree of the Council of Elvira in the fourth century, for instance, stated that any priest who slept with his wife the night before celebrating mass would lose his job. By the sixth century, the vow of celibacy had actually loosened further, with satisfaction of the flesh by married priests calling for a penalty of temporary excommunication for just one year. Pope Pelagius II instituted a policy in 580 of allowing priests to marry as long as they did not transfer property to wives or children. Not until the Council of Trent in 1563, however, did the Vatican gavel fall resoundingly in favor of absolute celibacy.
Let me add that I find myself heartened by these unsung chapters of church history, knowing that the clerical and the domestic once overlapped, that back in the day other kids had dads who did say mass and not just in their kitchens either. It seems I am not a freak. Not with those scores of ancestral cousins whose dads were Fathers.
The Catholic Church's current view of celibacy has created a labor shortage. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, not known for being cheeky, the dearth of Catholic priests is expected to persist, "resulting in a very favorable job outlook continuing through the year 2012."
As in any demanding job, improved working conditions would ease the recruiting effort. So to Pope Benedict XVI, I say this: Loose the Catholic Church from its chastity belt and let the seminaries swell. If St. Peter could be both priest and husband, why not today's padres? Why not my own father, even now?
"Once a priest, always a priest," my dad used to say. Two of his younger siblings in his raucous Irish Catholic family would later take holy vows as well. My uncle John is a parish priest in a rapidly aging community in Phoenix. My aunt Joan, a vocal death penalty critic in the order of the Sisters of Providence in Terre Haute, Ind., is the administrator of two parishes without a single priest.
True to form, my father continues to adhere to his vow of poverty. These days my parents have taken up residence in the rectory housing of a Silesian parish in Quito, Ecuador. They have come full circle, returning to the spartan milieu of their courtship. There, in the hills 10,000 feet above sea level, they work with the disenfranchised street kids.
One Ash Wednesday, my dad sat at the family's kitchen table, the seven of us huddled in observance, while he carefully burned palm fronds in a ceramic bowl. One by one, he bent and folded them, bringing a match to their frayed ends. Smoke wafted to our yellowed ceiling. Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return. He closed his eyes, doing his magical priestly work on those dried palm leaves, transforming the black ash into the substance that would mark his familial flock as Catholic. Suddenly, the bowl shattered into a dozen pieces. Looking down in horror at the shards and the smoldering leaves strewn about and my father stubbing out small fires with his thumb, I began to consider the possibility that most kids didn't have a church in their kitchen. I gasped. Was it a sign? Had we transgressed? If He was angry on Ash Wednesday, what smitings might be in store for Easter?
Dioceses around the world have recently introduced a "prayer for the priestly vocations" into the Sunday Mass. Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles called in desperation for a "Special Year of Prayer" in 2006 to mitigate the manpower shortfall. "The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers," Mahony pleaded, quoting St. Matthew.
Why leave the future of the institution to the anemic power of prayer when the answer may be as simple as lifting the proscription on priests as patriarchs? The church may have taken away my father's vestments, but in his mind, no Cardinal could legitimately strip him of his priestliness. They would have to drain his blood.
Zachary Slobig is a student at UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism who had a fantastic in-house tutor for his high school Latin homework. Contact us at insight@sfchronicle.com.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Milingo says the Pope has it Wrong
Press Release
From Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo and the
Married Priests Now! Catholic Prelature
From his vacation home in Korea, Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo, of the Married Priests Now! Catholic Prelature, has called his vicar general, Archbishop Peter Brennan, in New York to speak about the Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis which was published today by Pope Benedict at the Vatican.
Archbishop Milingo said that "the pope has it wrong in (paragraph 24 of) his exhortation when he recommends the requirement of celibacy to his priests . He is still in denial about the harm enforced celibacy has done and is doing to the priesthood. Priests must be free to choose celibacy and it should be a personal charism, not something required of all."
Milingo continued in lively discussion:
"The so called different practice mentioned by the pope, the married priesthood, of the Eastern Church was at one time the norm of the whole church for twelve centuries. Remember there have always been married priests in the Roman Catholic church. First among the Twelve who were called by Christ himself there were married men. Then married men were among the popes and bishops of the early church. Thirty nine popes were married and often their sons became priests, bishops and popes also. Marriage was expected of the priests by the people in the East even as it is today in South America and Africa. It is sad that now the Eastern Church only chooses single men as their bishops. Celibacy is not a free choice, it has become a job requirement in the Roman Communion. You are either celibate or you do not become a priest -- there is no choice. Celibacy does not have a nuptial meaning as the pope says. Marriage has a nuptial meaning, not celibacy. Identification with Christ the Bridegroom is a very troublesome metaphor and image because Christ is a man in his human nature and so is the male priest. Is this a homosexual relationship? The pope certainly swings the door wide open to make it an acceptable possibility. Is the Holy Father promoting homosexuality to preserve celibacy for priests? This needs to be corrected."
"Benedict's reaffirmation of celibacy is the death-knell of the priesthood causing churches to be closed and sold for profit to pay the damages of enforced celibacy. Life long celibacy is unrealistic and unnecessary. It is far better if the priest is married and can identify with the people he serves and model a good marriage for his parishioners. Christ did not ask this exclusive devotion to celibacy of his apostles and the church should not ask it either. Enforced celibacy is a horrible mistake. Priests like every other human male should have the normal sexual outlet of a good marriage. Benedict and his Cardinals are in pathological denial of the truth. We have seen that many priests have never matured in their sexual life or experience and most do not practice celibacy in joy but as a lonesome obligation. Only those in denial think it is an immense blessing. Celibacy is an albatross that has caused immense harm to priests, and to children, and it has bankrupted many dioceses. It is time to end this charade. Let priests marry and have healthy and wholesome sexual and spiritual lives serving the People of God."
Contact:
Most Reverend Peter Paul Brennan
Married Priests Now! Catholic Prelature
DDamdg@aol.com
151 Regent Place
West Hempstead, NY 11552
Telephone 516 485 0616
From Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo and the
Married Priests Now! Catholic Prelature
From his vacation home in Korea, Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo, of the Married Priests Now! Catholic Prelature, has called his vicar general, Archbishop Peter Brennan, in New York to speak about the Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis which was published today by Pope Benedict at the Vatican.
Archbishop Milingo said that "the pope has it wrong in (paragraph 24 of) his exhortation when he recommends the requirement of celibacy to his priests . He is still in denial about the harm enforced celibacy has done and is doing to the priesthood. Priests must be free to choose celibacy and it should be a personal charism, not something required of all."
Milingo continued in lively discussion:
"The so called different practice mentioned by the pope, the married priesthood, of the Eastern Church was at one time the norm of the whole church for twelve centuries. Remember there have always been married priests in the Roman Catholic church. First among the Twelve who were called by Christ himself there were married men. Then married men were among the popes and bishops of the early church. Thirty nine popes were married and often their sons became priests, bishops and popes also. Marriage was expected of the priests by the people in the East even as it is today in South America and Africa. It is sad that now the Eastern Church only chooses single men as their bishops. Celibacy is not a free choice, it has become a job requirement in the Roman Communion. You are either celibate or you do not become a priest -- there is no choice. Celibacy does not have a nuptial meaning as the pope says. Marriage has a nuptial meaning, not celibacy. Identification with Christ the Bridegroom is a very troublesome metaphor and image because Christ is a man in his human nature and so is the male priest. Is this a homosexual relationship? The pope certainly swings the door wide open to make it an acceptable possibility. Is the Holy Father promoting homosexuality to preserve celibacy for priests? This needs to be corrected."
"Benedict's reaffirmation of celibacy is the death-knell of the priesthood causing churches to be closed and sold for profit to pay the damages of enforced celibacy. Life long celibacy is unrealistic and unnecessary. It is far better if the priest is married and can identify with the people he serves and model a good marriage for his parishioners. Christ did not ask this exclusive devotion to celibacy of his apostles and the church should not ask it either. Enforced celibacy is a horrible mistake. Priests like every other human male should have the normal sexual outlet of a good marriage. Benedict and his Cardinals are in pathological denial of the truth. We have seen that many priests have never matured in their sexual life or experience and most do not practice celibacy in joy but as a lonesome obligation. Only those in denial think it is an immense blessing. Celibacy is an albatross that has caused immense harm to priests, and to children, and it has bankrupted many dioceses. It is time to end this charade. Let priests marry and have healthy and wholesome sexual and spiritual lives serving the People of God."
Contact:
Most Reverend Peter Paul Brennan
Married Priests Now! Catholic Prelature
DDamdg@aol.com
151 Regent Place
West Hempstead, NY 11552
Telephone 516 485 0616
Good Question: Why Are Catholic Priests Celibate?
Please note - the Fr. Cozzens intervied for this piece is NOT the well known scholar Donald Cozzens who writes about the clerical culture, and the damaging effects of mandatory celibacy, but ANDREW Cozzens - no relative, to my knowledge.
Ben Tracy
Reporting
(WCCO) Pope Benedict XVI released a 131 page “Apostolic Exhortation” Tuesday reaffirming church teaching on abortion, gay marriage, and divorce. He also said that Catholic priests will remain unmarried.
"Priestly celibacy lived with maturity, joy, and dedication is an immense blessing for the Church and society itself,” wrote the Pope.
"Celibacy is a great good,” said Father Andrew Cozzens who teaches at the St. Paul Seminary.
Cozzens said celibacy has always been practiced by some priests, but it has been a requirement in the Western or Roman Catholic Church since the 4th Century. However, the Eastern Catholic Church, in places like Eastern Europe and Asia, does permit some priests to marry and has for centuries.
The western church requires priests to practice celibacy, meaning to remain unmarried. They are also required to be chaste or abstain from sexual relations.
“The foundation of priestly celibacy is completely found in Jesus Christ,” said Cozzens. “Christ was celibate."
That doesn’t mean it’s easy, especially in today’s society.
"Every vocation has struggles,” said Cozzens. "My experience of it is it’s a free, joyful reality. It’s sets me free to love in a new way.”
The idea is that a priest becomes married to the church and treats the members of his parish as his family. Cozzens says he would not be as good of a priest if he were married.
"It would change my relationship with God,” he said.
So why do married clergy work for other Christian faiths?
"That's a very good question,” said Cozzens. "For us (Catholics), the man who stands at the alter represents Christ. Jesus was not married."
Neither were most of his Apostles. In fact, Paul believed marriage was necessary simply because of temptation.
In 1 Corinthians, Chapter 7 he wrote: "It is good for a man not to marry. But since there is so much immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband." He goes on to say: "Those who marry will face many troubles in this life."
"Celibacy is not a kind-of anti-marriage or even anti-sexuality,” said Cozzens. "A sacrifice is only a sacrifice if you're giving up a good. To say that celibacy is a value or a treasure is actually to affirm marriage."
However, critics say the celibacy requirement has contributed to the abuse scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church and is the reason for the shortage of priests. Cozzens says abuse is not a matter of celibacy.
"It’s the result of sin and you're going to find that whether priests are married or celibate. And is the value of celibacy great enough to hold on to even if we have less priests?” he asked. “The church is clearly saying yes."
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Ben Tracy
Reporting
(WCCO) Pope Benedict XVI released a 131 page “Apostolic Exhortation” Tuesday reaffirming church teaching on abortion, gay marriage, and divorce. He also said that Catholic priests will remain unmarried.
"Priestly celibacy lived with maturity, joy, and dedication is an immense blessing for the Church and society itself,” wrote the Pope.
"Celibacy is a great good,” said Father Andrew Cozzens who teaches at the St. Paul Seminary.
Cozzens said celibacy has always been practiced by some priests, but it has been a requirement in the Western or Roman Catholic Church since the 4th Century. However, the Eastern Catholic Church, in places like Eastern Europe and Asia, does permit some priests to marry and has for centuries.
The western church requires priests to practice celibacy, meaning to remain unmarried. They are also required to be chaste or abstain from sexual relations.
“The foundation of priestly celibacy is completely found in Jesus Christ,” said Cozzens. “Christ was celibate."
That doesn’t mean it’s easy, especially in today’s society.
"Every vocation has struggles,” said Cozzens. "My experience of it is it’s a free, joyful reality. It’s sets me free to love in a new way.”
The idea is that a priest becomes married to the church and treats the members of his parish as his family. Cozzens says he would not be as good of a priest if he were married.
"It would change my relationship with God,” he said.
So why do married clergy work for other Christian faiths?
"That's a very good question,” said Cozzens. "For us (Catholics), the man who stands at the alter represents Christ. Jesus was not married."
Neither were most of his Apostles. In fact, Paul believed marriage was necessary simply because of temptation.
