www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News French Priest thrown out of parish (has a girlfriend)

Maybe this should go under "News of the Weird!"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/6664861.stm

As a linguist, I enjoyed this sentence:

Fr Benat Segur, from a neighbouring parish, told me he hopes things will quieten down now.

I've never encountered "quieten down" before.

This is sad.

Had He been an Orthodox Priest or Greek Catholic Priest, perhaps He could have been married to this women and they could have a family.

He could also stay in the Holy Priesthood. Judging by the article, He was a wonderful person.

Do hieromonks often marry in Orthodox and continue serving? I've only known one priest in the situation described above, and he had to go to Eastern Europe to marry, then come back to the States.

I disagree.

He didn't have to enter the celibate priesthood. He knew what he was getting himself in for when he made a VOW to GOD. To sneak around for 22 years and cheat on GOD of all "people" is not negated by comforting some grandma on her deathbed.

If he had been a celibate eastern priest, he would have hopefully been run out of town by his parishioners there as well. There would not have been an opportunity for him to marry this women he was in a scandalous affair with and to remain in Holy Orders in the east any more than there would be in the west.

Whether married men should have the option of entering the priesthood is a different issue from celibate priests who are shacking up with their parishioners. One I am in favor of. One I'd help to run out of town.

Dear Friends,

Now, now - there are areas where celibate Catholic priests live with women and the parishioners don't care.

A friend here where I work has an uncle in Italy who is a priest who was over for a visit. His story, I am told, is far from unique.

He was appointed to a new parish in Sicily. There was a woman there, married with children, who was the housekeeper.

He said he thought nothing of it, but then grew somewhat concerned when the evening wore on and the woman wasn't leaving the rectory.

He then asked her to simply leave which she did.

At three in the morning or thereabouts, this priest was awakened to loud knocks at the door. When he opened the door, there were two men who proceeded to yell at him, saying, "So our mother isn't good enough for you, priest?!" They assaulted him and he ran into the street shouting for help.

He was badly beaten about the face.

There were other stories, but it is all so very sad when parishioners collude to allow such situations to continue.

Alex

Dear ByzKat,

Hieromonks NEVER marry as they are MONKS who happen to also be ordained to the Priesthood.

Married priests must always be married prior to ordination.

It is high time for the Latin Church to allow priestly candidates the option of marrying prior to ordination.

If the Pope, and he has the power to do this, allowed Latin priests who left the active priesthood to marry, to come back as active priests (and the Church has no power to take away the sacramental Priesthood once it is conferred) the Church would have literally thousands of priests serving her parishes, parishes that are now served regularly by Deacons and/or Eucharistic Ministers to the point that Catholics in that situation often wonder what the difference is between their pastoral situation and that in Protestant communities.

By the way, I'm in favour of a universal married priesthood in the Catholic Church, East, West, North and South.

I almost ended my post here without making that clear.

Alex

Exactly, that is what I was trying to say.

If this priest was allowed to marry before His ordination, he could have continued His service to the Lord and to the People.

Sadly I can think of quite a few names in the Church who haven't broken the vow of celibacy, but who are much less deserving to be priests, much less Bishops and Cardinals.

Extremely sad. What a waste.

Might that not be an indication that the real problem in the West, at least, is not that the priests are required to be celibate, but rather that they are not supported sufficiently after ordination in terms of their intellectual and spiritual formation, and good human fellowship?

I have heard from priests who believe this to be the chief source of the problem: once ordained, they are on their own.

Dear Michael,

You are more than correct!

One study on this I came across in university indicated that RC priests have a camaraderie amongst themselves that neither laity nor the hierarchy can appreciate.

Priests NEED that human support.

We have a young new pastor who is often misunderstood and some of the women in the parish have absolutely NO sensitivity to his situation.

Laity need to really ask themselves how they support their celibate priests, are they understanding, what do they do concretely?

My only regret is that my wife and I cannot do more to be with him and support him.

Any more, and we might as well adopt him . . .

I wouldn't mind, especially since the clothing bill wouldn't be so much of a problem and I already come with a religious library!

Alex

This is not really that surprising. The French have a long tradition (reaching back to the Middle Ages) of priests with common-law wives. I remember stumbling across it for the first time in one of an early graduate-level course on the Middle Ages.

As I remember the lecture of my esteemed professor, many priests saw the celibacy vow as a prohibition against legal marriage (i.e., one in which the children have a legal claim to an inheritance) rather than a prohibition against sexual relations (i.e., concubinage was commonly accepted in some parts of France as normative for priests).

Conclusion.

Allow Priests to marry!

Sorry. Not my call. I understand it's up to the Holy Spirit!

It won't happen, as it would be seen as a concession to liberals in the church. Although I agree, enforced celibacy is pointless and destructive.