CWN - A joint Catholic-Orthodox theological commission has called for an end to the ban on ordination of married men to the priesthood in the Eastern Catholic churches in North America.
While the Eastern Catholic churches have traditionally accepted married men into the priesthood, in the US and Canada those Eastern churches have lived under a prohibition against the ordination of married men. The North American Orthodox/Catholic Theological Consultation, in a statement released June 6, called for the “lifting of the restrictions regarding the ordination of married men to the priesthood in the Eastern Catholic Churches of North America.”
By allowing the Eastern Catholic churches to adhere to their own tradition, the joint statement said, the Catholic Church could “assure the Orthodox that, in the event of the restoration of full communion between the two Churches, the traditions of the Orthodox Church would not be questioned.” The result would be a boost for the prospects of restored unity among the Eastern and Western churches, the commission argued.
In a few cases, Eastern Catholic churches in the US have ordained married men to the priesthood despite the general ban. In other cases, American married men have traveled to the Middle East, been ordained to the priesthood there, and later returned to work in American parishes.
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