In 1 Corinthians, Chapter 7 he wrote: "It is good for a man not to marry. But since there is so much immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband." He goes on to say: "Those who marry will face many troubles in this life."
"Celibacy is not a kind-of anti-marriage or even anti-sexuality,” said Cozzens. "A sacrifice is only a sacrifice if you're giving up a good. To say that celibacy is a value or a treasure is actually to affirm marriage."
However, critics say the celibacy requirement has contributed to the abuse scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church and is the reason for the shortage of priests. Cozzens says abuse is not a matter of celibacy.
"It’s the result of sin and you're going to find that whether priests are married or celibate. And is the value of celibacy great enough to hold on to even if we have less priests?” he asked. “The church is clearly saying yes."
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Sunday, March 11, 2007
A Dangerous Closet
A psychologist argues that the Catholic Church's message to gay priests - that homosexuality should be a shameful secret - contributed to the sexual abuse scandal.
By MARY GAIL FRAWLEY-O'DEA | March 11, 2007 -
The Catholic Church’s position on homosexuality eventually might take its place among the other aspects of Catholic sexual theology generally discounted by the laity and many priests. Nonetheless, the hypocrisy of a church condemning homosexuality while depending on a significantly gay priesthood to run it and to administer its sacraments is, among several other factors, directly implicated in the sexual abuse scandal. The unspoken known that the priesthood is more homosexual than the wider culture is countered by an edict to priests not to speak openly about their sexual orientation but rather to preach about the evil of enacted homosexuality. Mixed messages, sexual secrets, and denied realities abound in a clerical Wonderland in which the institutional church appears to play the Queen of Hearts. Secrecy about and coverup of the sexual abuse of minors becomes an almost inevitable component of such a crazy and crazy-making realm.
Contemporary researchers suggest that between 28 percent and 56 percent of the American priesthood is homosexual. Most psychologically healthy gay men are attracted to the priesthood for the same reasons that it attracts mature heterosexual men. They love God, desire to pursue a life of deepened spirituality, and are committed to living out gospel values within a community of faith. It is probable that gay men always have been attracted to the priesthood in numbers disproportionate to their presence in the wider society. Until very recently, and in some cases still, Catholic boys who recognized their homosexuality faced the scorn of family, friends, and church. Taught that acting on his sexual love and strivings is intrinsically evil and mortally sinful, the Catholic gay man faces painful conflicts between his identity and his attachment relationships. Entering the priesthood was a move that, until quite recently, evoked family pride, with the seminarian or priest being held in great esteem by his community.
It is also logical to hypothesize that homosexual men would be attracted to the all-male environment of the priesthood. Further, when boys entered the seminary as young teens, the explosion of pubescent sexual strivings had only one direction in which to travel. Surrounded by men and boys in an environment that rendered women dangerous, except for idealized mothers and the Virgin Mary, an adolescent seminarian was left with few choices. He pretty much could lust after his mother or he could lust after those around him, many of them gay men. And so we encounter the paradox of an organization teaching that homosexuality is disordered and then constructing an environment that maximally elicits homosexual yearnings.
Many gay men growing up in what has been until recently a pervasively homophobic society have lived in closets in which they sometimes deny who they are even to themselves. The antihomosexual theology of the Catholic Church, conveyed in homosocial seminary environments likely to stimulate forbidden and derided sexual desires, often constructed for the young gay priest a particularly suffocating closet. Here, the self-hatred plaguing many gay men could be magnified for gay priests, some of whom tried to cope by strenuously denying their sexual orientation, even turning hatred outward toward other gay men. Denial and dissociation on this scale encourages the denial of other sexual secrets like the sexual abuse of children.
Nothing psychologically sound or, I suspect, spiritually enriching can emanate from such hypocrisy. Surely, the pope, cardinal, bishop, or priest who cannot look in the mirror and acknowledge his reflection as a homosexual man will have difficulty looking into the face of a sexually abusive brother and naming what he sees. Rather, he is likely to close his eyes to true evil, because his own humanity has been mislabeled as inclining toward evil. He may also blame or ignore the victims of sex abuse, unconsciously turning away from his own victimization by his Church and the wider society. Closets, then, are built within closets and lies pile up until it is hard to find the truth, much less speak the truth.
Mary Gail Frawley-O’Dea is a clinical psychologist specializing in sexual abuse recovery in Charlotte, North Carolina. Send comments to magazine@globe.com. Excerpted by permission from Perversion of Power: Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church by Mary Gail Frawley-O’Dea. Copyright 2007 Vanderbilt University Press.
By MARY GAIL FRAWLEY-O'DEA | March 11, 2007 -
The Catholic Church’s position on homosexuality eventually might take its place among the other aspects of Catholic sexual theology generally discounted by the laity and many priests. Nonetheless, the hypocrisy of a church condemning homosexuality while depending on a significantly gay priesthood to run it and to administer its sacraments is, among several other factors, directly implicated in the sexual abuse scandal. The unspoken known that the priesthood is more homosexual than the wider culture is countered by an edict to priests not to speak openly about their sexual orientation but rather to preach about the evil of enacted homosexuality. Mixed messages, sexual secrets, and denied realities abound in a clerical Wonderland in which the institutional church appears to play the Queen of Hearts. Secrecy about and coverup of the sexual abuse of minors becomes an almost inevitable component of such a crazy and crazy-making realm.
Contemporary researchers suggest that between 28 percent and 56 percent of the American priesthood is homosexual. Most psychologically healthy gay men are attracted to the priesthood for the same reasons that it attracts mature heterosexual men. They love God, desire to pursue a life of deepened spirituality, and are committed to living out gospel values within a community of faith. It is probable that gay men always have been attracted to the priesthood in numbers disproportionate to their presence in the wider society. Until very recently, and in some cases still, Catholic boys who recognized their homosexuality faced the scorn of family, friends, and church. Taught that acting on his sexual love and strivings is intrinsically evil and mortally sinful, the Catholic gay man faces painful conflicts between his identity and his attachment relationships. Entering the priesthood was a move that, until quite recently, evoked family pride, with the seminarian or priest being held in great esteem by his community.
It is also logical to hypothesize that homosexual men would be attracted to the all-male environment of the priesthood. Further, when boys entered the seminary as young teens, the explosion of pubescent sexual strivings had only one direction in which to travel. Surrounded by men and boys in an environment that rendered women dangerous, except for idealized mothers and the Virgin Mary, an adolescent seminarian was left with few choices. He pretty much could lust after his mother or he could lust after those around him, many of them gay men. And so we encounter the paradox of an organization teaching that homosexuality is disordered and then constructing an environment that maximally elicits homosexual yearnings.
Many gay men growing up in what has been until recently a pervasively homophobic society have lived in closets in which they sometimes deny who they are even to themselves. The antihomosexual theology of the Catholic Church, conveyed in homosocial seminary environments likely to stimulate forbidden and derided sexual desires, often constructed for the young gay priest a particularly suffocating closet. Here, the self-hatred plaguing many gay men could be magnified for gay priests, some of whom tried to cope by strenuously denying their sexual orientation, even turning hatred outward toward other gay men. Denial and dissociation on this scale encourages the denial of other sexual secrets like the sexual abuse of children.
Nothing psychologically sound or, I suspect, spiritually enriching can emanate from such hypocrisy. Surely, the pope, cardinal, bishop, or priest who cannot look in the mirror and acknowledge his reflection as a homosexual man will have difficulty looking into the face of a sexually abusive brother and naming what he sees. Rather, he is likely to close his eyes to true evil, because his own humanity has been mislabeled as inclining toward evil. He may also blame or ignore the victims of sex abuse, unconsciously turning away from his own victimization by his Church and the wider society. Closets, then, are built within closets and lies pile up until it is hard to find the truth, much less speak the truth.
Mary Gail Frawley-O’Dea is a clinical psychologist specializing in sexual abuse recovery in Charlotte, North Carolina. Send comments to magazine@globe.com. Excerpted by permission from Perversion of Power: Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church by Mary Gail Frawley-O’Dea. Copyright 2007 Vanderbilt University Press.
Saturday, March 03, 2007
Novas realidades no mundo da Igreja/New realities in the world of the Church
Those viewers who understand Portuguese really should check out this video from Portugal that talks about the priest shortage and celibacy in that country. It includes interviews with a man who left the Church to get married and a married Anglican priest who rejoined the Catholic Church as a married priest, among others. It really covers the story from every angle in what appears, from my limited understanding of Portuguese, to be a fair and balanced way. Here is an (approximate) English translation of the promotional blurb on TVI's Web site:
By vocation, they promised eternal love to God and swore fidelity to the Catholic Church, but sometimes nature gets the upper hand and, even though they try to resist temptation, they end up falling into sin. Some priests live double lives, but others -- and the number is growing -- ask dispensation from celibacy in order to get married. In Portugal, along with the crisis of lack of candidates [for the priesthood] which has been responsible for the closing of various parishes from the north to the south of the country, there are those priests who abandoned their roles along the way. Although the Church does not confirm the number due to lack of national data, it has been estimated that at least 500 priests have left the priesthood. "In the Name of the Father", an extensive news segment by Rita Sousa Tavares, includes testimony of priests who found another vocation -- that of father of the family.
Friday, March 02, 2007
Honoring the call to ministry and marriage
By Ellie Hidalgo
Tidings Online
March 2, 2007
The first married Roman Catholic priest in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles will be ordained this May, the culmination of a pilgrimage of faith that --- in the couple's words --- has been full of adventure and welcome surprises
A special papal provision will enable William Lowe, a former Episcopalian priest, to be ordained as a Catholic priest, several months after he and his wife Linda celebrated their 44th wedding anniversary. Cardinal Roger Mahony will preside at the May 6 ordination to be held at the couple's parish, Blessed Junípero Serra Church in Camarillo.
Bill was ordained to the transitional diaconate Feb. 10 by Santa Barbara Region Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Curry. The Lowes have served, and will continue to serve, at Padre Serra in a variety of ministries --- not unlike their work in the Episcopal Church.
'Surprised by the joy'
Having served as an Episcopalian priest for 27 years at Parish of the Messiah in Newton, Mass. (near Boston), Bill Lowe was known as the "Burying Parson in New England" because of his special call to bereavement ministry and to accompanying family members through the death of a loved one.
The Lowes also raised a son and two daughters, and Linda worked more than two decades as an administrator at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
In addition, to active lay service in the parish, Linda also served as president of an ecumenical group of women that gathered monthly.
After Bill retired in 2001, the two started doing something they never had time to do before --- visiting the Catholic churches of several friends and colleague pastors.
"We were amazed at the vigor and life in those parishes. We were surprised by the joy," said Bill, 68. The Catholic churches were full, he added, with as many men participating as women and scores of children.
The Lowes also were inspired by Catholic outreach to low-income communities, which had long been one of their priority concerns. "We always had a strong feeling that Catholicism was the church for the poor," said Bill. "It was the church that cared the most for the poor --- Jesus' people."
Simultaneously, he and Linda started talking about becoming Catholic.
"We didn't leave the Episcopal Church because we were angry or upset," he stressed. "We were drawn to Catholicism for positive reasons. But we are deeply grateful for everything we had in the Episcopal Church."
The two were received as Catholics in Massachusetts. Then Bill discovered he missed being fully engaged in the work of ministry and pastoral counseling; he believed he could still be of service to his new Catholic Church.
He also knew that a special papal provision had provided for several dozen married and former Episcopalian priests to become Catholic priests. He started talking with some of them and looking into the possibility.
Linda, 66, said she raised numerous questions and possible concerns during her husband's discernment process about whether or not to seek the Catholic priesthood. However, bottom-line she told him: "If you really want to do this, I'm with you."
"Linda's support and encouragement has been wonderful," added Bill. "It's meant so much to me in my ministry."
Moving west
Around this time the Lowes, who are originally from Southern California, decided to move back to the Golden State to care for Linda's aging parents. The cross-country move nearly four years ago drew them closer to their son Christopher, 39, who is married with five children and lives in Whittier, and their daughter Hilary, 36, who is married and lives in Santa Barbara. Their daughter Jennifer, 34, lives in Chicago.
Once they settled into Camarillo, Padre Serra Church welcomed them with open arms, said Bill, and the two became actively engaged in parish life.
Linda co-chairs the parish's outreach commission, including its justice ministries and charitable activities. Last year she participated in the intensive Just Faith educational program. She and several others also have started the Ventura County Interfaith Community which has brought together Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Mormon, Muslim, Hindu and Baha'i faithful to engage in dialogue and conversation about one another's faith traditions.
Bill has continued his work in bereavement ministry and is being sought out for pastoral and marital counseling. He also enjoys working with parish youth.
"I did not like retirement," said Bill. "I'm very happy to be back at work. I come home whistling and singing."
