Three women ordained as priests

Sorry, folks. I've been getting a little behind on my blogging....


By Michael Paulson
Boston Globe
July 21, 2008

A group advocating for the ordination of women held a ceremony yesterday in a packed Protestant church at which it declared three women to be Catholic priests and a fourth woman to be a deacon.

The ceremony, like several others that have taken place around the world over the past six years, was denounced by the Roman Catholic Church, and critics said the event was a stunt with no religious significance. The Catholic Church has consistently taught that only men can be ordained as priests, and the Archdiocese of Boston said that the women who participated in yesterday's ceremony had automatically excommunicated themselves by participating in what it said was an invalid ordination ceremony.

But the women who participated in the event, along with the several hundred people who spent nearly three hours in the sweltering Church of the Covenant, said they rejected the excommunications and believed that the women had been validly ordained. The women were vested with white chasubles and red stoles and greeted with a standing ovation as they were declared to be priests. They then helped preside over a service at which they declared bread and wine to be consecrated and offered what they called Communion to anyone who wished to receive it.

The ceremony was organized by Roman Catholic Womenpriests, an organization that is not recognized by the Roman Catholic Church. Catholic Church officials say the women are not Catholic, their ordinations are not real, and any sacraments they attempt to celebrate, including yesterday's Eucharist, are invalid.

"The organization calling itself Roman Catholic Womenpriests is not recognized as an entity of the Catholic Church," the Archdiocese of Boston said in a statement Thursday. "Catholics who attempt to confer a sacred order on a woman, and the women who attempt to receive a sacred order, are by their own actions separating themselves from the Church."

The Womenpriests organization says their ordinations are legitimate because Catholic bishops in good standing ordained their first members to become female priests and bishops. Therefore, they argue, the women being ordained can claim apostolic succession, or direct descent from Jesus's apostles.

"Why is Rome so upset about us? Because they know the ordinations are valid," said Bridget Mary Meehan, the spokeswoman for Roman Catholic Womenpriests. "We are not intimidated. We feel so strongly."

The organization has not released the name of the bishops it says consecrated the first women bishops, saying they would face sanction by the Vatican, but says it will release the names once the male bishops die.

C.J. Doyle, of the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts, in an e-mail yesterday called the ceremony "a sacrilegious parody of Holy Orders conducted at a Protestant church by a collection of apostates misappropriating the Catholic name." Three women were declared to be priests at the ceremony yesterday: Gloria Carpeneto of Baltimore, Judy Lee of Fort Myers, Fla., and Gabriella Velardi Ward of New York City. A fourth woman, Mary Ann McCarthy Schoettly of Newton, N.J., was declared a deacon.

"I'm feeling such joy, I could rise up," Lee said in an interview after the ceremony. She pointed out that she was wearing a cross from Dignity, an organization of gay Catholics. "I am a priest for the poor and those who live at the margins, and we deserve the full sacraments of the Catholic Church," she said.

The women did not pledge obedience or chastity - the promises made by Roman Catholic priests - and one was introduced to the congregation by her daughter; another by her husband.

The ceremony was presided over by Dana Reynolds of California and Ida Raming of Germany, both of whom have been declared bishops by Roman Catholic Womenpriests. But church officials say the women are neither bishops nor Catholic - that they too have been automatically excommunicated as a result of their actions.

"We know only too well in how many ways Vatican church leaders refuse to acknowledge the equality in Christ that God has established between men and women, and how they constantly try to reimpose the precedence of men over women, which is unchristian," Raming said. "We give witness to the whole world that it is not male gender which is the prerequisite for a valid ordination, but faith and baptism, the foundation of our dignity and equality."

The ceremony was held at the Church of the Covenant, which is affiliated with both the Presbyterian Church and the United Church of Christ. The interim pastor of the church, the Rev. Jennifer Wegter-McNelly, declared the ordination of women "an important part of this church's identity," and said "we stand with you today."

The former president of the Massachusetts conference of the United Church of Christ, the state's largest Protestant denomination, was among several Protestant clergy who attended the ceremony to express their support for the women seeking ordination as Catholic priests.

"Prejudice in liturgical clothing is still prejudice," said the Rev. Nancy S. Taylor, the former conference president, who is now senior minister of Old South Church.

AND A COUPLE OF DISSENTING VIEWS FROM THE HIERARCHY:

Fr. Richard Erikson, Vicar General for the Archdiocese of Boston: ...The ordination of men to the priesthood is not merely a matter of practice or discipline within the Catholic Church, but rather, it is part of the unalterable Deposit of Faith handed down by Christ through his apostles.

The organization calling itself "Roman Catholic Womenpriests" is not recognized as an entity of the Catholic Church. Catholics who attempt to confer a sacred order on a woman, and the women who attempt to receive a sacred order, are by their own actions separating themselves from the Church community of believers. ....(Full statement)

Archbishop John Vlazny, Archdiocese of Portland, Oregon: ...In recent years the media has informed us about the so-called “ordination of women priests.” There are those who proclaim that it’s a matter of justice that women be allowed into the priesthood. Jesus was clearly an agent for justice in his time and he did not call women to the apostolic ministry as he did the twelve apostles. Priests share in that apostolic ministry with their bishops.

Certainly a woman can pretend to be a priest. There are also many men who pretend to be priests but who are not ordained validly, let alone legitimately. But because they claim to be priests and are talented and generous, many choose to accept them as priests and participate in their alleged sacramental celebrations. This is a serious blow to the sacramental integrity which is a hallmark of our church.... (Full article)

Protesters suggest alternative Ten Commandments

SBS World News Australia
7/18/2008

Demonstrators against World Youth Day posted ten alternative commandments opposite the Pope's temporary residence at St Mary's Cathedral, as the pontiff sat inside watching the Stations of the Cross parade on television.

The gesture aimed to emulate Martin Luther, who nailed a document criticising Catholicism to a cathedral door in Germany in 1517. The move sparked the Reformation, resulting in the emergence of Protestantism.

The modern-day commandments were stuck with blu-tak, instead of nails, across the road from the church, as security prevented protest organisers from coming any closer to the Pope's accommodation.

Orchestrated by the Australian National Secular Association, the move followed an earlier protest in which demonstrators gave the commandments and condoms to passing pilgrims.

ANSA's 'new' commandments - found below - call on the church to revise its treatment of women and homosexuals, and to change its stance on condoms in the interests of welfare. They also demand the church take responsibility for sex abuse victims who have suffered at the hands of its priests.

"Federal and State Government paid $160 million to support this event, and they can do it because there is no constitutional separation of church and state at any level," said ANSA director Max Wallace.

Wallace adds that the church is one of Australia's five wealthiest corporations, its largest landholder and largest private employer, with a net income of $15 billion.

"It beggars belief that an organisation of this scale couldn't find $160 million to put down on their own event," he says. "The modus operandi of the church is like any corporation. It privatises profit and socialises cost," he adds.

"What Australians don't know is that most religious organisations that satisfy the tax office's requirements are tax exempt," he said.


Ten commandments for the Twenty-First Century Church

• You shall eliminate all barriers to equality based on sexuality including a woman’s right to choose, women priests and gay marriage.
  
  
• You shall not endanger life and welfare through suppression of sexual and reproductive health and shall distribute condoms and other forms of contraception to prevent HIV/AIDS in all parts of the world.
  
  
• You shall abolish celibacy as a requirement for priesthood.
  
  
• You shall adequately apologise and compensate, on an ongoing basis, all past, present and future victims of sexual, physical and mental abuse by church officials.
  
  
• You shall never engage in cover-ups and ensure that all offences are reported to authorities immediately.
  
  
• You shall never use the legal system to frustrate genuine litigants by extending cases over many years.
  
  
• You shall declare all your financial activities, pay taxes on your substantial income, and all your financial affairs shall be on the public record for scrutiny.
  
  
• You shall embrace constitutional separation of church and state and never allow governments to use taxpayers’ money to fund your rituals and religious activities.
  
  
• You shall embrace transparency and allow researchers access to all your records and keep no secrets of past activity.
  
  
• You shall not lie.
  

The story of my departure -- a gay priest's confession

This interview with a Hungarian ex-priest is interesting for its thoughtfulness.

Anita Simonfalvi
HVG.hu
July 17, 2008

He served as a provincial Catholic priest for almost a decade. When he realised he was gay, he abandoned his vocation and became a social worker in a homelessness hostel. He continues to serve, acknowledging his sexuality, but no longer within the Church. He spoke to hvg.hu on condition of anonymity.

hvg.hu: When did you realise you were gay, and how did you react to this?

