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

We do know this. Read the article again and see the outpouring of support for the priest who is publicly known to have a mistress and the parishioners dropping by to offer him support, the parishioners hanging banners from the church in support of him, and the parishioners boycotting Mass because of him being laicized over having a mistress. At the same time as all of this going on, he is giving media interviews to garner more support and is not hiding the fact that he has a mistress and that his mistress is the reason he's leaving the church. Where do you get that it is speculative that he and his supporters think this is OK? Much less, where do you get that it is a morally objective sin to re-state the article?

Sounds like the pot calling the kettle black to me.

I am sorry that I don't know your name, so I can't address you by name.

Fact of the matter is that all that we know from the article is that many of the people love this priest and the woman that he loves as well.

That in no way gives us any insight into whether or not they know right from wrong morally or whether or not they approve morally.

All we know is that for all practical purposes these people do not want to see either the priest or the woman hurting, and they do not want to loose their priest.

It takes yet another presumptive step to fill in the blanks about the moral thinking of the people of the town. It takes a presumptive leap to tie the material facts as they have been reported with a material moral reality on site that we have no way of knowing from here.

Mary

well as an Orthodox not stuck in 19th century Russia or 12th century Byzantium

In the end there are simply no winners to me in this. Everyone loses. Maybe that should cause people to examine the nature of the problem, and not just chastise the priest.

Andrew,

I agree, wholeheartedly.

Joe

Gentleones:

I was raised in the Ruthenian Byzantine Rite and have many fond memories of that experience. Today I am a married Episcopal Priest and I want to share with all of you that being a married priest has been an incredible experience for me in my life. My wife is my helpmate, my lover, my confidant and my closest friend. She has walked with me through some of the toughest moments that I've experienced in the priesthood.

My wife has been a tremendous asset to every parish that I've been pastor to (vicar or rector). She has been the person who most of the married women go to when they are struggling with their marriages. I cannot tell you how valuable she has been to me in ministry.

I knew God was calling to me the priesthood early on in my life. It wasn't until after I finished twenty years in the Air Force that I knew it was time to respond to that call. Being an Episcopalian was a great help because they allowed me as a married person to go to seminary and get ordained.

Over the years I have served in small and large communities and have always gone out of my way to become friends with the local RC pastor. Some of these guys have been regulars in our home. They felt comfortable being able to come in, kick off their shoes, have a drink and be in fellowship with us. One of my dearest RC friends told us one night that he envied us our relationship --- that I as a priest had someone to come home to; he on the other hand went home to an empty rectory and a good deal of loneliness.
I grieved when he left our town and then a year later told us that he was on a leave of absence. Shortly thereafter he left the priesthood and married. An incredible pastor, an incredible man! The RC church lost one of its best.

Please do not take my post as being anti-Catholic or a putdown towards the church. I just wanted to share how grateful I am to our Lord that I am a married priest and how special having my wife Barb with me.

I pray daily that Rome might one day change its stance toward a married priesthood. I could go on about other possibilities but don't want to muddy the waters.
I pray for all of you who struggle with your celiabcy. May our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ walk with you in what it is that you feel called to do.


Mike Dobrosky+
Clinton, MS

"Null and Void"
Stephanos I

Father Mike,

Thank you for telling us your experience

At the moment the more apt comparison is the married priest or pastor who has finally found their soul-mate in life after and out-side of the marriage.

To compare the fornication of one priest, to the marital fidelity of another is a logic just slightly askew.

There is no strong case in this French priest's story for a married priesthood vs a celibate one.

The premise behind the assertion that this is all a "fault" of a celibate priesthood is that we have no self-control of our genital expression of sexuality.

It is a solidly held precept of our modern cultural that says we have the right to expect to be able to satisfy our every desire. We cannot be expected to control ourselves.

As I said before, it is not the love the French priest and his woman share. It was the indulgence in genital satisfaction.

No wonder our children are not learning continence or chastity.

We don't know where to begin to know how to teach it.

Mary

Fr. Mike, thank you for posting your thoughts and for mentioning this. In my experience both as a member of the Episcopal Church and now as a member of the Orthodox Church, I have witnessed and experienced the tremendous gifts and blessings that a priest's wife/Pani brings in to the parish. All of the things you mentioned and more, and as Fr. John mentioned, I believe the only formation they get for their role is on the job training. I know they have to deal with and sacrifice a lot, and I for one have great appreciation and respect for them.

I also want to thank you for maintaining a positive and charitable disposition, because it seems every time you post something, someone comes along and posts something snarky having to do with you or your church. I wish you and your parish well, and I will always have with me a great affection for my former church and especially for a priest there who to me was one of the true models of Christian charity and compassion.

I beg to differ. We have no idea of the facts of this case. The Priest in question may have had a relationship that went far beyond the "genital expression" as you have called it.

At the same time he felt that His Parish loved Him and needed Him so He could not leave His soul mate, nor the Parish. Yes I know He was wrong to do this, but I think that had this man the opportunity to be married before becoming a Priest, we would not be having this conversation right now. So yes this story does have something to do with the issue of Married vs Celibate priesthood.

Another thing which makes me rather angry is the quick removal of this Priest from the Holy Priesthood while just a short time ago not only failing to remove a number of offenders(I'll just leave it at that to avoid a fight) but with the blessings of certain Bishops moving them from Parish to Parish.

All I am trying to say is that if this man was such a wonderful Parish Priest who was loved and supported by all, couldn't the Bishop suspend Him for a few years, maybe make Him the second Priest at His own Parish.... I don't know....

I just feel horrible for this person being kicked out of the Church, and I feel bad for His Parish who lost a great spiritual Father.

This is not an attack on the RC as an institution but it is an attack on some DOUBLE STANDARDS in the RC.

Dear Subdeacon Borislav,

Taking my comment completely out of context to make your point is notsa nice.

I was not speaking of the priest in question but of the sexual morality of the day and the perception widely held that a life deprived of genital sexuality is somehow an inherently disordered life.

I am not opposed to either a married or a celibate priesthood. Frankly speaking I find much to be admired in both when the lives of the men in question are lived chastely, in fact and not in the breach.

There appears to be a wholesale rejection of the celibate priesthood on the grounds that somehow a life without genital sex is not possible or, if possible, then clearly not healthy.

That is what I was reacting against, though you've taken my insights and turned them to your own purposes. I do my very best not to do that to others. It is very disconcerting and not very nice to do to the other fella.

Also you and the others who wish to hop up on the soap-box against the celibate priesthood, seem to completely ignore that similar things to what happened to our French priest, also happen to married priests in the course of a lifetime. Some of the original marriages survive the shock, others do not. It does not take too much digging to find examples.

I'm not sore at you, just a tad disappointed.

Mary

How do we know that the bishop didn't intend to suspend him for a few years and then reinstate him (or something else)? Making this priest's actions public could have caused his bishop to have to make an example out of him - who publicized this? As far as I know, the priest himself and his woman decided to go public. They could have easily taken their penance privately.

I have been thinking about this since the thread began and I think that Mary is right in asserting that those who use this as an argument against manditory celibacy tend to ignore certain realities. She pointed to the reality of married priests who commit adultery. I would like to point to the requirement in Orthodoxy that all bishops be celibate. If the Orthodox are so opposed to the celibate priesthood, I wonder why that same condemntation does not extend to the celibate episcopate. All of the same arguments against one can be used against the other.

Fr. (bless),

Isn't it an Eastern Tradition for married priests to run parishes and monastic priests to run missions/other works?