He used to think that small churches were advantageous in that a priest could get to know everyone personally. He has since seen the advantage of large Catholic churches --- Padre Serra is made up of 2,800 families --- in which a multitude of ministries, events and community outreach become possible.
"It's amazing how many hundreds of people we've gotten to know," he marveled. "Big churches don't have to be impersonal. Ours isn't; it's a very generous parish. People get involved in a lot of things."
On their days off, the Lowes enjoy visiting their children and grandchildren. The two are avid daily walkers and enjoy hiking. Both like to make music playing their recorders, and Linda plays tennis weekly. They also have a small condominium on Catalina Island for occasional get-away weekends.
"We are as youthful as we ever were, except that we take more naps," quipped Bill.
A 'profound religious conviction'
As they began to settle into their new neighborhood and lay parish ministry, Bill again looked into the process, known as the Pastoral Provision, by which former Episcopalian ministers can be ordained in the Catholic Church. He received the necessary recommendations from his pastor, Father Jarlath Dolan, Bishop Thomas Curry and Cardinal Mahony and was accepted as a candidate.
Given the growing dissension threatening to split apart the Anglican/Episcopalian communion over issues like women's ordination and the election of openly gay bishops, Bishop Curry said he wanted to ascertain that Bill's call to the priesthood was rooted in a profound religious conviction.
"He really did convert to Catholicism with his wife completely for reasons of religious conversion," said Bishop Curry. "He was joining something, not leaving something. That was very positive."
The next step was two years of guided theological, spiritual and pastoral preparation for ministry in the Catholic Church. Vincentian Father Kevin McCracken of St. John's Seminary in Camarillo served as his mentor.
Bill said he also has counted on the five married deacons at his parish for ongoing support. "The hospitality and graciousness have been exceptional," he said.
Even so, the process to ordination has been long-winding, and the Lowes were initiated into "slow-speed" Catholicism. At one point Bill questioned whether he might be too old to be pursuing a second chance at ministry. But a deacon friend insisted he persevere. He also stayed in contact with other married, former-Episcopalian, now Catholic priests, including Father Gregory Elder in the Diocese of San Bernardino.
As the process towards ordination inched along, Linda worried about possible negative responses by different groups of people - her children, former Episcopalian parishioners, older family members, deacons, priests and former Catholic priests who became laicized and married.
However, time and again they have been treated with warmth, generosity and support, she observed. "All the reasons I could imagine for different groups of people to be feeling negative about it, have just evaporated," said Linda. "That realization is what makes me know, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that this is God's will."
'Excitement at the parish'
Last October, Bill and four other men from the Dioceses of Charleston, Denver, Scranton and Newark passed their oral certification examinations at Immaculate Conception Seminary in Orange, New Jersey. This exam marked the final milestone for Bill to receive approval to be ordained as a transitional deacon and then as a priest.
On Feb. 10, Bill was ordained to the diaconate by Bishop Curry in the presence of his pastor and several hundred parishioners.
"The whole news of his ordination to the diaconate and to the priesthood has created a sense of excitement here at the parish," said Father Dolan. "It's a parish that's open to new ideas."
At the ordination ceremony, Bishop Curry said to the Lowes: "We come to celebrate the gifts of faith, experience, ministry, reflection and courage you bring to all of us."
Catholics and Episcopalians "treasure and love the same Jesus," said Bishop Curry. "But can you also share with us, you who come to our tradition with new eyes, what you treasure in this tradition and again call us to appreciate what maybe we tend to take for granted and do not always appreciate?"
After ordination to the priesthood, Bill will be assigned to the parish as pastoral assistant, performing the full range of sacramental ministry as is needed, including consecrating the Eucharist during Mass.
"In a sense it feels very normal being ordained. It's exactly what we were doing before," said Bill. "What is unusual for us is all the attention. We're really very shy about that. We're surprised and kind of amazed at all the attention we're getting, but we recognize a responsibility in doing this."
The Lowes are sought-after speakers on the local Catholic circuit. They have shared their journey and answered questions before groups of clergy, deacons, seniors, youth, and directors of religious education.
"People want to know who we are, what our journey has been. They want to know about our family," said Linda. As the wife of a priest, "I'm not really different from any other active lay person," she said. She believes in the ministry of presence and being part of the "worshipping core" of the parish. "I feel very strongly about lay ministry and its importance," she added.
Bill said he and Linda are looking forward to the future with hope and gladness, adding, "We're both pretty keen on new adventures and continuing the pilgrimage."
Tidings Online
March 2, 2007
The first married Roman Catholic priest in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles will be ordained this May, the culmination of a pilgrimage of faith that --- in the couple's words --- has been full of adventure and welcome surprises
A special papal provision will enable William Lowe, a former Episcopalian priest, to be ordained as a Catholic priest, several months after he and his wife Linda celebrated their 44th wedding anniversary. Cardinal Roger Mahony will preside at the May 6 ordination to be held at the couple's parish, Blessed Junípero Serra Church in Camarillo.
Bill was ordained to the transitional diaconate Feb. 10 by Santa Barbara Region Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Curry. The Lowes have served, and will continue to serve, at Padre Serra in a variety of ministries --- not unlike their work in the Episcopal Church.
'Surprised by the joy'
Having served as an Episcopalian priest for 27 years at Parish of the Messiah in Newton, Mass. (near Boston), Bill Lowe was known as the "Burying Parson in New England" because of his special call to bereavement ministry and to accompanying family members through the death of a loved one.
The Lowes also raised a son and two daughters, and Linda worked more than two decades as an administrator at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
In addition, to active lay service in the parish, Linda also served as president of an ecumenical group of women that gathered monthly.
After Bill retired in 2001, the two started doing something they never had time to do before --- visiting the Catholic churches of several friends and colleague pastors.
"We were amazed at the vigor and life in those parishes. We were surprised by the joy," said Bill, 68. The Catholic churches were full, he added, with as many men participating as women and scores of children.
The Lowes also were inspired by Catholic outreach to low-income communities, which had long been one of their priority concerns. "We always had a strong feeling that Catholicism was the church for the poor," said Bill. "It was the church that cared the most for the poor --- Jesus' people."
Simultaneously, he and Linda started talking about becoming Catholic.
"We didn't leave the Episcopal Church because we were angry or upset," he stressed. "We were drawn to Catholicism for positive reasons. But we are deeply grateful for everything we had in the Episcopal Church."
The two were received as Catholics in Massachusetts. Then Bill discovered he missed being fully engaged in the work of ministry and pastoral counseling; he believed he could still be of service to his new Catholic Church.
He also knew that a special papal provision had provided for several dozen married and former Episcopalian priests to become Catholic priests. He started talking with some of them and looking into the possibility.
Linda, 66, said she raised numerous questions and possible concerns during her husband's discernment process about whether or not to seek the Catholic priesthood. However, bottom-line she told him: "If you really want to do this, I'm with you."
"Linda's support and encouragement has been wonderful," added Bill. "It's meant so much to me in my ministry."
Moving west
Around this time the Lowes, who are originally from Southern California, decided to move back to the Golden State to care for Linda's aging parents. The cross-country move nearly four years ago drew them closer to their son Christopher, 39, who is married with five children and lives in Whittier, and their daughter Hilary, 36, who is married and lives in Santa Barbara. Their daughter Jennifer, 34, lives in Chicago.
Once they settled into Camarillo, Padre Serra Church welcomed them with open arms, said Bill, and the two became actively engaged in parish life.
Linda co-chairs the parish's outreach commission, including its justice ministries and charitable activities. Last year she participated in the intensive Just Faith educational program. She and several others also have started the Ventura County Interfaith Community which has brought together Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Mormon, Muslim, Hindu and Baha'i faithful to engage in dialogue and conversation about one another's faith traditions.
Bill has continued his work in bereavement ministry and is being sought out for pastoral and marital counseling. He also enjoys working with parish youth.
"I did not like retirement," said Bill. "I'm very happy to be back at work. I come home whistling and singing."
He used to think that small churches were advantageous in that a priest could get to know everyone personally. He has since seen the advantage of large Catholic churches --- Padre Serra is made up of 2,800 families --- in which a multitude of ministries, events and community outreach become possible.
"It's amazing how many hundreds of people we've gotten to know," he marveled. "Big churches don't have to be impersonal. Ours isn't; it's a very generous parish. People get involved in a lot of things."
On their days off, the Lowes enjoy visiting their children and grandchildren. The two are avid daily walkers and enjoy hiking. Both like to make music playing their recorders, and Linda plays tennis weekly. They also have a small condominium on Catalina Island for occasional get-away weekends.
"We are as youthful as we ever were, except that we take more naps," quipped Bill.
A 'profound religious conviction'
As they began to settle into their new neighborhood and lay parish ministry, Bill again looked into the process, known as the Pastoral Provision, by which former Episcopalian ministers can be ordained in the Catholic Church. He received the necessary recommendations from his pastor, Father Jarlath Dolan, Bishop Thomas Curry and Cardinal Mahony and was accepted as a candidate.
Given the growing dissension threatening to split apart the Anglican/Episcopalian communion over issues like women's ordination and the election of openly gay bishops, Bishop Curry said he wanted to ascertain that Bill's call to the priesthood was rooted in a profound religious conviction.
"He really did convert to Catholicism with his wife completely for reasons of religious conversion," said Bishop Curry. "He was joining something, not leaving something. That was very positive."
The next step was two years of guided theological, spiritual and pastoral preparation for ministry in the Catholic Church. Vincentian Father Kevin McCracken of St. John's Seminary in Camarillo served as his mentor.
Bill said he also has counted on the five married deacons at his parish for ongoing support. "The hospitality and graciousness have been exceptional," he said.
Even so, the process to ordination has been long-winding, and the Lowes were initiated into "slow-speed" Catholicism. At one point Bill questioned whether he might be too old to be pursuing a second chance at ministry. But a deacon friend insisted he persevere. He also stayed in contact with other married, former-Episcopalian, now Catholic priests, including Father Gregory Elder in the Diocese of San Bernardino.
As the process towards ordination inched along, Linda worried about possible negative responses by different groups of people - her children, former Episcopalian parishioners, older family members, deacons, priests and former Catholic priests who became laicized and married.
However, time and again they have been treated with warmth, generosity and support, she observed. "All the reasons I could imagine for different groups of people to be feeling negative about it, have just evaporated," said Linda. "That realization is what makes me know, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that this is God's will."
'Excitement at the parish'
Last October, Bill and four other men from the Dioceses of Charleston, Denver, Scranton and Newark passed their oral certification examinations at Immaculate Conception Seminary in Orange, New Jersey. This exam marked the final milestone for Bill to receive approval to be ordained as a transitional deacon and then as a priest.
On Feb. 10, Bill was ordained to the diaconate by Bishop Curry in the presence of his pastor and several hundred parishioners.
"The whole news of his ordination to the diaconate and to the priesthood has created a sense of excitement here at the parish," said Father Dolan. "It's a parish that's open to new ideas."
At the ordination ceremony, Bishop Curry said to the Lowes: "We come to celebrate the gifts of faith, experience, ministry, reflection and courage you bring to all of us."
Catholics and Episcopalians "treasure and love the same Jesus," said Bishop Curry. "But can you also share with us, you who come to our tradition with new eyes, what you treasure in this tradition and again call us to appreciate what maybe we tend to take for granted and do not always appreciate?"
After ordination to the priesthood, Bill will be assigned to the parish as pastoral assistant, performing the full range of sacramental ministry as is needed, including consecrating the Eucharist during Mass.
"In a sense it feels very normal being ordained. It's exactly what we were doing before," said Bill. "What is unusual for us is all the attention. We're really very shy about that. We're surprised and kind of amazed at all the attention we're getting, but we recognize a responsibility in doing this."
The Lowes are sought-after speakers on the local Catholic circuit. They have shared their journey and answered questions before groups of clergy, deacons, seniors, youth, and directors of religious education.
"People want to know who we are, what our journey has been. They want to know about our family," said Linda. As the wife of a priest, "I'm not really different from any other active lay person," she said. She believes in the ministry of presence and being part of the "worshipping core" of the parish. "I feel very strongly about lay ministry and its importance," she added.
Bill said he and Linda are looking forward to the future with hope and gladness, adding, "We're both pretty keen on new adventures and continuing the pilgrimage."
Friday, February 23, 2007
Married Catholic priest ordained for remote, world’s largest geographic parish
I found this article very interesting especially since the Mackenzie-Fort Smith Diocese was one of 7 dioceses that in 2002 raised the celibacy issue again with the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. From a CNN news story from that period:
Why is it so impossible for Rome to understand that a clerical model that was designed for the old European church no longer works in today's world and least of all in the indigenous churches in the Americas? Chiapas and the Northwest Territories are vastly different places but the call for a married priesthood is the same.