Priest: My calvary began when I was an adolescent. I never had any luck with girls. There were always girls I liked but I never developed a real relationship with them. I was in my 20s when I was first with a man, and it was a searing experience for me. It felt like a tragedy, and I even considered suicide. I eventually ended up going to a psychiatrist. I worked as a skilled labourer for 10 years, graduated from high school, and then I joined a parish and got admitted to a seminary. I studied for five years, and I had believed that these deeply distressing feelings would disappear from my life if I was made a priest. I was wrong. There were many sides to my calling, one of which was the oath of celibacy which allowed me to ignore my sexuality altogether. I hoped that this could be taught. I thought there would be techniques, like those used by singers when they learn to sing a high C. I hoped I could learn in the same way. When it became clear that this problem wasn't going away, I had been a priest for almost 10 years already. I had to accept that I couldn't do anything about this problem. The question was whether I could carry on as a priest, but making a compromise, leading a secret life, accepting that I was unable to adhere to my oath of celibacy. Or I could decide to abandon my vocation.

After hesitating for a long while, I chose to leave. After soul-searching, I realised that sexuality was such a central part of a person, that you can't just sublimate it. There are theories saying that if people live for others, giving themselves entirely, then these desires vanish. But in my life, self-sacrifice was not enough to get rid of those feelings. After five years of suffering, I took the painful decision, and after that I had no doubts.

hvg.hu: Could you talk to anybody about this inner struggle? A friend or a fellow priest?

P.: In the first years of my priesthood I went to a psychologist. I had the traditional Christian belief that homosexuality is a sin. The psychologist's help was not enough, so I began to read about the issue, and I began to see the situation more clearly. Bela Buda wrote a very good book about sexual behaviour, which devotes almost 100 pages to questions of homosexuality. I realised that homosexuality is just a variant of sexuality. It's like being left- or right-handed.

There is no moral difference between right- and left-handedness. You can stroke with either hand - and you can hit with either. It's not about your orientation. Ethically, the only question is whether a relationship is voluntary, based on free commitment and love, or whether it's about blackmail, violence or some kind of threat. I don't believe a relationship between two people of the same sex which is based on mutual understanding is a sin. Of course, I'm going against church teachings by saying this. But you can't stand there at the pulpit and say that. I decided I'd be most honest if I voluntarily give up my Church career. I wanted to be faithful to my self-recognition and I didn't want to live a deceitful double life. But I remained a believer, and I continue to go to Church every day.

hvg.hu: How did you convince yourself to change?

P.: Nowadays, there is a real stigma attached to priests who leave their vocation. I think it was always like this. This is only part of the problem, because I enjoyed my vocation and I should have liked to stay faithful to it. I think I was a talented preacher, and my flock liked and acknowledged me. All this suddenly vanished. The things that had fulfilled me disappeared from my life.

That's probably why it took me so long to make my mind up. I hadn't been strong enough to leave the vocation while I had no alternative. When I realised if I left priestly orders I could work with the poorest people, I realised I could carry on my vocation in a different way.

I wrote to the head of my order, telling him I couldn't stick to my oath of celibacy. His answer was surprising: he said we should sweep the problem under the carpet. I could deal with the problem without leaving. In other words, the church had no answer. It can't take too hard a line, because these are facts of life, whereas legalising the practice would be impossible. The head of the order wrote an ambiguous letter, leaving it to me to decide. I had already taken a final decision, so I decided I would declare my desires to the world, and carry on doing what I had done before.

hvg.hu: Benedict XVI has said homosexuals should be banned from being priests.

P.: That would lead to drastic consequences. There are no precise numbers, but I suspect that around 30 per cent of priests are gay.

Homosexuality is more widespread in the priesthood than in the world at large. But being a priest doesn't make you gay, even if it does mean not being with women and being surrounded by men. But many gay people choose the priesthood because they are more sensitive than others, which is useful for a priestly life. Similarly, many actors and artists are gay. It's also worth asking why somebody's sexuality matters if they've already taken an oath of celibacy - they're not allowed a sex life in any case. So it's clear that we're dealing with a load of taboos that haven't been properly discussed. The church will have trouble with homosexuality until the Final Judgement. They don't have an answer.

hvg.hu: How did you leave the order?

P.: I escaped. I went for a training session and I didn't return home.Well, a few weeks later I went to collect my stuff. My fellow monks talked to me civilly, to make things go smoothly, but the human link had been broken. I cut myself off from them, and I bore the consequences. The first few months were hellish. I had left a community that I'd been an organic part of. I lost the people who had become my friends, almost my family, over 10 years of service. Some believers were able to understand by decision, but some still refuse to return my greeting, even though I had visited their families frequently. I only survived because I had resolved to carry forward my vocation, even if I had to leave the priesthood. It wasn't that easy, of course. If somebody stays inside the church, he can work much more effectively than somebody who has to do his fighting on his own.

hvg.hu: Do you support civil partnership for gays?

P.: For many gays, there is a real desire to make their relationship official. I don't have a strong view on civil partnerships, but it surprised me when Hungary's bishops went to see the Pope that he praised them for protesting against registered civil partnerships.

hvg.hu: Christianity isn't about homosexuality or your view on it.

P.: The ability to bless their relationships would give a kind of legal legitimacy to the lives of gay Christian couples. It wouldn't be a marriage, just a blessing. You can bless so many things nowadays: cars, flats, books - so why not gay couples? There needs to be a way to allow them to confess and receive absolution. Everyone just looks at this from a legal perspective. Of course, inheritance rights would be a big gain, but a Christian needs more than that spiritually. I don't see much chance of this happening now. Even though gay Christians need a community just as much as any other believer.

hvg.hu: What about gay couples adopting children?

P.: Some gays want to copy straight couples' lives down to the last detail. These are the models they learned at home, and they want to identify with that model. If they have a relationship, they want children. I'm not sure this is a good thing. However much they try to play the classic father-mother roles within the relationship, it will always seems false and awkward - and it could distort the child's personality.

It's still humiliating being gay today. I've survived situations that completely threw me to the floor and I have been ashamed of myself and ashamed to be seen by other people. A straight person can live his sexuality without any difficulties, whereas gay often feel the need to hide. I've had to search for happiness in train stations and public toilets before for want of other opportunities. I've been forced into impersonal, occasional relationships, because there I didn't have a chance of getting to know people in a normal way. If there was real acceptance, then perhaps we too could live our lives according to our own orientation. It would be good if there was tolerance not just on paper but in people's minds and hearts.

Fort Myers woman to be ordained, risks excommunication

And speaking of women's ordination...

By Anthony Anamelechi
The News-Press
July 15, 2008

Fort Myers resident Judith A.B. Lee, known as "Pastor Judy" among her Church in the Park congregation, will be ordained Sunday as a priest - at the risk of being excommunicated from the Catholic Church.

Lee is one of three women venturing to Boston to receive their Holy Orders through the Roman Catholic Women Priests organization.

The Catholic News Agency reported the Vatican's stance on the issue.

"Any women who attempt 'ordination' or any bishops who attempt to 'ordain' women are automatically excommunicated from the Church by their actions," the Vatican declared in May.

Canon Law 1024 also states that "A baptized male alone receives sacred ordination validly."

Still, Lee said she is excited about this new stage in her spiritual development.

"There's a bittersweetness," she said, "but beyond that, there's peace."

The ordination will be held at the Church of the Covenant, a non-Catholic church with dual membership in the United Church of Christ and the Presbyterian Church (USA), in Boston.

Gloria Carpeneto of Baltimore and Gabriella Velardi Ward of New York City will be ordained also.

The Roman Catholic Women Priests is an international initiative within the church to support women and men who are theologically qualified, committed to an inclusive model of the church, and who are called by the Holy Spirit and their communities to minister within the Roman Catholic Church.

Bridget Mary Meehan, spokeswoman and member of the organization, said women are called to the priesthood in the same manner as men through serving the people of God.

Meehan said the group's members have been excommunicated by the church.

"There's no question that we're violating Vatican law," Meehan said, "but we are doing it in prophetic obedience to the spirit."

In North America, the group has 30 female priests, 12 deacons, 18 candidates for ordination and one bishop.

Lee said the group is breaking in good conscience a rule that they say discriminates against women.

"As Rosa Parks did when she sat on the bus," Lee said, "we are sitting on the bus."

Lee said she was raised a Methodist but converted to Catholicism in 1991.

In 1998, she worked at Florida Gulf Coast University and helped to develop the master's of social work program. She holds a doctorate of ministry degree and a doctorate in social welfare.

Lee said she has a twinge of sadness about not being recognized by the Catholic Church. She said she is "praying the church will open their eyes and their ears."

Lee's Church in the Park ministry hold services every Friday night in Fort Myers' Lions Park.

She said the church offers food, clothing and counseling to more than 100 members, the majority of the congregation being homeless.

The Rev. Walter Fohs of Lamb of God Church in Estero said Lee more than deserves the ordination. Lamb of God holds joint services with Lee's congregation.

"She is tireless in her work at Church in the Park," Fohs said.

He said the ordination is also vital to the Catholic community as "a necessary sign of the future of the church."

Fohs said, without criticism of the Catholic Church, that a Christian ministry "has to be inclusive and speak to a wider population."

Lee's congregation has different backgrounds with members seeking help and guidance.

"Everybody loves her," Kenneth Summersett said.

Summersett, who attends the Friday services, said Lee is willing to help.

"I don't know what I would do if I didn't have her around," he said.

