www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News Married man ordained RC priest

While this takes place in a Roman Catholic context, the story will be interesting to those on this forum who have written about the celibacy and priesthood issue. Quotations in the latter part of the article indicate the complex reactions this can create, i.e. among RC clergy who left the priesthood in order to marry. As you will see, the man's bishop went directly to the Pope to petition for the ordination.

Married man ordained RC priest in Canada [catholicregister.org]

The fact that an Anglican clergy man. who is married, was ordained is old news. There is a provision for this here in the US. There will be more of this in the near future when when many of the so called "Orthodox" Anglicans started flooding in.

There will be some. Don't expect a flood.

There will be a flood for sure.
There are over 1000 with their congregations who are preparing to be received by Rome.
They are waiting to work out the details.
Stephanos I

What is more interesting is the claim I have heard of a non-convert Roman Catholic married man and permanent deacon having been validly and licitly ordained to the priesthood somewhere in the Alaskan tundra in the last several years.

Was he a widower? That seems to be the only way his ordination could make sense in light of today's canon law.

Tony,

No, he was actively married. I remember reading about it and it saying that there is a provision in place to appeal to the Vatican for rare cases such as that. The priest of an active parish reposed and there was no one to take his place. I remember the article saying the deacon said they were going to have to FedEx the Eucharist in, and that's when he was raised to the presbyterate. I've been unable to find it since (not having saved it) and would be very happy if anyone else could help locate the information again.

The Vatican has authorized a small number of such ordinations provided that the candidate and his wife are willing to practice "perfect continence". Since my opinion of such a requirement is unprintable, I won't state it here!

Fr. Serge

Oh my word

FedEx the Eucharist ? Oy veh..

You know, you would think that someone in the Vatican would take the hint and make holy orders available to both married and celibate men.

-- John

I can remember several years ago hearing that it was the case in Greenland. They had no resident priest maybe only one visit a year and that the Eucharist was sent through the mail and a married deacon did the communion services.
Stephanos I
The saintly bishop God rest his soul of Reykjavik Iceland use to say that in the case of Iceland he would have no trouble with ordaining a married priest there. However he said Rome has not allowed it so he would not do it.
And he was far from liberal. Actually very conservative.

I'm a Latin who is in favour of dropping mandatory celibacy but I understand totally why Rome will move extremely slowly on this issue. Given the divisive nature of the issue, the enormous structural change that will be required and the considerable time and energy that will have to be invested in Liturgical and Theological housecleaning in the years to come it is hardly surprising that this will be put on the back burner. Nevertheless I do think the newer generation of orthodox, conservative bishops that now coming to the fore will be far more open on the issue than many of the previous generation. Irrespective of the decision the General Synod back in 2005 I hope there will however be some movement on the ordination of older married men with grown up children in the coming decade. It would be limited but significant I hope though Rome would be extremely cautious so as not to provide ammunition or wedge issues for the ultra liberals or ultra trads.

Any move though will have to be very sensitive of the feelings of those already ordained who struggle with the sacrifice of family life that they have had to make.

I remember reading somewhere that Pope Benedict XVI actually asked some bishops who were visiting him whether the Roman Catholic Church should consider reintroducing the option of married priests. The bishops were flabbergasted by the question, but some of them responded with an enthusiastic yes.

I also agree that allowing married men to be ordained would be a huge change to the Roman Catholic Church. Nevertheless, I think it wouldn't be as traumatic as some people fear. I think instead that many Roman Catholics would welcome it.

The real difficulty, in my little opinion, would be when Roman Catholics realize the price that comes with allowing a married priesthood. Either the Church must pay a priest a decent salary (about $50 K annually in the U.S.) to support the priest and his family, or the Church must quietly allow / turn a blind eye to a priest holding a full time job (outside of ministry) in order to support himself and his family, or the Church would run the risk of losing many good candidates for the priesthood.

Just my two cents worth of opinion.

-- John

The stories mentioned here are all new to me, and quite interesting. Keep in mind that the loudest calls for married clergy in the RCC have come from members of the faithful who are influenced by a secular attitude towards sexuality and the Church in general (i.e. pro-choice Catholics, protestantized Catholics). For good reason, the Church is not in a hurry to take those voices seriously.

If there is any change to this practice it will take centuries, in my opinion, and the practice of ordaining married men in the above special circumstances might be a beginning.

Not mention that Catholics, whether Latin or Greek, would have to start showing the money if they had married priests as their pastors. They of course, would be living examples of Humanae Vitae and have lots of kids.