Married Catholic priest ordained for remote, world’s largest geographic parish
By Sara Loftson
2/22/2007
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)
YELLOWKNIFE, Canada (The Catholic Register) – Hundreds of parishioners packed St. Patrick’s Church in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, on Feb. 18 to see Don Flumerfelt ordained as the first Catholic priest married with children in the Mackenzie-Fort Smith Diocese.
After 29 years as an Anglican priest, Father Flumerfelt will now lead a Catholic church in the Sahtu region of the Northwest Territories.
“It’s an answer to prayer,” said Father Flumerfelt, 59.
Father Flumerfelt made the decision after taking a short break from his Anglican ministry to deal with family issues, including his daughter’s illness and mother’s death. During the difficult time, Father Flumerfelt said he received a lot of support from the Catholic Church and began to feel a strong connection to the faith.
The Mackenzie-Fort Smith Diocese covers most of the Northwest Territories and small portions of Nunavut, Alberta and Saskatchewan. While it’s the largest diocese geographically in the world, it only has seven priests: three are on loan from other southern Canadian dioceses, three are diocesan priests and one is an Oblate of Mary Immaculate order priest.
During the western bishops’ ad limina visit to Rome in the fall, Bishop Denis Croteau used most of his 15-minute audience with Pope Benedict XVI to petition for Father Flumerfelt’s ordination. After Croteau assured the Pope that Flumerfelt was a suitable candidate and would be accepted by the local community, the pope granted permission on the spot.
During the Mass, St. Patrick’s pastor Father Daley read the indult from the pope to assure the congregation that this is a legitimate ordination.
“It’s (my wife’s) ‘yes,’ along with the pope, that has given me the privilege of standing here today as a Roman Catholic priest,” Father Flumerfelt told the congregation in his closing remarks.
Father Flumerfelt’s wife of 35 years, Julia, read the first reading and was acknowledged throughout the Mass at different points. She said she felt very included during her husband’s formation.
“I try to respond when people have a need when they ask me, but I’m much more of a prayer person in the background,” said Julia Flumerfelt, 57, who has also converted to Catholicism.
While many hoped this ordination would be a sign of unity between Anglicans and Catholics, no Anglican clergy were in attendance.
The ordination also caused a sore spot for some Catholics in the diocese.
“I’ve had some very strong statements from Catholics who’ve said you can’t do this, it’s just impossible to have two loves, one for the church and one for your wife,” said Father Flumerfelt. “I don’t honestly believe that’s true for all people.
“The bishop has said the discipline of celibacy is a discipline of the church, it’s not a word directly from God and that discipline may in time change, but we haven’t been in this to try and change anything.”
“We are not crusaders,” added Julia Flumerfelt.
“It’s interesting for myself. They’ll let me through the back door, but they won’t let me through the front,” said James Lynn, the parish leader at the Dettah Mission, a small 30-person mission just outside Yellowknife.
He is one of two men in the diocese who have left the priesthood to marry. In Lynn’s case, he left 17 years ago to marry a native woman. He is no longer able to celebrate Mass, but instead he leads eucharistic services, in which the host is pre-consecrated by a priest.
Bishop Croteau has written a pastoral letter to explain these concerns and others.
For a “Protestant minister becoming a Catholic priest there is a continuous march on the journey of faith. With the Catholic priest who has renounced his vow there is a break in the journey of faith to do something else,” Bishop Croteau wrote.
Internationally, hundreds of married priests from other Christian faiths have been ordained by the Catholic Church in recent years.
While the Catholic Church only allows married priests in rare instances, the Orthodox Church allows married priests, as do the Eastern-rite Catholic churches.
A new report by the seven bishops of Canada's northern dioceses says they desperately need priests but are hamstrung by the celibacy requirements.
Presented to the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops in Cornwall, Ont. on Oct. 18, the report notes that most priests are advanced in age. In some communities, Mass is celebrated only two or three times a year. Mackenzie-Fort Smith diocese has 40 parishes and 20,000 people with seven priests.
Several years ago, the northern bishops asked Rome to ease its ban on married clergy so that indigenous married men, who were respected leaders concerned about nurturing faith among their people, be ordained priests. The appeal was turned down.
"We don't dare make another request to the Vatican ... but maybe with the support of this conference, that would help us," said Bishop Vincent Cadieux.
Why is it so impossible for Rome to understand that a clerical model that was designed for the old European church no longer works in today's world and least of all in the indigenous churches in the Americas? Chiapas and the Northwest Territories are vastly different places but the call for a married priesthood is the same.
Married Catholic priest ordained for remote, world’s largest geographic parish
By Sara Loftson
2/22/2007
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)
YELLOWKNIFE, Canada (The Catholic Register) – Hundreds of parishioners packed St. Patrick’s Church in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, on Feb. 18 to see Don Flumerfelt ordained as the first Catholic priest married with children in the Mackenzie-Fort Smith Diocese.
After 29 years as an Anglican priest, Father Flumerfelt will now lead a Catholic church in the Sahtu region of the Northwest Territories.
“It’s an answer to prayer,” said Father Flumerfelt, 59.
Father Flumerfelt made the decision after taking a short break from his Anglican ministry to deal with family issues, including his daughter’s illness and mother’s death. During the difficult time, Father Flumerfelt said he received a lot of support from the Catholic Church and began to feel a strong connection to the faith.
The Mackenzie-Fort Smith Diocese covers most of the Northwest Territories and small portions of Nunavut, Alberta and Saskatchewan. While it’s the largest diocese geographically in the world, it only has seven priests: three are on loan from other southern Canadian dioceses, three are diocesan priests and one is an Oblate of Mary Immaculate order priest.
During the western bishops’ ad limina visit to Rome in the fall, Bishop Denis Croteau used most of his 15-minute audience with Pope Benedict XVI to petition for Father Flumerfelt’s ordination. After Croteau assured the Pope that Flumerfelt was a suitable candidate and would be accepted by the local community, the pope granted permission on the spot.
During the Mass, St. Patrick’s pastor Father Daley read the indult from the pope to assure the congregation that this is a legitimate ordination.
“It’s (my wife’s) ‘yes,’ along with the pope, that has given me the privilege of standing here today as a Roman Catholic priest,” Father Flumerfelt told the congregation in his closing remarks.
Father Flumerfelt’s wife of 35 years, Julia, read the first reading and was acknowledged throughout the Mass at different points. She said she felt very included during her husband’s formation.
“I try to respond when people have a need when they ask me, but I’m much more of a prayer person in the background,” said Julia Flumerfelt, 57, who has also converted to Catholicism.
While many hoped this ordination would be a sign of unity between Anglicans and Catholics, no Anglican clergy were in attendance.
The ordination also caused a sore spot for some Catholics in the diocese.
“I’ve had some very strong statements from Catholics who’ve said you can’t do this, it’s just impossible to have two loves, one for the church and one for your wife,” said Father Flumerfelt. “I don’t honestly believe that’s true for all people.
“The bishop has said the discipline of celibacy is a discipline of the church, it’s not a word directly from God and that discipline may in time change, but we haven’t been in this to try and change anything.”
“We are not crusaders,” added Julia Flumerfelt.
“It’s interesting for myself. They’ll let me through the back door, but they won’t let me through the front,” said James Lynn, the parish leader at the Dettah Mission, a small 30-person mission just outside Yellowknife.
He is one of two men in the diocese who have left the priesthood to marry. In Lynn’s case, he left 17 years ago to marry a native woman. He is no longer able to celebrate Mass, but instead he leads eucharistic services, in which the host is pre-consecrated by a priest.
Bishop Croteau has written a pastoral letter to explain these concerns and others.
For a “Protestant minister becoming a Catholic priest there is a continuous march on the journey of faith. With the Catholic priest who has renounced his vow there is a break in the journey of faith to do something else,” Bishop Croteau wrote.
Internationally, hundreds of married priests from other Christian faiths have been ordained by the Catholic Church in recent years.
While the Catholic Church only allows married priests in rare instances, the Orthodox Church allows married priests, as do the Eastern-rite Catholic churches.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
"Rent A Priest" website offers services of married priests
From WKYC Radio - Cleveland Ohio
Sunday was a big day for young Henry Daniel Gruler at St. Hilary parish in Fairlawn, Ohio. At the beginning of Mass, the baby boy was welcomed into the Catholic Church by immersion in the baptismal font.
Father Gordon Yahner held the infant as he recited the age old invocation, "I baptise you in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit."
In his long career as a Catholic priest in the Cleveland diocese, Father Yahner has baptised hundreds of youngsters and adults. But after forty four years serving God, Father Yahner is stepping down as the head of St. Hilary next month.
His retirement is part of a growing problem for the Catholic Church in Northeast Ohio and across the country. There just aren't enough young men being ordained to take the place of the men who are retiring.
In 1976, the Cleveland diocese had 406 active parish priests. By last year, that number had dropped to 106 with another 85 in "retired" status.
The shortage of priests wasn't a problem for Craig and Amy Kaltenbach in Parma. When they wanted to get married, they found a priest on website called "Rent A Priest. The site provides a way to locate married priests who are willing to provide a variety of services.
Father Steve Sabanos is the man who pronounced Craig and Amy "husband and wife". Said Amy, "you could tell he likes what he does and he cared. And that really came through in the way he dealt with us."
Father Steve Sabanos and his wife, Mary live in Strongsville. Before they married, Steve was a parish priest in the Cleveland diocese. A few years after his ordination, he fell in love with Mary and was forced to leave his parish.
"I needed to remain true to the wonderful gift of the priesthood that i had," said Steve. "But I also became aware that there was a wonderful gift of marriage that God was sharing with me."
Pope Benedict the 16th met with Vatican officials a few months ago and said "the choice of priestly celibacy in accordance with catholic tradition was reaffirmed".
Even though the Vatican has clearly said rejected the idea of married priests, many Catholics are wondering if it's time to reconsider.
"Letting priests marry would be my number one preference," said Marlette Lewisin. "Because I don't see in my own mind marriage being a negative. I see it as positive for priests."
Fellow parishioners Harry Covington and his wife, Marie agreed with that sentiment. Said Harry, "the Church has to think outside the box. That means married priests and women priests."
At Borromeo Seminary celibacy is mandatory for the young men preparing for priesthood. Father Tom Dragga is director of the seminary. He told Channel 3's Mike O'Mara that the number of vocations seems to be increasing. However, this year only four men will be ordained.
"Once a man is ordained, he is ordained forever", said Father Dragga. "However, in terms of their ability to serve, if they've made that choice to move on or move out of ministry, then they would not be able to serve in that capacity as a priest."
Father Steve Sabanos does not agree. "I didn't give up my vocation because I got married", said Sabanos. "Matter of fact, God has enhanced my vocation".
Down in Akron, Father Phil Marcin thinks the Vatican policy on celibacy is a huge mistake.
For twelve centuries, the Catholic Church let priests marry. In fact, several popes were married and had children.
Said Father Marcins, "I've done weddings, funerals, baptisms, in people's homes, outside, and even in our own home. I am here to serve whenever someone requests my help."
Before he married his wife Linda, Father Phil Marcin was a parish priest at st. Bernards in Akron. He graduated from St. Mary's seminary in 1963. Now the father of two sons, Marcin has joined the rent a priest movement.
"If I'm going to love God, does it have to be as a celibate?" asked Father Marcin. "The answer came to me that I can serve god as a married person."
His wife Linda added, "there really isn't a good argument for mandatory celibacy. So it makes no sense. It's heartbreaking, and it's totally frustrating."
At St. Hilary's, Father Yahner may be retiring, but as he approaches his 70th birthday, he remains open to new ideas that may be contrary to the Vatican policy.
Said Father Yahner, "I, as a priest, have no problem, pardon me, with anyone - man or woman, who wants to come to work as a disciple of Jesus Christ. Let it happen."
In the meantime, Catholics pray for guidance and the shortage of priests continues to grow.
Sunday was a big day for young Henry Daniel Gruler at St. Hilary parish in Fairlawn, Ohio. At the beginning of Mass, the baby boy was welcomed into the Catholic Church by immersion in the baptismal font.
Father Gordon Yahner held the infant as he recited the age old invocation, "I baptise you in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit."
In his long career as a Catholic priest in the Cleveland diocese, Father Yahner has baptised hundreds of youngsters and adults. But after forty four years serving God, Father Yahner is stepping down as the head of St. Hilary next month.
His retirement is part of a growing problem for the Catholic Church in Northeast Ohio and across the country. There just aren't enough young men being ordained to take the place of the men who are retiring.