Catholics appeal to Benedict on ordination of married men, women

Web editor's note: Do follow the link to Catholics for Ministry to see what our brothers and sisters in Australia are doing about church reform.

Barney Zwartz
The Age
July 12, 2008

More than 200 Australian Catholics have written to Pope Benedict, asking him to start a 30-year trial in Australia of training and ordaining married men as priests to help ease the crisis in numbers.

The letters ask the Pope, who arrives in Sydney tomorrow for the week-long World Youth Day festival, to ordain married men immediately and consider ordaining women.

The campaign was organised by Catholics for Ministry, which last year sent a petition from nearly 17,000 Catholics to Australia's bishops, making similar requests.

"Our church is crumbling before our eyes," wrote a mother of six who is hosting overseas pilgrims. "We look at our community and see our priests struggling. I look at the anger and concern of tired priests and bishops and also see the real hurt, sadness and even anger of parishioners who are denied the sacraments."

A South Australian layman wrote: "Holy father, it is very easy to stay behind the walls of the Vatican and ignore what the people of Australia are trying to tell you, as does the emu with its head in the sand. In almost every parish in Australia there are ordained priests sitting in the pews. Their only fault — they got married."

The letters — written by laymen and women, church workers, people in religious orders, married deacons and priests — ask the Pope to intervene directly. They have been sent to Rome, according to organiser Terry Curtin, because the Pope's impenetrable security means he cannot be reached in Australia.

The letter writers say Australia does not have enough priests now to celebrate Mass and the sacraments, that parishes are being closed or merged, and that some rural priests must travel more than 600 kilometres every weekend to offer Mass.

The average age of priests is now 61, and too few are being trained to replace those who will soon retire.

The writers ask that the church in Australia be allowed to mount a 30-year experiment in which "carefully selected and thoroughly trained" married men are ordained.

They say that women do three-quarters of the pastoral work in Australia, but are not represented among senior church leadership.


And a humorous note on security in Sydney, courtesy of the Sydney Morning Herald:

A clerical first

Will the Pope's special message for World Youth Day be an announcement that the Catholic Church has given the go-ahead for the ordination for women priests?

We were forced to wonder if Rome had shifted on the controversial issue when a colleague, Kelly Burke, wandered into work to pick up her new youth day media accreditation pass. Much to her surprise she found the document bore a photograph of herself which was identified by the words "Monsignour Kelly Burke". To ward off any possible repeat of the Chaser's APEC jape last year, Burke, like thousands of others including priests and nuns, was required to submit to rigorous checking to obtain accreditation. And this included a NSW Police check. Declaring Burke a monsignor could raise serious security issues in these dangerous times. But the police have had long experience at spotting the differences between men and women, and as they issued Burke's pass without qualms, we can only conclude she is the first woman to be ordained by the Catholic Church. It's highly likely she was able to leapfrog priestly duties straight to monsignor status due to her experience as the Herald's former religious affairs reporter.

New-style church being born in France due to shortage of priests

David Rice
The Irish Times
July 08, 2008

RITE AND REASON:Perhaps what is already happening in the French Catholic Church is an indication of where Irish Catholicism is headed, writes David Rice.

IT HAS often been said that France has her crises before the rest of Europe - whether it be the French Revolution itself, or the student revolt of 1968, or the alienation of people from the churches.

There is one such crisis where France is ahead of Ireland, and that is in its shortage of Roman Catholic priests. France is also ahead in its response to that shortage. In essence the lay people have taken over the local church and run it for themselves.

In one diocese in northern France there is only one priest to serve 27 parishes. It means the priest has been reduced to the role of circuit rider who drops by on rare occasions to offer a Mass and consecrate some hosts. For the rest of the time the people run their church themselves. In 2001 the diocese of Nice had to reduce its 265 parishes down to 47.

One of these, the recently created parish of Nôtre Dame de l'Espérance, runs along a celebrated strip of the Mediterranean coast, with five churches. There were five priests; now there is just one, who cannot cope on his own. Yet all five village churches are flourishing.

The secret is that each church has an appointed lay person, called a relais local, whose duty is to run both church and parish, and perform almost all functions save uttering the words of consecration and administering those sacraments only a priest is allowed to do.

A principal function of the relaisis to conduct a Sunday Communion service in the absence of the priest - for all practical purposes a Mass without the consecration. There is frequently no priest at a funeral any more.

At the Église Sacré Coeur in Beaulieu, I attended one such funeral, conducted by the relais localefor the church. She received the coffin. There were words of welcome, the singing of hymns, a short eulogy of the deceased, readings from scripture, a brief reflection by the relais, the lighting of candles beside the coffin, a blessing of the coffin with holy water, and prayers for the deceased. It lasted about half-an-hour. There was no Mass, as there was no priest. But there wasn't a Communion service either.

This new de facto structure in the parish is not confined to relais locales. Marie-Anne Hosley, an energetic Frenchwoman whose mother hails from Co Down, has lately been appointed general manager of the parish with its five churches. While her official title is économe, she assures me it is more about admin than money.

Although unpaid herself, she manages a payroll of nine people, including cleaners, organists and two parish secretaries.

Other lay people - men and women - are equally active in many of the former roles of the priest - parish visitation, counselling, pre-marriage instruction, attending the sick, bringing communion, chaplaincies to hospitals and retirement homes and in some areas to scout and youth groups.

Also it is lay people who, almost exclusively, perform the crucial role of imparting their faith.In the neighbouring diocese of Monaco, Bernadette Keraudren gives many hours guiding catechumens - those who want to become Christian or Catholic.

The catechumens go through about two years of guidance, all done by lay people. None of this is stop-gap until better times come. This is for keeps, because better times are not coming. Soon there won't be any priests at all. Or so few that it simply won't count. So people here see a totally new church ministry evolving, which will inevitably become more formalised.

But the dearth of priests means that the people will ultimately be left without the sacraments and without the Eucharist, the centre of their faith. That is why the relais, and all these other layfolk who are de facto running the church, are asking, when will the Vatican wake up to the facts of life and allow or recognise new ministries?

"Vatican Two talked about us all being priests," Hosley says. "The priesthood of the laity. So maybe the church will soon have a new form of priest." That could mean that, in one fell swoop, there would be women priests and married priests. Many here believe that time is not far off.

• David Rice, a former Dominican priest, is the author of six books

© 2008 The Irish Times

Bishop Clemente Isnard: “Priests should be able to marry''

Bishop Clemente Isnard launches a book in which he defends ideas such as the end of celibacy and the ordination of women

By Rodrigo Cardoso (translation from the Portuguese by Phoebe)
Istoé Independente
July 3, 2008

In the introduction of Reflexões de um bispo sobre as instituições eclesiásticas atuais (“Reflections of a bishop on the ecclesiastical institutions today”), Dom Clemente Isnard says that all apostolic Roman Catholics should bring their modest collaboration for the good of the Church. Without fear and without hesitation. This is what he does in the recently launched work, despite opposition. The bishop emeritus of Nova Friburgo (RJ) says that he has been under pressure from the Brazilian National Bishops’ Conference (CNBB) not to publish the book and had one contract with a (Catholic) publisher cancelled, but decided to move forward. A representative of the generation of bishops who led the CNBB in the 70s and 80s, Dom Clemente has been historically associated with the progressive wing of the church, which advocates the reading of the Gospel in the light of social issues and was neutralized by the Vatican beginning with the pontificate of John Paul II. Without fear and enjoying the freedom of retirement, the religious leader defends his bold positions in an interview with Istoé.


Istoé – Do you think the celibacy of priests should be mandatory?

Dom Clemente - Priestly celibacy is not part of the essence of the Catholic priesthood. In the Eastern Catholic Church, also united to Rome, many priests are married. Priests should be able to unite in marriage.

Istoé – How long have you been advocating this idea?

Dom Clemente - During my episcopate, two priests asked for dispensation from celibacy. I facilitated this as much as possible, but with deep regret, because the priests were very good. One of them, because he had received dispensation and married, did not celebrate Mass but he did perform other priestly functions. I allowed him to do baptisms and marriages, but could not allow the celebration of the Mass and hearing confessions. My successor (Dom Alano Maria Penna) cut all of this out.

Istoé - In your case, how do you see celibacy?

Dom Clemente - I am a monk and celibacy is essential for the monk. I have never had any doubts about my celibacy.

Istoé – Why do you think that it is a good idea for the Church for women to have the right to celebrate Mass?

Dom Clemente - There are many canonical rulings in the Church that exclude women from certain duties. [Women] [p]residing in base communities celebrating the Mass, for example, would be one solution for the lack of clergy.

Istoé – How do you evaluate the current Brazilian episcopate?

Dom Clemente - The required number of bishops brought a certain decline, exacerbated by the criteria of the conservative Roman Curia, which makes the appointments. For the Vatican, directing a docile episcopate -- one which follows all the guidelines – is more comfortable.

Istoé - Benedict XVI seeks to strengthen doctrine, not allowing changes, even if it means losing believers. What is the impact of that stand?

