Dear
Fr John
I
would be very pleased if you will kindly publish the attached article on the
V2catholic site.
I
am finding your web site site very interesting and try to log on to it most
days.
God
bless,
Tony
Hoey (UK)
Thank you Tony for continuing to speak out about this important issue
2013-02-04
IF YOU ARE CONCERNED BY THE SHORTAGE OF PRIESTS
- Married
Priests Petition
The
rule of celibacy, by which every man who wants to become an ordained priest in
the Catholic Church must also embrace celibacy, is, on the face of it, doing an
injustice to men who have a vocation to the priesthood but not a vocation to
celibacy. These are two distinct
vocations. We all know good men, priests, who have been laicised and God only
know how many more have been turned away or have dropped out from seminary just
for this reason. This is depriving
the people of God of the ministry of these men. We cannot afford this at a time
when, across the western world, parishes are being closed down for lack of
priests and we know that the situation will get worse because of the high
average age of our serving priests. Further, what does it say about our attitude
to the sacrament of Matrimony if it would appear to be seen as making a man less
worthy to receive the sacrament of Holy Orders?
Looking at the early church, Paul stands alone in his promotion of
celibacy and I want first to look at what he says.
I Corinthians chapter 7 is
the frequently quoted text in this regard and I find it impossible to see how
this text can be used to support the Church’s current position for the
following reasons:
In this chapter Paul is clearly addressing all the Christians in
Paul
makes it clear that what he says on this subject is his own opinion not Divine
revelation: In verses 10 and 11 he writes about separation and divorce and
stating that this ruling “is not mine
but the Lord’s”. In verse 12
he goes on to say, “For other cases these instructions are
my own, not the Lord’s.”!
In verse 31 we find out what his opinion is based on when he states, “Because
this world as we know it is passing away.” In
other words, Paul, like all or most of the Christians of his time, believed that
he would see the end of the world in his lifetime. What he is saying is that
since the end of the world is so immanent it is best to concentrate on preparing
fort he next.
Paul’s letter to the Corinthians was written about AD 57. Eight years later, in AD 65 he writes to Timothy instructing him that “the presiding elder” must, among other things, be “Husband of one wife ..............,a man who manages his own household well and brings his children up to obey him and be well behaved.” This is a passage he is writing about the clergy!
The other text that is quoted in support of the rule of celibacy for priests is Luke 18:28-30. In this Jesus tell his disciples that “anyone who has left house, wife, brothers, parents or children will be rewarded in both this life and the next”. We should note here: a) Although this passage is quoted in all three synoptic gospels, it is only Luke (the faithful companion of Paul) who mentions a wife. b) The passage in all three gospels follows and is clearly linked to the passage about the rich young man and Jesus’ warning about the danger of riches. However there is nothing in Canon Law demanding a vow of poverty from priests. c) As with Paul above this is obviously a challenge that Jesus lays down to all of us. Attachment to riches and the things of this earth is detrimental to our relationship to God. So there would appear to no support in scripture for the demand that all clerics to be celibate.
In
the first three to four centuries of the church history celibacy was not seen as
important issue.
George
T. Dennis SJ of Catholic University of America says: "There is simply no
clear evidence of a general tradition or practice, much less of an obligation,
of priestly celibacy-continence before the beginning of the fourth century"
History records that in the 3rd. Century, even in the West, there was a
number of married Bishops who were in
good standing with the rest of the Church.“
. Saint Hilary
of Poitiers (315–68),
a Doctor of the Church, was a married bishop and had a daughter named Apra,
who was baptized together with her father, when he and his wife became
Christians. Even in the 4th, 5th and 6th
centuries we had popes who were either married or the sons of married bishops.
Pope
Hormisdas (514–23)
was the father of Pope
Silverius (536–37). No
statement is given on whether, among these, the children in question were born
when their fathers were still laymen. It is quite clear that earliest church
tradition does not support current church practice.
Celibacy
imposed loneliness and a degree of isolation on most of our ordained priests.
Surely we demand too much of them. We expect them to minister to and counsel
married couples, to advise and support husbands and fathers, while they are not
allowed the experience to support that ministry.
Meanwhile the situation in our dioceses is getting worse, with parishes
merging and churches being boarded up. And we know that short of a miracle, it
will get worse still because the average of our serving clergy is so high.
How
many decades have we now being praying for more vocations?
Perhaps God wants us to act ourselves.
I believe that it is time that the laity found their voice.
For that reason I have set up the website:
http://www.marriedpriestspetition.org
If
nothing else it will keep alive this important issue and support those among the
clergy and in Religious life who have already taken a stance on this matter.