In 1976, the Cleveland diocese had 406 active parish priests. By last year, that number had dropped to 106 with another 85 in "retired" status.
The shortage of priests wasn't a problem for Craig and Amy Kaltenbach in Parma. When they wanted to get married, they found a priest on website called "Rent A Priest. The site provides a way to locate married priests who are willing to provide a variety of services.
Father Steve Sabanos is the man who pronounced Craig and Amy "husband and wife". Said Amy, "you could tell he likes what he does and he cared. And that really came through in the way he dealt with us."
Father Steve Sabanos and his wife, Mary live in Strongsville. Before they married, Steve was a parish priest in the Cleveland diocese. A few years after his ordination, he fell in love with Mary and was forced to leave his parish.
"I needed to remain true to the wonderful gift of the priesthood that i had," said Steve. "But I also became aware that there was a wonderful gift of marriage that God was sharing with me."
Pope Benedict the 16th met with Vatican officials a few months ago and said "the choice of priestly celibacy in accordance with catholic tradition was reaffirmed".
Even though the Vatican has clearly said rejected the idea of married priests, many Catholics are wondering if it's time to reconsider.
"Letting priests marry would be my number one preference," said Marlette Lewisin. "Because I don't see in my own mind marriage being a negative. I see it as positive for priests."
Fellow parishioners Harry Covington and his wife, Marie agreed with that sentiment. Said Harry, "the Church has to think outside the box. That means married priests and women priests."
At Borromeo Seminary celibacy is mandatory for the young men preparing for priesthood. Father Tom Dragga is director of the seminary. He told Channel 3's Mike O'Mara that the number of vocations seems to be increasing. However, this year only four men will be ordained.
"Once a man is ordained, he is ordained forever", said Father Dragga. "However, in terms of their ability to serve, if they've made that choice to move on or move out of ministry, then they would not be able to serve in that capacity as a priest."
Father Steve Sabanos does not agree. "I didn't give up my vocation because I got married", said Sabanos. "Matter of fact, God has enhanced my vocation".
Down in Akron, Father Phil Marcin thinks the Vatican policy on celibacy is a huge mistake.
For twelve centuries, the Catholic Church let priests marry. In fact, several popes were married and had children.
Said Father Marcins, "I've done weddings, funerals, baptisms, in people's homes, outside, and even in our own home. I am here to serve whenever someone requests my help."
Before he married his wife Linda, Father Phil Marcin was a parish priest at st. Bernards in Akron. He graduated from St. Mary's seminary in 1963. Now the father of two sons, Marcin has joined the rent a priest movement.
"If I'm going to love God, does it have to be as a celibate?" asked Father Marcin. "The answer came to me that I can serve god as a married person."
His wife Linda added, "there really isn't a good argument for mandatory celibacy. So it makes no sense. It's heartbreaking, and it's totally frustrating."
At St. Hilary's, Father Yahner may be retiring, but as he approaches his 70th birthday, he remains open to new ideas that may be contrary to the Vatican policy.
Said Father Yahner, "I, as a priest, have no problem, pardon me, with anyone - man or woman, who wants to come to work as a disciple of Jesus Christ. Let it happen."
In the meantime, Catholics pray for guidance and the shortage of priests continues to grow.
Monday, February 19, 2007
Churches back plan to unite under Pope
This has little to do with celibacy other than the admission of married Anglican priests as Catholic priests but it's important to think about as it would have a significant impact on the Catholic Church.
Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent
The Times
February 19, 2007
Radical proposals to reunite Anglicans with the Roman Catholic Church under the leadership of the Pope are to be published this year, The Times has learnt.
The proposals have been agreed by senior bishops of both churches.
In a 42-page statement prepared by an international commission of both churches, Anglicans and Roman Catholics are urged to explore how they might reunite under the Pope.
The statement, leaked to The Times, is being considered by the Vatican, where Catholic bishops are preparing a formal response.
It comes as the archbishops who lead the 38 provinces of the Anglican Communion meet in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in an attempt to avoid schism over gay ordination and other liberal doctrines that have taken hold in parts of the Western Church.
The 36 primates at the gathering will be aware that the Pope, while still a cardinal, sent a message of support to the orthodox wing of the Episcopal Church of the US as it struggled to cope with the fallout after the ordination of the gay bishop Gene Robinson.
Were this week’s discussions to lead to a split between liberals and conservatives, many of the former objections in Rome to a reunion with Anglican conservatives would disappear. Many of those Anglicans who object most strongly to gay ordination also oppose the ordination of women priests.
Rome has already shown itself willing to be flexible on the subject of celibacywhen it received dozens of married priests from the Church of England into the Catholic priesthood after they left over the issue of women’s ordination.
There are about 78 million Anglicans, compared with a billion Roman Catholics, worldwide. In England and Wales, the Catholic Church is set to overtake Anglicanism as the predominant Christian denomination for the first time since the Reformation, thanks to immigration from Catholic countries.
As the Anglicans’ squabbles over the fundamentals of Christian doctrine continue — with seven of the conservative primates twice refusing to share Communion with the other Anglican leaders at their meeting in Tanzania — the Church’s credibility is being increasingly undermined in a world that is looking for strong witness from its international religious leaders.
The Anglicans will attempt to resolve their differences today by publishing a new Anglican Covenant, an attempt to provide a doctrinal statement under which they can unite.
But many fear that the divisions have gone too far to be bridged and that, if they cannot even share Communion with each other, there is little hope that they will agree on a statement of common doctrine.
The latest Anglican-Catholic report could hardly come at a more sensitive time. It has been drawn up by the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission, which is chaired by the Right Rev David Beetge, an Anglican bishop from South Africa, and the Most Rev John Bathersby, the Catholic Archbishop of Brisbane, Australia.
The commission was set up in 2000 by the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey of Clifton, and Cardinal Edward Cassidy, then head of the Vatican’s Council for Christian Unity. Its aim was to find a way of moving towards unity through “common life and mission”.
The document leaked to The Times is the commission’s first statement, Growing Together in Unity and Mission. The report acknowledges the “imperfect communion” between the two churches but says that there is enough common ground to make its “call for action” about the Pope and other issues.
In one significant passage the report notes: “The Roman Catholic Church teaches that the ministry of the Bishop of Rome [the Pope] as universal primate is in accordance with Christ’s will for the Church and an essential element of maintaining it in unity and truth.” Anglicans rejected the Bishop of Rome as universal primate in the 16th century. Today, however, some Anglicans are beginning to see the potential value of a ministry of universal primacy, which would be exercised by the Bishop of Rome, as a sign and focus of unity within a reunited Church.
In another paragraph the report goes even further: “We urge Anglicans and Roman Catholics to explore together how the ministry of the Bishop of Rome might be offered and received in order to assist our Communions to grow towards full, ecclesial communion.”
Other recommendations include inviting lay and ordained members of both denominations to attend each other’s synodical and collegial gatherings and conferences. Anglican bishops could be invited to accompany Catholic ones on visits to Rome.
The report adds that special “protocols” should also be drawn up to handle the movement of clergy from one Church to the other. Other proposals include common teaching resources for children in Sunday schools and attendance at each other’s services, pilgrimages and processions.
Anglicans are also urged to begin praying for the Pope during the intercessionary prayers in church services, and Catholics are asked also to pray publicly for the Archbishop of Canterbury.
In today’s Anglican Church, it is unlikely that a majority of parishioners would wish to heal the centuries-old rift and return to Rome.
However, the stance of the Archbishop of Canterbury over the present dispute dividing his Church gives an indication of how priorities could be changing in light of the gospel imperative towards church unity.
Dr Rowan Williams, who as Primate of the Church of England is its “focus for unity”, has in the past supported a liberal interpretation of Scripture on the gay issue. But he has made it clear that church unity must come before provincial autonomy. A logical extension of that, once this crisis is overcome either by agreement or schism, would be to seek reunion with the Church of England's own mother Church.
Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent
The Times
February 19, 2007
Radical proposals to reunite Anglicans with the Roman Catholic Church under the leadership of the Pope are to be published this year, The Times has learnt.
The proposals have been agreed by senior bishops of both churches.
In a 42-page statement prepared by an international commission of both churches, Anglicans and Roman Catholics are urged to explore how they might reunite under the Pope.
The statement, leaked to The Times, is being considered by the Vatican, where Catholic bishops are preparing a formal response.
It comes as the archbishops who lead the 38 provinces of the Anglican Communion meet in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in an attempt to avoid schism over gay ordination and other liberal doctrines that have taken hold in parts of the Western Church.
The 36 primates at the gathering will be aware that the Pope, while still a cardinal, sent a message of support to the orthodox wing of the Episcopal Church of the US as it struggled to cope with the fallout after the ordination of the gay bishop Gene Robinson.
Were this week’s discussions to lead to a split between liberals and conservatives, many of the former objections in Rome to a reunion with Anglican conservatives would disappear. Many of those Anglicans who object most strongly to gay ordination also oppose the ordination of women priests.
Rome has already shown itself willing to be flexible on the subject of celibacywhen it received dozens of married priests from the Church of England into the Catholic priesthood after they left over the issue of women’s ordination.
There are about 78 million Anglicans, compared with a billion Roman Catholics, worldwide. In England and Wales, the Catholic Church is set to overtake Anglicanism as the predominant Christian denomination for the first time since the Reformation, thanks to immigration from Catholic countries.
As the Anglicans’ squabbles over the fundamentals of Christian doctrine continue — with seven of the conservative primates twice refusing to share Communion with the other Anglican leaders at their meeting in Tanzania — the Church’s credibility is being increasingly undermined in a world that is looking for strong witness from its international religious leaders.
The Anglicans will attempt to resolve their differences today by publishing a new Anglican Covenant, an attempt to provide a doctrinal statement under which they can unite.
But many fear that the divisions have gone too far to be bridged and that, if they cannot even share Communion with each other, there is little hope that they will agree on a statement of common doctrine.
The latest Anglican-Catholic report could hardly come at a more sensitive time. It has been drawn up by the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission, which is chaired by the Right Rev David Beetge, an Anglican bishop from South Africa, and the Most Rev John Bathersby, the Catholic Archbishop of Brisbane, Australia.
The commission was set up in 2000 by the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey of Clifton, and Cardinal Edward Cassidy, then head of the Vatican’s Council for Christian Unity. Its aim was to find a way of moving towards unity through “common life and mission”.
The document leaked to The Times is the commission’s first statement, Growing Together in Unity and Mission. The report acknowledges the “imperfect communion” between the two churches but says that there is enough common ground to make its “call for action” about the Pope and other issues.
In one significant passage the report notes: “The Roman Catholic Church teaches that the ministry of the Bishop of Rome [the Pope] as universal primate is in accordance with Christ’s will for the Church and an essential element of maintaining it in unity and truth.” Anglicans rejected the Bishop of Rome as universal primate in the 16th century. Today, however, some Anglicans are beginning to see the potential value of a ministry of universal primacy, which would be exercised by the Bishop of Rome, as a sign and focus of unity within a reunited Church.
In another paragraph the report goes even further: “We urge Anglicans and Roman Catholics to explore together how the ministry of the Bishop of Rome might be offered and received in order to assist our Communions to grow towards full, ecclesial communion.”
Other recommendations include inviting lay and ordained members of both denominations to attend each other’s synodical and collegial gatherings and conferences. Anglican bishops could be invited to accompany Catholic ones on visits to Rome.
The report adds that special “protocols” should also be drawn up to handle the movement of clergy from one Church to the other. Other proposals include common teaching resources for children in Sunday schools and attendance at each other’s services, pilgrimages and processions.
Anglicans are also urged to begin praying for the Pope during the intercessionary prayers in church services, and Catholics are asked also to pray publicly for the Archbishop of Canterbury.
In today’s Anglican Church, it is unlikely that a majority of parishioners would wish to heal the centuries-old rift and return to Rome.
However, the stance of the Archbishop of Canterbury over the present dispute dividing his Church gives an indication of how priorities could be changing in light of the gospel imperative towards church unity.
Dr Rowan Williams, who as Primate of the Church of England is its “focus for unity”, has in the past supported a liberal interpretation of Scripture on the gay issue. But he has made it clear that church unity must come before provincial autonomy. A logical extension of that, once this crisis is overcome either by agreement or schism, would be to seek reunion with the Church of England's own mother Church.