Dom Clemente - The evil is not "reinforcing the doctrine." The evil is letting onself become paralyzed.

Istoé – You received pressure not to publish the book. How did that happen?

Dom Clemente - I received a letter from the bishops of Eastern Region I (of the CNBB), signed by all, asking that I not publish the book. I understand that the Apostolic Nuncio prohibited the Provincial of Paulists from publishing the book through the Paulist publishing house. They then broke the contract they had made earlier.

Istoé - Why only now -- emeritus and 91 years old -- have you decided to bring together all these controversial views?

Dom Clemente – Because I have only now developed what is necessary to propose such controversial views. Dom Hélder Câmara, for example, wrote that he converted at 56 years of age.

Phoebe's footnote: I truly love these old guys -- the late Abbé Pierre, Cardinal Carlos M. Martini, Bishop Geoffrey Robinson, and now Dom Clemente! It's a shame that we don't get similar insight and compassion from the younger generation in the hierarchy.

Finding ways to keep parishes open

By David Yonke
Toledo Blade
July 5, 2008

As the number of Catholic priests in the United States declines and the ranks of Catholics increase, dioceses across the country are trying to do more with less. Many times that leads to the closing of parishes.

But some Catholic groups are making a push to find alternatives so that church doors will remain open.

“Closing the parish community should be the absolutely last resort,” said Sister Christine Schenk, a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph religious order and the executive director of the Catholic reform group FutureChurch.

She will speak Wednesday night at the monthly meeting of United Parishes in Kansas, Ohio.

She acknowledges that the numbers are cause for concern: There are 18,000 active diocesan priests in the United States today, and if present rates of ordination, retirement, and death continue there will be 11,500 priests 20 years from now.

Meanwhile, the number of Catholics in the United States has been rising from 45 million in 1965 to more than 63 million today.

While the U.S. Catholic Church is clearly facing a major challenge over the shortage of priests, Sister Schenk said in a recent interview that there are viable options bishops should consider.

“We don’t think it’s a good idea to shrink active, vibrant parishes to fit the number of priests,” she said. “What we’re recommending instead is that we keep parishes open with parish life coordinators.”

She said there are 550 parishes in the United States that are led by parish life coordinators.

“They can do the administrating, and then priests come in for sacramental leadership,” she said. “This is permitted under Canon Law. It is not an unknown. And the experience, by and large, has been quite positive.”

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’s National Pastoral Life Center said that lay ecclesial ministers are helping to meet the needs of parishioners when there are fewer priests, “taking on a wide array of pastoral responsibilities that advance parish life.”

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ National Pastoral Life Center said lay ecclesial ministers are helping to meet the needs of parishioners when there are fewer priests, “taking on a wide array of pastoral responsibilities that advance parish life.”

More than 30,000 lay ecclesial ministers are working at least 20 hours per week in paid positions in American parishes, the conference reports.

Despite the increasing role of lay ecclesial ministers, the number of parishes in the United States has been dropping as diocesan bishops order closures and mergers, generally citing the lack of available priests.

In Toledo, Bishop Leonard Blair closed 17 parishes and merged 16 others into six new parishes in 2005. In May, Bishop Blair announced that three parishes in Paulding County will be merged into one.

Since 2005, the number of parishes in the 19-county Toledo diocese has been reduced from 157 to 131.

United Parishes, the nonprofit group that invited Sister Christine to speak, was formed by members of closed parishes in the Toledo diocese.

“There are 40 dioceses actively engaged in reconfiguring or downsizing parishes,” Sister Christine said. “Camden [N.J.] just went from 124 to 65 parishes. Allentown [Pa.] is closing around 40 or 50. Buffalo is closing 50 parishes. Cleveland is projecting as many as 48 parishes will close. The sad part is that even with all this downsizing, in another 10 years we could be looking at another round of closings, considering the demographics.”

In its mission statement, the Cleveland-based FutureChurch is described as “a national coalition of parish-based Catholics who seek the full participation of all baptized Catholics in the life of the Church.”

Sister Christine said the organization believes the long-range answer to the priest shortage will require the ordination of women and making celibacy optional for priests.

Meanwhile, however, FutureChurch “respects the tradition of the Roman Catholic Church and its current position on ordination.”

Last year, the group created a Save Our Parish Community project designed to provide resources to parishes that are targeted, or fear being targeted, for closure or merger.

“We’re not saying that every parish should stay open no matter what. Some parishes do need to close,” Sister Christine said. “If they have shrinking membership, shrinking funding base, declining sacramental base, no apostolic outreach to others, then maybe it’s time to look at the handwriting on the wall.”

But too many vibrant, healthy parishes are being closed unnecessarily, she said.

“If you close a parish, you’re breaking up communities and I think that’s tragic. When I look at parishes like St. James in Kansas [Ohio], it breaks my heart. It reminds me of why our mission is so important.”

St. James, which was ordered closed in 2005, lost an appeal to the Vatican and is pursuing efforts in civil court.

Sister Christine said lay people could provide valuable insights and alternatives to closings if the church hierarchy would listen, but their input often is not taken seriously by dioceses in determining parish closings.

“They’ll say the people were involved in the decision-making process, but often what happens is something other than what was recommended,” Sister Christine said.

Sister Christine Schenk will speak to the United Parishes meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Kansas United Methodist Church in Kansas, Ohio, in Seneca County. More information is available online at www.futurechurch.org or by calling 216-228-0869.

Catholicism should lower the drawbridge

by Barney Zwartz
Brisbane Times
6/23/2008

Some changes to church doctrines would make it more appealing.

In less than a month, Pope Benedict will celebrate Mass in Sydney before an expected congregation of 500,000 — the high point of the week-long World Youth Day celebration that the Catholic Church in Australia hopes will revitalise church attendance and religious commitment.

Secular critics fear that — helped by an ever-rising injection of Government funds, so far about $130 million — it may. Many Catholics are sceptical. Yes, there will be a media-fuelled surge of interest. Devout young Catholics will find their faith affirmed, and some less-committed will be reached. But many young people will attend in the same spirit as a concert — an interesting event, but not life-changing.

The church would be wrong to put all its eggs in the World Youth Day basket. As it enters its third millennium, it needs another bout of self-examination of the sort it has done sporadically through the centuries.

The issues today are as serious as any in the past: plummeting Mass attendance, the dramatic decline in priests and religious orders, the advance of secularism, the challenge of Islam, and especially the alienation of ordinary Catholics from the institutional church. Disenchantment over such issues as contraception, the place of women, authoritarianism and the sexual abuse crisis have left millions still believing in Jesus but not the church.

Now it is time to try a touch of democracy. Some relatively simple reforms would not affect the church's core teaching of hope and salvation, which are non-negotiable. But how the church operates as an institution should always be open to self-examination.

Three books in recent months by leading Australian Catholics — philosopher Max Charlesworth, former priest and Catholic commentator Paul Collins and former Sydney bishop Geoffrey Robinson — have suggested such reforms.

They want to curb papal power and the Curia — the Vatican bureaucracy that is virtually all male, all clerical and unaccountable to the wider church — and to re-examine certain doctrines, peripheral accretions over time, that could be readily changed. These include allowing married priests, contraception and greater involvement by laymen and women.

Charlesworth discusses the conflict between the values liberal democracies take for granted and the almost totalitarian rule the Vatican seeks over its adherents. It wasn't always so, he argues, and it needn't be now.

The way the Vatican's doctrinal watchdog, the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, treats dissident theologians — its "Star Chamber methods" — are, he says, completely at odds with elementary principles of justice. The insistence that Catholics should obey their bishops before their consciences is another conflict, since the basis of democratic society is the freedom of the individual to make judgements of conscience.

Particularly revealing is the church's response to revelations of priestly sexual abuse and the long institutional cover-up, finally exposed by an American lay group, Voice of the Faithful, and the media. The fact that the church still hasn't dealt with it well reflects the hierarchy's discomfort at being challenged by laypeople.

Despite all this, there is a strong similarity (not coincidental) between Christian and democratic values, such as equality, freedom, conscience and human dignity. Politically, these values are protected by the constitution, universal suffrage and an array of checks and balances. Why shouldn't the church operate the same way? Why not let laypeople vote for the Pope? They did for the first 1000 years. And it took centuries for today's authoritarian structure to emerge out of a variety of local systems.

These suggestions horrify conservative Catholics, because the majority can easily be wrong. The church's motto is semper eadem ("always the same") because it is the repository and guardian of religious truth for all time and cannot be subject to the tides of intellectual fashion.

In fact, of course, the church can and does change — both culturally and theologically — around the edges while maintaining its central message. For centuries, the church justified persecution and bad faith on the grounds that "error has no rights".

But the reforming Vatican II council in the 1960s recognised that "in matters of religion no one can be forced to act in a manner contrary to his beliefs" — a massive U-turn that the church presented as a "development". It took 1000 years for celibacy to become a requirement for priests (even then for purely practical reasons), while papal infallibility has been a formal doctrine for only 138 years.

In all its "developments", the church has rightly been responding to its environment. Today it has come to terms with its diminished role in a pluralistic West, and explicitly accepts that other religions contain truth.

Given the often-justified criticism of the institutional church, it's easy to forget that it has been an enormous force for good: tending people, promoting justice, providing education, offering compassion, consolation and hope. It will keep doing it — but how much more successfully if it can lower the last drawbridges and emerge from behind the battlements.

Barney Zwartz is religion editor.

Ralph Pinto: "The Forbidden Priest"

Web Editor's Note: Not sure why this Dominican Republic newspaper is running this interview at this time. Ralph Pinto and his wife, Jane, were featured in a controversial 2004 HBO documentary, "Celibacy". Translation from the Spanish provided by Phoebe, who is still trying to recover from her attempt to explain the history of celibacy and married priesthood in the Catholic Church to her charismatic prayer group last night as part of a talk on the sacrament of Holy Orders. A lot of resistance to these ideas -- I am occasionally stunned by the extent to which the faithful, particularly the Hispanic faithful, are in the dark and in denial about Biblical and early Church scholarship, as well as current debate about these issues. We talked about Peter's mother-in-law and someone said: "Well, of course, Peter left his wife and everything else to follow Jesus!" So I said, "Oh, really? Where in the Bible does it say that Peter left his wife?" Dead silence. So I asked the woman to turn to 1 Cor 9: 5 where Paul says "Do we not have the right to take along a Christian wife, as do the rest of the apostles, and the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas?" and pointed out to her that Cephas (Peter) was the name that Simon received AFTER being called by Jesus. Amazing...

By Miguel Cruz Tejada
El Nuevo Diario
6/18/2008

NEW YORK -- Ralph Pinto, a priest in the 1990s who left the church for love and describes himself as "the forbidden priest," says that after nearly 30 years of being married to a Franciscan nun and also fathering three daughters with her, he has no regrets for what he did.

"I never agreed with celibacy," he said in an interview for "Celibacy", a documentary by the HBO broadcast chain that aired recently and has been awarded several prizes at international film festivals.

For many experts the multiple cases of sexual abuse by priests against minors in their own churches and seminaries has had much to do with celibacy. Pinto says that leaving the church because he had fallen in love with his current wife, was the hardest moment of his life, but he had to make a decision.

"It was my life and future against an institutional mandate," says the former pastor. "Working in the parish had been my whole life."

He says that some of his friends protested that he loved (God) the Father and did not understand how he could abandon such a beautiful relationship with the Church.

He consulted with a priest-counselor in the archdiocese who told him to concede to his carnal desire, because it could be worse in the future.

The priests who had been his friends told him goodbye and that God would protect him. Nobody helped him with a penny and he was forced to work as a carpenter, cleaning floors in a hotel, and on a night shift in the pantheon of a cemetery.

"I walked around with a vacuum cleaner on my back, sweeping floors and seeking job opportunities. Even though I had a master's degree in theology, philosophy and classical languages. Emotionally it was very bad," says the former priest. "Those were very difficult times".

After 28 years, Ralph maintains that he is happy not to have listened to those who advised him to stay in the church by keeping the relationship secret. "These last 28 years have been the happiest of my life and I thank my wife and my daughters being part of my life, because although I was afraid of being a dad, I now have three wonderful young ladies who have grown up with us," adds the former Franciscan priest.

"I'm glad to have done what I did and would do so again and again," he says.

But it turns out that the situation was even more complicated for Ralph, because the woman he fell in love with was a Franciscan nun named Jane who taught at his church.

She participated in the interview by saying that she has been grateful all her life that she fell in love with the priest, because that gave her more understanding about life and brought her the happiness that she had not achieved before. "It gave me an opportunity to build a life together with another human being."

The former nun says that in making this decision she knew she would be obliged to leave the convent. "And as I would be pointed out and embarrassed, I would also have to leave the community and so I did." She says she was aware that she would be abandoning everything that she had known, all that was her life and vocation.

She tells of going to the chapel of the convent and praying to God, asking forgiveness for what she was about to do, weeping from the depths of her soul. "I cried to the point where I discovered that I would not be in that position of falling in love had it not been for something good, holy and of God."

The nun says that many people believe that women religious are objects of sexual satisfaction for many priests who are obliged to comply with celibacy and cannot do so.

"Some believe that they can free themselves sexually by using any woman, then tossing her aside and returning to their parishes, and many of those women have to remain silent" said the nun.

Two of her daughters were sired by a priest, but everything changed when another priest declared his love. "I took up the crucifix daily, went to church, prayed, but when I did not receive any response, my frustration was so enormous that I picked up a bottle of Tylenol pills (a pain reliever) and I took almost the entire contents. The aim was to commit suicide, but I did not die and he came to see me in the hospital," the former Franciscan stated dramatically.

After separating from her first husband, she went to live alone and had sex with her new friend with whom she got pregnant, but he claimed that he could not acknowledge the baby. The priest ignored the calls from the hospital when his daughter was born, but six months later he returned. The bishop advised her to leave the city and have no more contact with the priest.

"According to them, I was to blame. I was rubbish. They refused to support me. They like to exploit women in order to maintain their position in the church," she criticized.

Since that time, the relationship between her and Ralph has lasted 28 years. "That has made him a pariah for the church."

The former nun attacked the Catholic Church for allowing priests who rape young men, abuse women or girls and keep their relationships secret, to remain part of the congregation, while rejecting those who want to proclaim [their relationships] publicly and do as God wills.

"And if the priest has a woman even though she is not his wife publicly, if he keeps it a secret, he can continue in the church. The crime is speaking out." adds the former nun. (HBO Documentary contributed to this report)

Author: Ending celibacy would make more men enter priesthood

By Nicole Neroulias
Religion News Service
Abilene Reporter
Thursday, June 19, 2008

During his recent trip to America, Pope Benedict XVI attended a youth rally at St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers, N.Y. -- the same school where enrollment has dwindled to the point that no new prospective priests are enrolled next fall.

As the U.S. church ordains its crop of some 400 new priests in the coming weeks, church leaders hope Benedict's words of encouragement will inspire more men to consider the priesthood. The Rev. Donald Cozzens of John Carroll University, however, believes it will take a major change in Vatican policy on celibacy to revitalize the priesthood.

Cozzens, 69, has tracked the decline in vocations for more than a decade, including as rector of Cleveland's St. Mary Seminary from 1995 to 2000. In his 2006 book, "Freeing Celibacy," and in lectures all over the country, he argues celibacy should be optional for Catholic priests.

Q: What do you see as the reason for the decline in American men wanting to become priests?

A: The clergy sexual abuse scandals have taken their toll, but my hunch is that the typical size of the Catholic family is a major factor. Catholics on average are having about two children. And so, the replacement rate in the United States today -- for every 100 priests who either retire or die or leave ministry -- we're ordaining, I believe, less than 35.

Q: But you also argue that mandating celibacy for priests is a significant part of this problem?

A: I think celibacy is a great gift, and it's wonderful for people who have the grace and the gift and the calling, but it can be a very difficult situation for men who feel called to the priesthood but not to celibacy. Over the past half dozen years, I've asked probably two dozen men if they've ever thought of being priests, and every one of them has said yes, they have thought of it, but then they add, "I really feel also called to the sacrament of marriage, I'd like to be a husband and a father."

Q: When did you start thinking mandatory celibacy should be reconsidered?

A: The first time I thought about the priesthood, from my grade school days, I felt called to be a priest, and the issue of mandatory celibacy was a disquieting condition of the priesthood. But I didn't seriously look at the history of celibacy and its theology until after I was ordained. We've always (historically) had a married priesthood in the Catholic Church. It really wasn't until the 12th century that celibacy was made mandatory for diocesan priests, and some historians argue that it really wasn't taken seriously until the 16th century.

Q: Given that there are some married clergy now in the Eastern Rite churches or who have converted to Catholicism, what's stopping the Vatican from deciding to allow married priests in general?

A: That's a good question! Celibacy is a church policy, it is not a church dogma. Pope John Paul II and now Pope Benedict XVI, they have the freedom to change that policy at any time they feel it would be prudent to do so. There are a number of bishops' conferences who have called upon the Vatican to reflect and discuss the issue of celibacy and whether or not is it wise to legislate celibacy for every person who feels called to the priesthood.

Q: Will this policy change within your lifetime?

A: We need to provide the Eucharist to Catholic people, and if the trend continues -- and I think it would be naive to think it's going to turn around soon -- I think the demographic situation might bring about a change in this policy. But, we'd have to hit a critical pastoral need and we'd need leadership from the U.S. bishops and we'd also need the laity and the clergy to say, "Let's examine this policy. Is it really necessary and good for the church?"

Q: What about other strategies for boosting seminary enrollment? For example, do you think the pope's visit might inspire more men to consider the priesthood?

A: I wouldn't be surprised if there was an increase in the number of men applying to our seminaries, but I don't believe it will be significant enough to meet the challenges that the U.S. Catholic Church will be facing, in terms of the number of ordained priests available for ministry.