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Pilfering Priests
By Tim Padgett / Delray Beach
Time/CNN Feb. 15, 2007
Until two years ago, the Roman Catholic diocese of Palm Beach, Fla., ran audits of its parishes only when they changed pastors. It was a risky, even foolhardy policy when you consider that a parish like St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church, in Delray Beach, hadn't changed pastors in 40 years. In September 2003, upon the retirement of St. Vincent's pastor, the Rev. John Skehan, diocesan accountant Denis Hamel dutifully showed up to inspect the books and the procedures for counting Sunday collections. The new pastor, the Rev. Francis Guinan--a close buddy of Skehan's--told him to beat it. But the new bishop, Gerald Barbarito, eventually ordered Guinan to comply--and by Easter 2005, after parish staff had come forward with what they knew about St. Vincent's slippery bookkeeping, Hamel was left dumbfounded. "I called the bishop," says Hamel, now the diocese's financial administrator, "and I told him we had a tiger by the tail."
It was an especially ravenous beast if the allegations are true. Forensic auditors estimate that Skehan and later Guinan misappropriated $8.6 million over 42 years. They allegedly diverted St. Vincent collection money to secret slush-fund accounts while living as hedonistically as Renaissance Popes. The police report says Skehan, 79, gave a "girlfriend" $134,000, made a rare-coins purchase for $275,000 and owned an oceanfront condominium worth $455,000. It says Guinan, 63, whom Barbarito removed as St. Vincent's pastor in 2005, spent his take on expensive vacations to Las Vegas and the Bahamas; a $220,000 renovation of his parish residence; and payments to his own "paramour," the bookkeeper of his former parish, whom he gave $47,000 for credit-card bills and her child's tuition. Both priests were arrested by Delray Beach police last September--after Guinan returned from a South Pacific cruise--and were charged with grand theft. (They pleaded not guilty.)
St. Vincent's may be the worst known case of embezzlement to hit U.S. Catholicism, but Skehan and Guinan are joined by a gallery of other recent alleged klepto-clerics. Last month a Virginia priest was indicted for allegedly embezzling $600,000 from two Catholic churches--in part to help support the woman and three children he had been secretly living with. Last year a Connecticut priest was accused of pilfering up to $1.4 million to pay for his Audi cars, luxury-hotel stays, jewelry for his boyfriend and a Fort Lauderdale condo. And last June another priest was sentenced to five years in prison after the misappropriation of $2 million from the Church of the Holy Cross in Rumson, N.J.
Just when the Catholic Church in the U.S. was beginning to recover from the sordid sexual-abuse scandal of 2002, it may be staring at a new crisis. "This is the last thing the church needs when you think how low its moral credibility already is" in the wake of the child-molestation tragedy, says Chuck Zech, director of the Center for the Study of Church Management at Villanova University in Pennsylvania. "But I'm appalled at the lack of internal [financial] controls at Catholic parishes." In a recent study co-authored by Zech and Villanova accountancy professor Robert West, 85% of the 78 U.S. Catholic dioceses responding to their survey (out of a total of 174 queried) reported embezzlement cases--and 11% had scandals of $500,000 or more. Some cases involve laypeople and not priests; and the study's one silver lining is its finding that priests are often the whistle-blowers.
Still, the increasing number of clergy getting caught with their hands in the offertory is once again prompting questions about the Catholic priesthood. Not that clerical enrichment is by any means an exclusively Catholic scourge: it's hard to forget that Protestant TV evangelist Jim Bakker once defrauded his followers of $158 million. But scholars like Zech argue that the financial apparatus at Protestant churches is often "more transparent and encouraging of lay participation" than it is at Catholic parishes--where, says Hamel, some pastors still carry "an Old World attitude that what's in the collection basket is theirs personally to do with as they wish."
Priestly arrogance may not be the only factor. Unlike monks, parish priests do not take a vow of poverty; but they promise to be celibate, which many assume blunts greed since they don't have families to support. Ironically, says one South Florida priest, many priests see the sacrifice of sex and family as a source of "entitlement--a reason parishioners should provide extra pin money for Father." What's more, priests can resent seeing how comparatively well their Episcopal or Jewish counterparts live--and the fact that Catholics in the U.S. give half the share of their income to their churches that Protestants do, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University.
That's no excuse for pick-pocketing parishioners. But the issue underscores a changing social dynamic between priests and their flocks. In past generations, U.S. Catholics tended to be working-class, and priests often had comparatively cozy lifestyles. "Today," says Terry McKiernan, co-director of the watchdog site BishopAccountability.org "there's been a strange flip-flop." Parishioners are often middle or upper-middle class, while priests--whose median salary is about $35,000, including their free room and board--can be left with a nagging sense of diminished stature in our money-conscious society. Palm Beach is home to some of the nation's most affluent Catholics; but Skehan and Guinan were born in Ireland when it was still dirt poor. By most accounts, Skehan was a beloved pastor, yet one of his most telling remarks to police was that he felt he was "never properly paid."
Embezzlement is a plague of all nonprofit organizations, given their threadbare accounting systems. But the nation's 19,000 Catholic parishes, which gather about $6 billion a year from congregations, "are still often medieval in the way they secure or don't secure Sunday collections," says Michael Ryan, a Massachusetts Catholic and former U.S. postal inspector who runs another watchdog site, Churchsecurity.info. At St. Vincent, for example, Skehan and Guinan had immediate access to offertory cash--and according to the police report had staff hide purloined stacks of bills in parish-office ceilings. Ryan and other experts emphasize that church ushers should put that money into tamperproof bags with numbered seals; that rotating teams should count it; and that separation-of-duties standards, such as ensuring that bookkeepers logging the funds aren't the ones counting and depositing it, should be adhered to. Professor West says that parish-finance councils--which are required by canon law but are too often as ornamental as stained glass--"have to stop acting like rubber stamps for priests."
But as in the sex-abuse crisis, many are asking, Where are the bishops? Barbarito was sent to Palm Beach in 2003 to fix a diocese already reeling from the departure of two of his predecessors under sexual-abuse accusations--one of whom had also dismissed reports of financial misconduct against Guinan at another parish in the 1990s. Following the St. Vincent discovery in 2005, Barbarito decreed biennial audits for every Palm Beach parish. But only a handful of other U.S. dioceses are cracking down. Chicago recently set up a hotline to report malfeasance, and St. Louis is creating a centralized bookkeeping system. But the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops insists that canon law does not allow the Vatican or the Conference to impose such reforms on dioceses.
So the job may be left to Catholic laity. The sex-abuse litigation "forced church documents like parish audits into the open for the first time ever," says McKiernan, emboldening more lay scrutiny. After Barbarito began a probe into the St. Vincent mess, an anonymous parishioner sent a letter to the Palm Beach County state attorney. That made it harder for witnesses to keep the case "a secret within the church," as the letter said--despite the efforts of Skehan, who had allegedly sent Christmas cards to church secretaries with $1,500 each and an oily thank-you for not cooperating with diocese investigators. The secretaries refused the supposed bribe and are now prosecutor's witnesses. That's the kind of lay resolve that Hamel believes will give the church "a better chance of dealing more effectively with this crisis" than it did with the one that so badly tarnished it five years ago.
Time/CNN Feb. 15, 2007
Until two years ago, the Roman Catholic diocese of Palm Beach, Fla., ran audits of its parishes only when they changed pastors. It was a risky, even foolhardy policy when you consider that a parish like St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church, in Delray Beach, hadn't changed pastors in 40 years. In September 2003, upon the retirement of St. Vincent's pastor, the Rev. John Skehan, diocesan accountant Denis Hamel dutifully showed up to inspect the books and the procedures for counting Sunday collections. The new pastor, the Rev. Francis Guinan--a close buddy of Skehan's--told him to beat it. But the new bishop, Gerald Barbarito, eventually ordered Guinan to comply--and by Easter 2005, after parish staff had come forward with what they knew about St. Vincent's slippery bookkeeping, Hamel was left dumbfounded. "I called the bishop," says Hamel, now the diocese's financial administrator, "and I told him we had a tiger by the tail."
It was an especially ravenous beast if the allegations are true. Forensic auditors estimate that Skehan and later Guinan misappropriated $8.6 million over 42 years. They allegedly diverted St. Vincent collection money to secret slush-fund accounts while living as hedonistically as Renaissance Popes. The police report says Skehan, 79, gave a "girlfriend" $134,000, made a rare-coins purchase for $275,000 and owned an oceanfront condominium worth $455,000. It says Guinan, 63, whom Barbarito removed as St. Vincent's pastor in 2005, spent his take on expensive vacations to Las Vegas and the Bahamas; a $220,000 renovation of his parish residence; and payments to his own "paramour," the bookkeeper of his former parish, whom he gave $47,000 for credit-card bills and her child's tuition. Both priests were arrested by Delray Beach police last September--after Guinan returned from a South Pacific cruise--and were charged with grand theft. (They pleaded not guilty.)
St. Vincent's may be the worst known case of embezzlement to hit U.S. Catholicism, but Skehan and Guinan are joined by a gallery of other recent alleged klepto-clerics. Last month a Virginia priest was indicted for allegedly embezzling $600,000 from two Catholic churches--in part to help support the woman and three children he had been secretly living with. Last year a Connecticut priest was accused of pilfering up to $1.4 million to pay for his Audi cars, luxury-hotel stays, jewelry for his boyfriend and a Fort Lauderdale condo. And last June another priest was sentenced to five years in prison after the misappropriation of $2 million from the Church of the Holy Cross in Rumson, N.J.
Just when the Catholic Church in the U.S. was beginning to recover from the sordid sexual-abuse scandal of 2002, it may be staring at a new crisis. "This is the last thing the church needs when you think how low its moral credibility already is" in the wake of the child-molestation tragedy, says Chuck Zech, director of the Center for the Study of Church Management at Villanova University in Pennsylvania. "But I'm appalled at the lack of internal [financial] controls at Catholic parishes." In a recent study co-authored by Zech and Villanova accountancy professor Robert West, 85% of the 78 U.S. Catholic dioceses responding to their survey (out of a total of 174 queried) reported embezzlement cases--and 11% had scandals of $500,000 or more. Some cases involve laypeople and not priests; and the study's one silver lining is its finding that priests are often the whistle-blowers.
Still, the increasing number of clergy getting caught with their hands in the offertory is once again prompting questions about the Catholic priesthood. Not that clerical enrichment is by any means an exclusively Catholic scourge: it's hard to forget that Protestant TV evangelist Jim Bakker once defrauded his followers of $158 million. But scholars like Zech argue that the financial apparatus at Protestant churches is often "more transparent and encouraging of lay participation" than it is at Catholic parishes--where, says Hamel, some pastors still carry "an Old World attitude that what's in the collection basket is theirs personally to do with as they wish."
Priestly arrogance may not be the only factor. Unlike monks, parish priests do not take a vow of poverty; but they promise to be celibate, which many assume blunts greed since they don't have families to support. Ironically, says one South Florida priest, many priests see the sacrifice of sex and family as a source of "entitlement--a reason parishioners should provide extra pin money for Father." What's more, priests can resent seeing how comparatively well their Episcopal or Jewish counterparts live--and the fact that Catholics in the U.S. give half the share of their income to their churches that Protestants do, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University.
That's no excuse for pick-pocketing parishioners. But the issue underscores a changing social dynamic between priests and their flocks. In past generations, U.S. Catholics tended to be working-class, and priests often had comparatively cozy lifestyles. "Today," says Terry McKiernan, co-director of the watchdog site BishopAccountability.org "there's been a strange flip-flop." Parishioners are often middle or upper-middle class, while priests--whose median salary is about $35,000, including their free room and board--can be left with a nagging sense of diminished stature in our money-conscious society. Palm Beach is home to some of the nation's most affluent Catholics; but Skehan and Guinan were born in Ireland when it was still dirt poor. By most accounts, Skehan was a beloved pastor, yet one of his most telling remarks to police was that he felt he was "never properly paid."
Embezzlement is a plague of all nonprofit organizations, given their threadbare accounting systems. But the nation's 19,000 Catholic parishes, which gather about $6 billion a year from congregations, "are still often medieval in the way they secure or don't secure Sunday collections," says Michael Ryan, a Massachusetts Catholic and former U.S. postal inspector who runs another watchdog site, Churchsecurity.info. At St. Vincent, for example, Skehan and Guinan had immediate access to offertory cash--and according to the police report had staff hide purloined stacks of bills in parish-office ceilings. Ryan and other experts emphasize that church ushers should put that money into tamperproof bags with numbered seals; that rotating teams should count it; and that separation-of-duties standards, such as ensuring that bookkeepers logging the funds aren't the ones counting and depositing it, should be adhered to. Professor West says that parish-finance councils--which are required by canon law but are too often as ornamental as stained glass--"have to stop acting like rubber stamps for priests."