Q: Is the priest shortage predominantly an American problem?

A: It's a Western problem. We see similar situations, if not worse, in countries of western Europe, and to some extent in Eastern Europe. Where we see a different phenomenon would be in developing countries, especially in some of the countries of Africa. Perhaps 30 percent of the priests being ordained in the United States are from foreign countries.

Q: If the Vatican decides priests don't have to be celibate anymore, would you get married?

A: Not at my age! I think it's possible to grow into the gift of celibacy. I would have to discern whether or not I was being called to marriage just as I had to discern whether I was being called to the priesthood.

I have no idea how many priests would get married. The average age of a priest today is over 60 and marriage is quite a commitment and quite an adjustment. But I do think we'd have more seminarians, if celibacy were optional.

Catholic rebels with a cause

Los Angeles Times Opinion
June 12, 2008

Former Bishop Geoffrey Robinson's work with victims puts him at odds with the church. Karin Klein hears him speak.

Considering that they had come to hear a forbidden Roman Catholic speaker, the people at the UC San Diego faculty club didn't look like rebels. They were mostly older, conservative in dress, sedate in manner. At a reception before the speech Tuesday evening, as they sipped French roast coffee and nibbled cheese cubes, they professed their continuing love of the Catholic religion -- but also deep turmoil and anger about sexual abuse by priests. Or to be more exact, about church leaders who put protecting predator priests and the church's image over protecting children.

And when they settled in for the speech, there were so many of them that people stood, lining the walls of the room and spilling onto the patio beyond it.

They had brought their troubled hearts and disturbing questions to retired Australian auxiliary Bishop Geoffrey Robinson, whose work with abuse victims led him to believe that the celibacy rule for priests, their status as authority figures "above" others and the church's emphasis on appearances contributed to the molestation scandal. Four Roman Catholic bishops in California told him to stay out of the state on his nationwide speaking tour, saying he could be a source of disunity and confusion for Catholics. "I hereby deny you permission to speak in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles," Cardinal Roger M. Mahony wrote to Robinson, whose U.S. tour is scheduled to end tonight with a talk in Culver City.

Of course, Robinson is at odds with his church because he challenges such authority -- which makes him precisely the sort of person who would come with or without Mahony's permission.

Church officials believe that Robinson's book, "Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church," contains "doctrinal difficulties." But if they expected that U.S. audiences would unquestioningly accept Robinson's views, they would have been surprised by the response Tuesday night. True, the audience applauded him for arguing that the statute of limitations on sexual molestation must be lifted, and that neither Pope John Paul II nor Pope Benedict XVI had properly addressed the issue. But in private conversations, they doubted his claim that priestly celibacy played a role in the molestations, saying that sexual desire and sexual predation are entirely different things. This group was evenhanded in its skepticism.

Robinson's listeners werenot putting the scandals behind them without more thought and debate. That's especially true now that they see parochial schools and parishes being closed to pay huge settlements to the abuse victims. One woman had been so tormented by the documentary "Deliver Us From Evil," about molestations in Northern California, that she had driven from Las Vegas to hear Robinson speak. They want an open conversation with the church, even if that conversation leads to questions that challenge the foundations of Catholic tradition. Until they feel they have found this at their church, they will seek it elsewhere.
Karen Klein

Priest, parish depart

By Bronislaus B. Kush
WORCESTER TELEGRAM & GAZETTE

Church shuts, pastor retires

WORCESTER— Ascension Church — though founded in 1911 as an offshoot of St. John Parish to predominantly serve Irish immigrants living on Vernon Hill — has drawn a hodgepodge of worshippers from various working class ethnic groups.

Just ask the Rev. Joseph A. Adamo.

As the church’s pastor over the last several years, Rev. Adamo has picked up snippets of French, Polish and many other languages spoken by his parishioners.


But Rev. Adamo, who is of Italian descent, never even gave a thought to the idea that he’d ever hear a word of Tagalog, one of the native languages of the Philippines.

However, that all changed about five years ago when Filipino families from all around Central Massachusetts began to call Ascension their spiritual home.

Interestingly, Rev. Adamo said he believes, with just a little more time, his little church, which overlooks busy Kelley Square, might have been saved by the growing Filipino population within the Ascension community.

“My heart was broken when the bishop announced that Ascension would be closing,” said Rev. Adamo, a priest for 35 years. “I really thought we had turned the corner as more and more Filipino families joined our parish. But it was not to be.”

Five Catholic congregations, including Ascension, will be shuttered July 1 as a result of dwindling parish populations, a shortage of diocesan priests, and other factors.

Ascension parishioners will celebrate their long history and heritage with a closing Mass at 2 p.m. June 29. A reception will follow.

Congregants will also toast Rev. Adamo, who has decided to retire with the closing of his church.

“I’ve had a good life (as a priest) but now it’s time to call it quits,” said Rev. Adamo, who plans to live at the Southgate complex in Shrewsbury, where other retired clergy reside.

Rev. Adamo was born and raised in Watertown.

He said he considered many career options including design and architecture, teaching, and counseling.

“But deep down I had always wanted to be a priest,” said Rev. Adamo. “I wasn’t pushed into by my family. It was just something I wanted to do. I’d always admired priests because of their willingness to help others and because they were so close to God.”

He said his family wasn’t overly religious but regularly attended services at St. Patrick Church, the only surviving Catholic parish of four that were originally established in Watertown.

Rev. Adamo, who holds a bachelor’s degree from Niagara University, began his priestly studies at Our Lady of the Angels Seminary in Albany, N.Y., and finished up work for his theological degree at Catholic University.

He was ordained a priest, along with 14 others, by Bishop Bernard J. Flanagan on Dec. 8, 1973, at St. Patrick Church in Northbridge.

“It’s amazing that we had so many ordained that day,” said Rev. Adamo. “There’s no simple answer as to why young men don’t want to become priests today. People look at you funny, if you say you’re considering the priesthood. Today’s society is just so humanistic and materialistic.”

Rev. Adamo said he believes individuals were more idealistic in the 1960s and 1970s.

“Kids were lining up to join the Peace Corps and people were protesting the war in Vietnam,” he said. “Individuals back then were willing to take a stand. They were willing to give of themselves.”

Rev. Adamo said he chose to become a priest for the Diocese of Worcester rather than the Archdiocese of Boston because Bishop Flanagan had a reputation for being a progressive.

“That appealed to me,” he said. “Bishop Flanagan was very forward thinking.”

Rev. Adamo said he was first assigned to Christ the King Church, Pleasant Street, which, at the time, had three priests.

“I stayed there for six years,” he said. “Back then, that was the maximum length of time you served at a particular church before the bishop transferred you. Today, because of so few vocations, many priests stay for many, many years at one parish.”

Rev. Adamo’s next posting was at Mount Wachusett Community College in Gardner, where he served as chaplain.

“Campus ministry is a job you either love or hate,” said Rev. Adamo, who holds a master’s degree of education after studying counseling at Suffolk University in Boston. “You’re either gone in a year or you stay for 20 years.”

Rev. Adamo, who also taught courses in gerontology and about death and dying at Mount Wachusett, as well as at Anna Maria and Assumption colleges, said he found the assignment appealing because he had the chance to work with many people at the “crossroads of their life.”

“You have to be creative in reaching out to these individuals,” he explained. “I counseled people who were considering making significant changes in their lives. They included veterans coming back from the war and women, who were single parents looking to get into job force for the first time.”

Fourteen years ago, Rev. Adamo left Mount Wachusett and became pastor of Ascension.

“Even back then, the parish was struggling (with membership),” he said, noting that older members were dying while other parishioners moved away. “The problem with Vernon Hill is that many people don’t live there very long. On a given day, you can see moving vans all over the place.”

He said hope for the parish grew, however, as Filipinos, many of them from Shrewsbury and Holden, began worshipping at Ascension.

“They were looking for a place where there was a sense of family,” he said. “They just weren’t comfortable in some of the bigger churches like St. Mary’s (in Shrewsbury).”

Under Rev. Adamo’s tutelage, the interior of the church plant received an $80,000 facelift. He also successfully led a drive to build a 36-unit housing complex for senior citizens near the church.

“A priest’s job is to bring people to Christ and there’s a wonderful satisfaction when you do that,” said Rev. Adamo. “A priest really can make a difference in someone’s life.”

Bring your own holy water: priest

BBC NEWS | Northern Ireland

A shortage of priests in the Derry diocese means people will have to bring their own holy water on Cemetery Sunday.

Father Michael Canny said family members, acting on the order of the bishop, will be asked to sprinkle the water on loved ones' graves themselves.

In the past priests would have performed this role.

But dwindling numbers mean this "just isn't practical given the number of graves".

"This has been the practice in other places, so we're essentially playing catch-up," said Father Canny.

"But I must stress that there will be no holy water available on the day and we're asking people to collect their own beforehand."

The well-known cleric said the current number of priests in Derry's Cityside, 15, was 11 fewer than just ten years ago.

'No other reason'

"This is the only reason why we're having to do this, there's nothing more to it, and we trust that by giving people plenty of notice there'll be no problems on the day," he said.

People attending Cemetery Sunday, which takes place on 22 June, in Derry will also be asked to sprinkle water on neighbouring graves if they are not being tended.

Don't play politics with Communion

By David O'Brien and Lisa Sowle Cahill
Baltimore Sun

June 9, 2008


What do a former legal counsel for Ronald Reagan and a Democratic governor have in common? As you might expect, it's not the same politics. Douglas W. Kmiec, an esteemed constitutional law professor at Pepperdine University, is a pro-life Republican. Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius is a moderate known for consensus-building. But these prominent Catholics are both the most recent targets of clergy who use Communion as a political weapon and effectively blacklist respected Catholic leaders. It's time for Catholics and all Americans to speak out against this spiritual McCarthyism.

When Mr. Kmiec endorsed Sen. Barack Obama for president, conservative Catholic blogs buzzed with outrage. How could a conservative known for his public opposition to abortion rights support a pro-choice liberal? In a recent Catholic Online column, Mr. Kmiec describes how he was declared "self-ex-communicated" by many fellow Catholics. He writes that at a recent Mass, an angry college chaplain denounced his "Obama heresy" from the pulpit and denied him Communion.

In Kansas City, Kan., Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann has ordered Ms. Sebelius, also an Obama supporter, not to receive Communion after she vetoed abortion legislation riddled with constitutional red flags. The bill in question made it easier for prosecutors to search private medical records, allowed family members to seek court orders to stop abortions and failed to include exceptions to save the life of the mother. Along with many public officials, Ms. Sebelius recognizes the profound moral gravity of abortion. She has supported prudent public policies that have reduced abortions in Kansas by investing in adoption services, prenatal health care and social safety nets for families. But in his diocesan newspaper, the archbishop blasted the governor over her "spiritually lethal" message and her obligation to recognize the "legitimate authority within the Church."

The archbishop has a right and indeed an obligation to speak out against abortion. But he is on dangerous ground telling a democratically elected official - accountable to federal laws and a diverse citizenry - how to govern when it comes to the particulars of specific legislation. The proper application of moral principles in a pluralistic society rarely allows for absolutes.

Using a holy sacrament to punish Catholics has troubling political implications during an election year. St. Louis Archbishop Raymond L. Burke warned Sen. John Kerry - a Catholic whose record reflects his faith's commitment to economic justice, universal health care and concern for the poor - not to receive Communion during the 2004 presidential race because of his support for abortion rights. In a New York Times interview just a month before the election, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Denver gave signals that Catholics who voted for a pro-choice candidate were cooperating in evil. Mr. Kerry narrowly lost the Catholic vote to President Bush.

Catholics make up a quarter of the American electorate and are swing voters in key battleground states that will play a decisive role in electing our next president. It's essential that these voters recognize Catholicism defies easy partisan labels and is not a single-issue faith.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops warns in an election-year guide that particular issues must not be misused as a way of ignoring "other serious threats to human life and dignity." These threats identified by the bishops include racism, the death penalty, war, torture, lack of health care and an unjust immigration policy. These broad Catholic values challenge Democrats and Republicans alike to put the common good before narrow partisan agendas.

If we remain silent when respected Catholic leaders are publicly attacked and denied Communion, the proper role of faith in our public square is grossly distorted. This election year, let's have a better debate about faith and political responsibility that reclaims the vital role religion has often played in renewing our most cherished democratic values.

David O'Brien, the Loyola professor of Catholic studies at the College of the Holy Cross, has written books about the history of American Catholicism. Lisa Sowle Cahill is a professor of theology at Boston College and a former president of the Catholic Theological Society of America. This article is distributed by Religion News Service.

Martini calls for Church reform

Web Editor's Note: Translation from the Spanish by Phoebe, formerly known as Rebel Girl.

by Juan G. Bedoya
El País
5/25/2008


"The Church must have the courage to reform itself." This is the main idea of Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini (Turin, 1927), one of the great contemporary church leaders. With praise for the Protestant reformer Martin Luther, the Cardinal asks the Catholic Church to consider the possibility of ordaining viri probati (married men, but of proven faith), and women. It also calls for an encyclical to end the prohibitions of Humanae Vitae, issued by Paul VI in 1968 with severe censorship in matters of sex.

Cardinal Martini has been rector of the Gregorian University of Rome, archbishop of the largest diocese in the world (Milan) and papabile. He is a Jesuit, has published books, written for newspapers and debated with intellectuals. At the Synod of European Bishops in 1999, he called for the convocation of a new council to finalize the reforms put on the back burner by the Second Vatican Council, held in Rome between 1962 and 1965. Now he is back in the news because his book, Jerusalemer Nachtgespräche (Nocturnal Talks in Jerusalem), has been published in Germany (by the Herder publishing house) -- the spiritual testament of a great thinker. Georg Sporschill, also a Jesuit, is co-author.

Without beating around the bush, what Martini demands of the Vatican is the courage to reform and concrete changes, for example, in the politics of sex -- an issue that always triggers anger and nerves in the popes since they are unmarried.

Celibacy, Martini argues, should be a vocation because "perhaps not everyone has the charism." He hopes, moreover, for authorization of the use of condoms. And he is not afraid to argue against the priesthood being denied to women because "to entrust ever more parishes to one pastor or import priests from abroad is not a solution." He reminds the Vatican that there were deaconesses in the New Testament.

Several European newspapers have already echoed the publication Jerusalemer Nachtgespräche, stressing the Cardinal's exhortation not to depart from the Second Vatican Council and not to be afraid to "confront young people."

Precisely, about sex among young people, Martini asks them not to waste relationships and emotions, learning to save what is best for marriage. And he breaks the taboos of Paul VI, Pope John Paul II and the current pope, Joseph Ratzinger. He says: "Unfortunately, the encyclical Humanae Vitae has had negative consequences. Paul VI consciously avoided creating a problem for the conciliar fathers. He wanted to take responsibility for deciding about contraceptives. This solitude in the decision-making has not been, over the long term, a positive premise for dealing with issues of sexuality and the family "

Cardinal calls for a "fresh look" at the issue, forty years after the council. Whoever heads the Church today can "indicate a way better than that proposed by Humanae Vitae," he says.

On homosexuality, the cardinal says with subtlety: "Among my acquaintances there are homosexual couples, very respected and social men and women. I have never been asked, nor would it have occurred to me, to condemn them."

Martini exhibits his whole personality in this book, a boundless intellectual curiosity, to the point of admitting that when he was bishop he asked God: "Why don't You offer us better ideas? Why do You not make us stronger in love and more courageous to face current problems? Why do we have so few priests?"

Today, retired and sick, he has just left Jerusalem, where he lived and devoted himself to studying sacred texts, to be treated by doctors in Italy, and he limits himself to "asking God" not to abandon him.

In addition to praising Luther, Cardinal Martini reveals doubts about faith, reminiscent of Teresa of Calcutta. He also speaks of the risks that a bishop has to incur, referring to his trip to a prison to talk with militants of the terrorist group Red Brigades. "I listened and prayed for them and even baptized two twin children of terrorist parents, born during a trial," he reports.

"I've had problems with God," he confesses at one time. It was because he could not understand "why He made His Son suffer on the cross." He added: "Even when I was bishop there were times when I could not look at a crucifix because I was tormented by doubt." Nor was he able to accept death. "Could God not have saved men after the Christ?" Later he understood. "Without death, we would not be delivered up to God. We would keep emergency exits open. But no. We must surrender hope itself to God and believe in Him."

Life is perceived differently from Jerusalem, especially the paraphernalia of Rome. Martini recounts: "There was a time when I dreamed of a church in poverty and humility, one that does not depend on the powers of this world. A church that gives space to people who think outside the box. A church that transmits courage and worth, especially to those who feel belittled or like sinners. A young Church. Today I no longer have those dreams. After 75 years I have decided to pray for the Church. "

Silencing the messenger...

Leading California Catholics urge Australian bishop to cancel tour promoting book on clergy sexual abuse

Following direction from the Vatican, they have asked Geoffrey Robinson to steer clear of their dioceses because of his 'problematic positions' on celibacy and other issues.

By Duke Helfand,
Los Angeles Times
June 7, 2008

Four of California's leading Roman Catholic bishops, including Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony, have taken the extraordinary step of urging an Australian bishop to cancel a monthlong tour of the United States to promote his controversial new book about clergy sexual abuse.

Following direction from the Vatican, the California religious leaders and eight other prominent bishops around the country have asked former auxiliary Bishop Geoffrey Robinson of Sydney to steer clear of their dioceses because of his "problematic positions" on priestly celibacy and other issues.

In his book, "Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church: Reclaiming the Spirit of Jesus," Robinson argues that the church's celibacy requirement has contributed to the sex abuse crisis. He openly criticizes the papacy for failing to provide leadership. And he wonders whether the Catholic Church has been more concerned with managing the scandal than confronting it.

Those positions have put Robinson squarely at odds with church leaders on three continents.