But as in the sex-abuse crisis, many are asking, Where are the bishops? Barbarito was sent to Palm Beach in 2003 to fix a diocese already reeling from the departure of two of his predecessors under sexual-abuse accusations--one of whom had also dismissed reports of financial misconduct against Guinan at another parish in the 1990s. Following the St. Vincent discovery in 2005, Barbarito decreed biennial audits for every Palm Beach parish. But only a handful of other U.S. dioceses are cracking down. Chicago recently set up a hotline to report malfeasance, and St. Louis is creating a centralized bookkeeping system. But the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops insists that canon law does not allow the Vatican or the Conference to impose such reforms on dioceses.
So the job may be left to Catholic laity. The sex-abuse litigation "forced church documents like parish audits into the open for the first time ever," says McKiernan, emboldening more lay scrutiny. After Barbarito began a probe into the St. Vincent mess, an anonymous parishioner sent a letter to the Palm Beach County state attorney. That made it harder for witnesses to keep the case "a secret within the church," as the letter said--despite the efforts of Skehan, who had allegedly sent Christmas cards to church secretaries with $1,500 each and an oily thank-you for not cooperating with diocese investigators. The secretaries refused the supposed bribe and are now prosecutor's witnesses. That's the kind of lay resolve that Hamel believes will give the church "a better chance of dealing more effectively with this crisis" than it did with the one that so badly tarnished it five years ago.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Celebrating Women
Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Valentine's Day by paying tribute to the many women who served in the early Christian church. His remarks are refreshingly non-sexist, steering largely clear of old stereotypical notions of women's roles.
Our brother blogger, Rocco Palmo, from Whispers in the Loggia has published a translation of the Pope's reflections and added his own interesting commentary on the prominent women surrounding this Pope. I learned a lot from this article and found it very encouraging.
Go to: "Anything Other Than Secondary": All the Pope's Women
Our brother blogger, Rocco Palmo, from Whispers in the Loggia has published a translation of the Pope's reflections and added his own interesting commentary on the prominent women surrounding this Pope. I learned a lot from this article and found it very encouraging.
Go to: "Anything Other Than Secondary": All the Pope's Women
40th anniversary of "Sacerdotalis caelibatus"
I'm just passing this on without comment since I did not see the original text. And because it's good to know what the "other side" is putting out, as long as it is stated respectfully and accurately.
Priestly celibacy precious gift to church, says Vatican clergy head in vigorous defense
By John Thavis
2/16/2007
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Two months after taking over as head of the Vatican's Congregation for Clergy, Brazilian Cardinal Claudio Hummes has issued a strong and lengthy defense of priestly celibacy.
"Priestly celibacy is a precious gift of Christ to his church, a gift that must continually be meditated upon and strengthened, especially in the deeply secularized modern world," Cardinal Hummes said.
The cardinal made the comments in a full-page article he wrote for the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano. It was published Feb. 14 under the headline "The importance of priestly celibacy."
Cardinal Hummes, formerly the archbishop of Sao Paolo, arrived at his new Vatican post last December, shortly after telling a Brazilian newspaper that priestly celibacy was a disciplinary norm and not a church dogma and was therefore open to change.
Vatican officials were concerned, and within hours of arriving in Rome Cardinal Hummes issued a statement emphasizing that priestly celibacy was a long and valuable tradition in the Latin-rite church, based on strong theological and pastoral arguments.
The cardinal's newspaper article was written to mark the 40th anniversary of Sacerdotalis Caelibatus, Pope Paul VI's encyclical on priestly celibacy, issued June 24, 1967.
Cardinal Hummes reviewed what he said was strong evidence that priestly celibacy has its roots in apostolic times, not later centuries.
The cardinal said celibacy represents "a more full configuration with the Lord Jesus," who lived his own life as a celibate, and is a sign of the total love priests give to the church. For all priests, he said, celibacy should be a call to happiness and not a burden of suffering.
Cardinal Hummes said celibacy is also a sign of pastoral charity.
"Common experience confirms that it is easier to open one's heart to one's brothers fully and without reserve for those who have no other emotional attachments, no matter how legitimate and holy, except the attachment to Christ," he said.
Cardinal Hummes reviewed Pope Paul's reasons for confirming priestly celibacy 40 years ago and said the same reasons were still valid today.
At the same time, he said, Pope Paul also recognized that celibacy is not required by the nature of the priesthood itself, as shown by the fact that the Eastern rites of the Catholic Church allow the ordination of married men.
Cardinal Hummes reviewed various discussions on celibacy over the last 40 years, particularly in synods of bishops and other Rome meetings. On every occasion, he said, the participants have ended up confirming the value of priestly celibacy.
At the 2005 synod on the Eucharist, some bishops wanted a discussion on ordaining married men in certain circumstances, but the idea was rejected as "a road not to travel," he said.
Priestly celibacy precious gift to church, says Vatican clergy head in vigorous defense
By John Thavis
2/16/2007
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Two months after taking over as head of the Vatican's Congregation for Clergy, Brazilian Cardinal Claudio Hummes has issued a strong and lengthy defense of priestly celibacy.
"Priestly celibacy is a precious gift of Christ to his church, a gift that must continually be meditated upon and strengthened, especially in the deeply secularized modern world," Cardinal Hummes said.
The cardinal made the comments in a full-page article he wrote for the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano. It was published Feb. 14 under the headline "The importance of priestly celibacy."
Cardinal Hummes, formerly the archbishop of Sao Paolo, arrived at his new Vatican post last December, shortly after telling a Brazilian newspaper that priestly celibacy was a disciplinary norm and not a church dogma and was therefore open to change.
Vatican officials were concerned, and within hours of arriving in Rome Cardinal Hummes issued a statement emphasizing that priestly celibacy was a long and valuable tradition in the Latin-rite church, based on strong theological and pastoral arguments.
The cardinal's newspaper article was written to mark the 40th anniversary of Sacerdotalis Caelibatus, Pope Paul VI's encyclical on priestly celibacy, issued June 24, 1967.
Cardinal Hummes reviewed what he said was strong evidence that priestly celibacy has its roots in apostolic times, not later centuries.
The cardinal said celibacy represents "a more full configuration with the Lord Jesus," who lived his own life as a celibate, and is a sign of the total love priests give to the church. For all priests, he said, celibacy should be a call to happiness and not a burden of suffering.
Cardinal Hummes said celibacy is also a sign of pastoral charity.
"Common experience confirms that it is easier to open one's heart to one's brothers fully and without reserve for those who have no other emotional attachments, no matter how legitimate and holy, except the attachment to Christ," he said.
Cardinal Hummes reviewed Pope Paul's reasons for confirming priestly celibacy 40 years ago and said the same reasons were still valid today.
At the same time, he said, Pope Paul also recognized that celibacy is not required by the nature of the priesthood itself, as shown by the fact that the Eastern rites of the Catholic Church allow the ordination of married men.
Cardinal Hummes reviewed various discussions on celibacy over the last 40 years, particularly in synods of bishops and other Rome meetings. On every occasion, he said, the participants have ended up confirming the value of priestly celibacy.
At the 2005 synod on the Eucharist, some bishops wanted a discussion on ordaining married men in certain circumstances, but the idea was rejected as "a road not to travel," he said.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
The priest shortage by the numbers
This story from Catholic News Service puts a positive spin on the data from the new 2007 Annuario Pontificio -- the "state of the Church" book that the Vatican issues every year. So we will rearrange the article's data to get some real insight into the actual state of our Church:
The priest shortage is getting worse. While the total number of Catholics has risen 1.2%, the number of priests has only increased 0.1%, though the number of seminarians did keep pace overall at 1.2%. Given the large number that drop out prior to ordination, this is not necessarily a sign that the crisis will end any time soon.
The number of priests increased in Asia (3.8%) and Africa (3.6%) but declined by half a percent in the Americas and in Europe. In Oceania the number dropped more dramatically by 1.8%.
Does this relate to mandatory celibacy? You bet it does. The largest Catholic population in Oceania is in Australia and, to refresh our collective memory, in 2004 a survey by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference found that 71% of priests in that country believed that celibacy should be optional. And further, the National Council of Priests in Australia sent a response to the Vatican asking that mandatory celibacy be reconsidered:
As far as seminarians are concerned, again Africa (3.46%) and Asia (2.9%) showed adequate increases while seminarians in the Americas increased by 0.6% (half as much as the increase in the number of Catholics in our continent). In Oceania the number of seminarians remained static while in Europe, seminarians declined by 1.9%.
Don't start to think too much about a reverse missionary flow from Africa and Asia to the rest of the world. Those numbers barely keep up with the demand for Catholic clergy in those continents. They won't have any spare priests to send to us.
It's time to take off the rose-colored glasses, quit spinning the numbers, and start crunching them instead. "Catholic Church growing, especially in Asia, Africa" makes a pretty headline but the underlying truth is far from attractive.
The priest shortage is getting worse. While the total number of Catholics has risen 1.2%, the number of priests has only increased 0.1%, though the number of seminarians did keep pace overall at 1.2%. Given the large number that drop out prior to ordination, this is not necessarily a sign that the crisis will end any time soon.
The number of priests increased in Asia (3.8%) and Africa (3.6%) but declined by half a percent in the Americas and in Europe. In Oceania the number dropped more dramatically by 1.8%.
Does this relate to mandatory celibacy? You bet it does. The largest Catholic population in Oceania is in Australia and, to refresh our collective memory, in 2004 a survey by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference found that 71% of priests in that country believed that celibacy should be optional. And further, the National Council of Priests in Australia sent a response to the Vatican asking that mandatory celibacy be reconsidered:
"We request that ... the Synod Fathers examine honestly the appropriateness of insisting upon a priesthood that is, with very few exceptions, obliged to be celibate. Priesthood is a gift, celibacy is a gift: they are not the same gift," said the statement, which was written in response to a discussion paper on the place of the Eucharist in Catholic life.
As far as seminarians are concerned, again Africa (3.46%) and Asia (2.9%) showed adequate increases while seminarians in the Americas increased by 0.6% (half as much as the increase in the number of Catholics in our continent). In Oceania the number of seminarians remained static while in Europe, seminarians declined by 1.9%.
Don't start to think too much about a reverse missionary flow from Africa and Asia to the rest of the world. Those numbers barely keep up with the demand for Catholic clergy in those continents. They won't have any spare priests to send to us.
It's time to take off the rose-colored glasses, quit spinning the numbers, and start crunching them instead. "Catholic Church growing, especially in Asia, Africa" makes a pretty headline but the underlying truth is far from attractive.
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Abbé Pierre on Celibacy and the Marriage of Priests
Well, I finally got a copy of the late Abbé Pierre's collection of reflections, Mon Dieu...pourquoi? ("My God...why?"). Abbé Pierre devoted his life to the poor and homeless. This little book is a gem and anyone who reads French should try to get a copy. I have taken the liberty of translating his refection on celibacy — "Célibat et mariage des prêtres" — for this blog.
Simplicity can only exist in what is true. Hypocrisy, which exists too often, must be refused. Yielding to carnal temptation — which is an extremely powerful life force — can happen to anyone but it's a different thing for a priest or a monk not to be able to make a choice and to be leading a double life that in some cases makes women suffer for decades.
At the same time one should guard against any judgement or generalizations. I have known priests who have lived in domestic partnerships with the woman they love for years and adapted to this situation well. They continue to be good priests. That raises a crucial question for the Church about the marriage of priests and the ordination of married men.
As far as I'm concerned, if I had been married or involved in a particular emotional relationship, I would never have been able to do what I did. My vocation demanded complete availability. By the way, I am convinced that it is necessary to have married priests in the Church and celibate priests who can devote themselves completely to prayer and to others.
Jesus chose married apostles — like Peter — and celibate apostles who doubtlessly remained so — like John. The Church maintained this dual vocation for centuries before imposing celibacy on priests, as was already the case for bishops. Today married men are being ordained not only in the Orthodox Church but also in the Catholic church, among the Maronites and the Copts who have a choice between marriage and celibacy.
Since the Catholic Church has allowed these Eastern communities to ordain married men for centuries, I have a hard time seeing how John Paul II could assert recently that going back on priestly celibacy for the rest of the Catholic Church is out of the question.
It doesn't hold up. Not only would it help to partly solve the crisis in vocations and the priest shortage, but I'm also certain that there would always be as many vocations to celibacy.
Interestingly, in a different chapter about the selection of Pope Benedict XVI, Abbé Pierre predicts that this Pope will make two major changes in the Catholic Church: allowing divorced and remarried Catholics to receive communion and ordaining older married men to the priesthood.
A Priest, a Nun and Their Children
For those who are interested in how these stories are lived out, former priest Bill and former nun Mary Manseau's son, Peter, tells his family's story in a new book titled: "Vows: The Story of a Priest, a Nun and Their Son". Details about this publication are available at www.petermanseau.com.
The story was summarized yesterday by Dan Harris of ABC News. Here are some excerpts:
...As a kid, Bill Manseau said he "used to play Mass ... as many Catholic kids do." He would recruit his younger siblings to be altar servers and use Necco wafers for communion. At age 19, he entered the seminary.
At age 17, Mary Manseau entered the convent. "I was a very strong, very loyal, very devout Roman Catholic," she said. "And in those days, whatever the church said, that's the way it was."
Despite their devotion, both Mary and Bill eventually began to question the church. Mary left the convent after only a few years.
At the seminary, Bill came to a radical conclusion: Forced celibacy is wrong -- an invention of the church, not the Bible. "For thousands of years," he said, "there were married Catholic priests, married bishops, married popes." Manseau decided that to be more fully a holy man, he needed to experience the "holy union" of marriage...
In 1969, the priest and the former nun got married. They went on to have three children.
...Bill became a crusader for the rights of married priests -- a position that put him at odds with the church hierarchy. The church believes that the commitment of celibacy is an act of love for God and is central to a priest's ability to do his job.
Manseau's conflict with the church entered a new level in 2003, when he decided to ask the church to formally recognize his marriage. In response, he said the church asked him to sign papers that essentially said his ordination was a mistake, "I could not assent to that," he said, "because it's not true."
Even though he now faces a church trial over his marriage, Bill Manseau continues to argue that forced celibacy is at the heart of the priesthood's current problems: poor recruitment and sex abuse scandals. ...
The story was summarized yesterday by Dan Harris of ABC News. Here are some excerpts:
...As a kid, Bill Manseau said he "used to play Mass ... as many Catholic kids do." He would recruit his younger siblings to be altar servers and use Necco wafers for communion. At age 19, he entered the seminary.
At age 17, Mary Manseau entered the convent. "I was a very strong, very loyal, very devout Roman Catholic," she said. "And in those days, whatever the church said, that's the way it was."
Despite their devotion, both Mary and Bill eventually began to question the church. Mary left the convent after only a few years.
At the seminary, Bill came to a radical conclusion: Forced celibacy is wrong -- an invention of the church, not the Bible. "For thousands of years," he said, "there were married Catholic priests, married bishops, married popes." Manseau decided that to be more fully a holy man, he needed to experience the "holy union" of marriage...
In 1969, the priest and the former nun got married. They went on to have three children.
...Bill became a crusader for the rights of married priests -- a position that put him at odds with the church hierarchy. The church believes that the commitment of celibacy is an act of love for God and is central to a priest's ability to do his job.
Manseau's conflict with the church entered a new level in 2003, when he decided to ask the church to formally recognize his marriage. In response, he said the church asked him to sign papers that essentially said his ordination was a mistake, "I could not assent to that," he said, "because it's not true."
Even though he now faces a church trial over his marriage, Bill Manseau continues to argue that forced celibacy is at the heart of the priesthood's current problems: poor recruitment and sex abuse scandals. ...
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Most Polish priests want to get married and have children
This article, "La mayoría de los curas polacos quieren casarse y tener hijos", originally appeared in Spanish on the Terra.es Web site courtesy of the Spanish news agency EFE. English translation supplied by Rebel Girl. A more reliable and detailed source of the same information for those who are blessed with ability to read Polish is this article in the Polish Catholic newspaper Tygodnik Powszechny which Rocco Palmo summarizes in his blog. The articles are somewhat contradictory with respect to the primary motivation for men leaving the priesthood. The Tygodnik Powszechny piece quotes Prof. Baniak as suggesting that priests leave due to identity and ideological issues and then get married later, while the article translated below suggests that celibacy is the primary motivator.
Sixty percent of Polish priests want the right to get married and have children, according to the findings of an [unpublished] study on the attitude of priests towards celibacy.
The study, which was done by professor Jozef Baniak of Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, confirms that the desire to have their own families is supported by a majority of Polish priests.
The daily "Super Express", which published the findings, also quotes the opinion of Kazimierz Franczak, a priest who has studied the celibacy problem and who asserts that for the last ten years, most Polish priests have wanted the right to form a family.
Acoording to data gathered by Baniak in recent years, in 1998 32 percent of priests supported the right to marry and have children, while 57 percent did so in 2004 and 60 percent in 2006.
Celibacy is the main reason for leaving the priesthood for most Polish priests who choose to renounce their vocation.
In three diocese in the last year alone, 60 priests left the priesthood and subsequently formed families.
Sixty percent of Polish priests want the right to get married and have children, according to the findings of an [unpublished] study on the attitude of priests towards celibacy.
The study, which was done by professor Jozef Baniak of Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, confirms that the desire to have their own families is supported by a majority of Polish priests.
The daily "Super Express", which published the findings, also quotes the opinion of Kazimierz Franczak, a priest who has studied the celibacy problem and who asserts that for the last ten years, most Polish priests have wanted the right to form a family.
Acoording to data gathered by Baniak in recent years, in 1998 32 percent of priests supported the right to marry and have children, while 57 percent did so in 2004 and 60 percent in 2006.
Celibacy is the main reason for leaving the priesthood for most Polish priests who choose to renounce their vocation.
In three diocese in the last year alone, 60 priests left the priesthood and subsequently formed families.
Sunday, February 04, 2007
Theologian Hans Kung on Celibacy
I found this little excerpt from an article by theologian Hans Küng in the German news magazine Der Spiegel as a result of some Googling inspired by a review of one of Küng's books which has recently been translated into French. The entire article, "Crisis in the Catholic Church" (3/26/2005), is worth reading and can be found here.
... CELIBACY AMONG PRIESTS: By propagating the traditional image of the celibate male priest, Karol Wojtyla bears the principal responsibility for the catastrophic dearth of priests, the collapse of spiritual welfare in many countries, and the many pedophilia scandals the church is no longer able to cover up.
Marriage is still forbidden to men who have agreed to devote their lives to the priesthood. This is only one example of how this pope, like others before him, is ignoring the teachings of the bible and the great Catholic tradition of the first millennium, which did not require office bearers to take a vow of celibacy. If someone, by virtue of his office, is forced to spend his life without a wife and children, there is a great risk that healthy integration of sexuality will fail, which can lead to pedophilic acts, for example.
Consequences: The ranks have been thinned and there is a lack of new blood in the Catholic church. Soon almost two-thirds of parishes, both in German-speaking countries and elsewhere, will be without an ordained pastor and regular celebrations of the Eucharist. It's a deficiency that even the declining influx of priests from other countries (1,400 of Germany's priests are from Poland, India and Africa) and the combining of parishes into "spiritual welfare units," a highly unpopular trend among the faithful, can no longer hide. The number of newly ordained priests in Germany dropped from 366 in 1990 to 161 in 2003, and the average age of active priests today is now above 60. [emphasis added] ...
Yo, Your Holiness, we are talking about your home country here! And this is precisely why many theologians are urging the Vatican to slow down on the canonization of Pope John Paul II. Let's take time to look at the complete record here and the long-term impact of his policies on the Church.
Meanwhile, in Africa, Mgr. Tharcisse Tshibangu of the diocese of Mbuji-Mayi in the Congo has just suspended five of his priests and chastized an additional three for violating their celibacy vows. The suspended priests must leave their parishes and are forbidden from celebrating Mass or performing any sacraments for a year. Not a lot of detail but if you can read French, the story is available here.
... CELIBACY AMONG PRIESTS: By propagating the traditional image of the celibate male priest, Karol Wojtyla bears the principal responsibility for the catastrophic dearth of priests, the collapse of spiritual welfare in many countries, and the many pedophilia scandals the church is no longer able to cover up.
Marriage is still forbidden to men who have agreed to devote their lives to the priesthood. This is only one example of how this pope, like others before him, is ignoring the teachings of the bible and the great Catholic tradition of the first millennium, which did not require office bearers to take a vow of celibacy. If someone, by virtue of his office, is forced to spend his life without a wife and children, there is a great risk that healthy integration of sexuality will fail, which can lead to pedophilic acts, for example.
Consequences: The ranks have been thinned and there is a lack of new blood in the Catholic church. Soon almost two-thirds of parishes, both in German-speaking countries and elsewhere, will be without an ordained pastor and regular celebrations of the Eucharist. It's a deficiency that even the declining influx of priests from other countries (1,400 of Germany's priests are from Poland, India and Africa) and the combining of parishes into "spiritual welfare units," a highly unpopular trend among the faithful, can no longer hide. The number of newly ordained priests in Germany dropped from 366 in 1990 to 161 in 2003, and the average age of active priests today is now above 60. [emphasis added] ...
Yo, Your Holiness, we are talking about your home country here! And this is precisely why many theologians are urging the Vatican to slow down on the canonization of Pope John Paul II. Let's take time to look at the complete record here and the long-term impact of his policies on the Church.
Meanwhile, in Africa, Mgr. Tharcisse Tshibangu of the diocese of Mbuji-Mayi in the Congo has just suspended five of his priests and chastized an additional three for violating their celibacy vows. The suspended priests must leave their parishes and are forbidden from celebrating Mass or performing any sacraments for a year. Not a lot of detail but if you can read French, the story is available here.
Deacons help fill clergy gap
Some more interesting tidbits on the priest shortage and the rise of the permanent married diaconate from today's The Oregonian :
The Catholic Church in Oregon and nationwide is quietly transforming its clergy from a centuries-old tradition of celibate priests to a ministry that includes married men with children and secular careers.
As the number of U.S. priests declines, church ranks are swelling with permanent deacons, a recently revived class of ordained ministers who can baptize, witness marriages, lead funeral services and assist with many other functions central to church life.
By 2010, the number of permanent deacons in the United States is projected to exceed the number of priests actively working in parishes, said Joseph Claude Harris, a Seattle independent research analyst who has spent years tracking demographic trends in the Roman Catholic Church. The projection does not include sick, retired or otherwise inactive priests or those who belong to religious orders such as the Jesuits. Combined, those categories account for more than half of U.S. priests.
"There's a whole revolution going on in the way the church is being staffed," Harris said.
...
Nationwide, priests retire at double the rate of new ordinations, even as the Catholic population continues to grow.
[Rev. Richard Huneger, a priest who oversees the permanent deacon program for the Portland Archdiocese] doesn't see deacons as a way to make up for the dwindling number of priests, saying deacons would be needed even if the church had a sudden influx of new priests.
Still, no flood of priests is in sight.
Greg Magnoni, spokesman for the Seattle Archdiocese, said, "When I grew up in the '50s and '60s, there were multiple priests at every parish. Now there are multiple parishes for each priest. It's just a complete reversal of what it used to be. A deacon can do so many of the liturgical functions because they're a member of the clergy."
The article goes on to discuss the impact of reliance on a permanent married male diaconate on prospects for women priests.
On the pro-celibacy side, we have this gem from recent retrospective articles on the life of the late Jesuit priest and Congressman Robert Drinan:
Once asked how he got so much done in his life, Drinan is said to have responded, "The answer is simple: celibacy."
The Catholic Church in Oregon and nationwide is quietly transforming its clergy from a centuries-old tradition of celibate priests to a ministry that includes married men with children and secular careers.
As the number of U.S. priests declines, church ranks are swelling with permanent deacons, a recently revived class of ordained ministers who can baptize, witness marriages, lead funeral services and assist with many other functions central to church life.
By 2010, the number of permanent deacons in the United States is projected to exceed the number of priests actively working in parishes, said Joseph Claude Harris, a Seattle independent research analyst who has spent years tracking demographic trends in the Roman Catholic Church. The projection does not include sick, retired or otherwise inactive priests or those who belong to religious orders such as the Jesuits. Combined, those categories account for more than half of U.S. priests.
"There's a whole revolution going on in the way the church is being staffed," Harris said.
...
Nationwide, priests retire at double the rate of new ordinations, even as the Catholic population continues to grow.
[Rev. Richard Huneger, a priest who oversees the permanent deacon program for the Portland Archdiocese] doesn't see deacons as a way to make up for the dwindling number of priests, saying deacons would be needed even if the church had a sudden influx of new priests.
Still, no flood of priests is in sight.
Greg Magnoni, spokesman for the Seattle Archdiocese, said, "When I grew up in the '50s and '60s, there were multiple priests at every parish. Now there are multiple parishes for each priest. It's just a complete reversal of what it used to be. A deacon can do so many of the liturgical functions because they're a member of the clergy."
The article goes on to discuss the impact of reliance on a permanent married male diaconate on prospects for women priests.
On the pro-celibacy side, we have this gem from recent retrospective articles on the life of the late Jesuit priest and Congressman Robert Drinan:
Once asked how he got so much done in his life, Drinan is said to have responded, "The answer is simple: celibacy."
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