In a joint letter last month, Mahony and nine other American bishops warned Robinson that his visit could be "a source of disunity and cause of confusion among the faithful of the particular churches we serve."

They cited an investigation of his book by Australian bishops, who found "doctrinal difficulties" and pointed out that the head of the Vatican office in charge of all bishops had asked Robinson to cancel his trip.

"I hereby deny you permission to speak in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles," Mahony wrote to Robinson last month, citing a bishop's authority under canon law that was repeated in separate letters from Bishop Tod Brown in Orange County and Archbishop George H. Niederauer in San Francisco.

But Robinson, 70, said he has no intention of canceling any part of a trip that began May 16 in Philadelphia and brings him to California on Tuesday for appearances in La Jolla, Costa Mesa, Culver City and San Francisco.

"I'm not looking for any confrontation," Robinson said in a telephone interview. "I'm saying, 'Let's start from abuse and follow that where it leads. If we find that obligatory celibacy has contributed to abuse, we must put that on the table.' "

Robinson's California swing comes eight weeks after Pope Benedict XVI met privately with sexual-abuse victims during a U.S. visit and expressed "deep shame" over the scandal, which has cost the American Catholic Church more than $2 billion in legal settlements.

He also told the nation's Catholic bishops that they have a "God-given responsibility as pastors to . . . foster healing, to promote reconciliation and to reach out with loving concern to those so seriously wronged."

Robinson's sponsors -- led by the Catholic reform group Voice of the Faithful -- say his tour is meant to further that mission, and they plan to press ahead despite what they believe is a campaign to silence him.

"Is this the way American bishops respond to Pope Benedict's call to do everything possible to heal the church?" asked Dan Bartley, president of Voice of the Faithful, which pushes for doctrinal change in the church.

"In light of the pope's comments, we believe that blocking an open and honest discussion about what caused the crisis is appalling."

Robinson served as auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Sydney from 1984 to 2004. Midway through his tenure, he was elected by fellow bishops to a national committee coordinating the church's response to clergy sex abuse in that country. He served as the committee's co-chairman for six years.

"I felt sick to the stomach at the stories that victims told me," he writes in the introduction to his book.

"Those years left an indelible mark on me, for they led me to a sense of profound disillusionment with many things within my church, typified by the manner in which, I was convinced, a number of people, at every level, were seeking to 'manage' the problem and make it 'go away,' rather than truly confront and eradicate it."

The victims' stories also stirred Robinson's memories of being sexually abused in his youth by a stranger unaffiliated with the church.

Robinson said he came to the "unshakable conviction" that the church needed to undergo "profound and enduring change," particularly as it related to issues of power and sex.

He openly questioned its monopoly on definitive truth. And he criticized Benedict and his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, saying their unwillingness to reexamine obligatory celibacy for priests has undercut the church's credibility.

Robinson said he ultimately concluded that he could not continue to serve as a bishop of a church that left him with such "profound reservations." He resigned and began to write his book, which was published last year.

Australian bishops soon took notice. In an unsigned statement issued last month, the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference praised Robinson's efforts to help abuse victims but said his work had "doctrinal difficulties," citing his "questioning of the authority of the Catholic Church to teach truth definitively."

The Vatican also got involved. Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, head of the office that oversees all bishops, wrote to Robinson asking him to cancel his book tour, according to correspondence between the American bishops and Robinson that was released by Mahony's spokesman.

Re communicated his wishes to the Vatican's ambassador to the United States. Several U.S. bishops were "invited" to write to Robinson, denying him permission to speak in their dioceses, according to Mahony's spokesman.

Ten religious leaders whose dioceses Robinson was scheduled to visit -- including Mahony, Bishop Robert Brom of San Diego, and the archbishops of Seattle, Philadelphia, Boston and Washington -- signed a May 9 letter asking him to cancel his trip.

Meanwhile, Mahony, Brown and Niederauer sent letters of their own repeating the request. They cited the same canon law requiring bishops to safeguard church teachings in their dioceses.

Brown wrote: "I want you to know that you do not have my permission to speak in the Diocese of Orange and I ask you to cancel your speaking engagement here."

Spokesmen for the dioceses said the church cannot stop Robinson from speaking, particularly at secular sites. In California, he will give talks at two universities, a hotel and a community center.

The dioceses said they are not trying to silence Robinson, who notified each of his plans, but to guard against what they believe is his misinformation.

"It's not circle the wagons," said Tod M. Tamberg, a spokesman for Mahony. "If Bishop Robinson knew what we were doing to protect kids in this archdiocese, he would probably say that's great. The controversy over his theological positions should not be allowed to obscure the lay oversight and openness that are cornerstones of our child-protection efforts."

But Robinson remains undaunted.

"I was invited to speak. I said I would," he replied. "I intend to keep to that. There are questions on people's minds that will not simply go away."

Czech Roman Catholics have first married priest

By Czech News Agency (ČTK)
Published 5 June 2008

Prague, June 4 (CTK) - The Czech Roman Catholic Church has the first married priest, Jan Kofron whom Bishop Vaclav Maly ordained in May, the daily Lidove noviny (LN) writes Wednesday.

Tomas Roule, secretary to Cardinal Miloslav Vlk, Catholic Church primate, confirmed for the paper that Kofron is the only married priest in the Czech Roman Church.

However, Kofron's ordination is an exception and it does not indicate any change in the stance of Pope Benedict XVI, LN writes.

It says the case is a consequence of the fight against religion under the former Czechoslovak communist regime.

In the 1980s, Kofron was secretly ordained by the "underground church" that was concerned far more about the church's survival than the formal aspects. Within the underground church, even married men were ordained bishops and women were ordained priests, the paper writes.

After the fall of communism in Czechoslovakia, the underground and the official church started to merge. The official church demanded that the underground priests be formally ordained again.

Unmarried priests joined the Western church (Latin rite), while the married ones became members of the Eastern church (Byzantine rite). Some priests of the Byzantine rite may be married, while in the Latin rite demands celibacy for priests.

The paper writes that Kofron mainly works with elderly and ill people and is a secretary to bishop Maly.

---

From Radio Prague:

Vatican ordains Czech Republic’s first married Roman Catholic priest
[06-06-2008 14:19 UTC] By Rosie Johnston

The Vatican has just ordained father of four Jan Kofroň into the Roman Catholic priesthood. This makes Mr Kofroň the Czech Republic’s first ever married Roman Catholic (Western Rite) priest. But this is not the first time that Father Kofroň has been ordained. He was originally made a priest in 1970s communist Czechoslovakia, where he subsequently worked illegally in the country’s underground church. Following the revolution, the Vatican declared his ordination invalid, but in recent weeks, it has reversed its decision. I met Father Kofroň to ask him how it was that, as an already married man, he became involved in the priesthood:

“A friend of mine who was a Salesian priest, and window cleaner on Wenceslas Square in Prague, discovered a link with a very illegal, very hidden form of the church.I was asked if I was open to the idea of priesthood, even though I was married. It was surprising, of course, to me, but nonetheless I was told that the way was open, and that permission had been granted by Pope John Paul VI.

“But after the Velvet Revolution, Rome started to have some doubts about the validity of these married priests and their ordinations.”

I heard that after the revolution, priests who were married and who found themselves in your situation were able to practice Eastern Rite Catholicism, but not Western Rite Catholicism. Why were you so adamant about practicing Western Rite Catholicism?

“It became a question of my conscience. It was strange – just imagine the situation, there are several thousand Ukrainians here who also need, of course, priests performing Greek Catholic services – but after 1998, when 18 of my colleagues accepted ordination into the Greek Catholic Church – there was an overflow of Eastern Rite priests.”

Do you think that there is an inconsistency in the Vatican’s stance on married priests? If you are an Anglican vicar who becomes a Catholic priest, you are allowed to be married, and be ordained a Catholic priest. Do you think that it is slightly unfair that for people like yourself, there are many difficulties that an Anglican vicar just wouldn’t have?

“I think it is understandable that the Catholic Church has a sort of fear of its priests not being celibate. But I think that the time for married people being ordained priests is coming. I don’t think the time for it is just yet, but it is coming. I am convinced about that.”

• Also, for those who can read it, the press release from the Archdiocese of Prague, from whom we also have the photo of Fr. Kofron's ordination.

NOTE:

This whole history of the underground Church in Czechoslovakia is fascinating. Here are some articles that are available online for more information:

• Czechoslovak Church's Quandary: Married Priests (New York Times,11/22/1990)


• Religion Notes: 'Irregular' Ordinations (New York Times,8/10/1991)


• Czech Hierarchy Bars Some Priests (New York Times,12/8/1991)


• Secret ordinations kept Czech church alive: underground church still begs questions. (National Catholic Reporter, 9/10/1993)


• Secret No More: Discovering a female Catholic priest behind the Iron Curtain. (National Catholic Reporter, 5/11/2001)


• Re-ordination an option for secret Czech priests (National Catholic Reporter, 2000)


• Czech Cardinal Speaks of "Clandestine Priests" (Catholic World News, 1996)