electricdisk Posted August 19, 2003 Share Posted August 19, 2003 160 priests in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee have signed a letter to the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops urging that the priesthood be opened to married men, organizers said Monday. http://www.jsonline.com/lifestyle/religion...ug03/163211.asp Glad, US conference of Bishops are supposed to be obedient to Rome and not the other way around!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted August 19, 2003 Share Posted August 19, 2003 It's the diocese of Milwaukee; what would you expect?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PedroX Posted August 19, 2003 Share Posted August 19, 2003 North America and Europe are places struggling to find canidates for the Priesthood. S. America and Africa have no such struggles. What is different between these places? peace... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted August 19, 2003 Share Posted August 19, 2003 In North America too many dioceses are unorthodox. That just deters candidates for the priesthood. In Europe, few practice the faith, so that lessens the number of priestly candidates as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasJis Posted August 19, 2003 Share Posted August 19, 2003 Married priests is a Discipline, not a Doctrine. Woman priests is a matter of Doctrine. At least they are doing through the proper channels, through the Church. I don't see it as disobedience, but exercising their right to voice an opinion. They are asking that it be discussed within the Church structure, not attempting to force it on the Church via pressure from the laity and automatically calling the Church wrong. Years ago a priest who spent years studying at the Vatican said there was a lot of support for married priests, but may lay people and others tied it as the equivalent to woman priests so it was decieded to not address married priests because it would be misconstrued and twisted by others with an agenda for woman priests. Much the pity it can't be discussed with reasonablness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted August 19, 2003 Share Posted August 19, 2003 I know that celibate priests is a discipline, and they don't require the type of assent that doctrine and dogma require, but we're still required to obey disciplines. If the Church doesn't see any point in ordaining married men at this time, we need to respect that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasJis Posted August 19, 2003 Share Posted August 19, 2003 (edited) Dave, I don't think they're being rebellious or sneaky. I think they are showing large support to discuss this within the framework of the Church Institution. It's not like they all attended the wedding of a priest or something or hid it from the Bishop. Re-read the article with a kinder view and look to see how they are staying within the confines of the rules. Obedience does not mean blind obedience or not discussing another way to do things, especially for a Discipline. Edited to add: I especially liked how they mentioned the special source of Grace that the Sacrament of Marriage is and how the Church has been focusing more attention to it. Personally, I think that Catholics need to learn to recognize more the Sacramental nature of Marriage in order to improve society and defend marriage against divorce, selfishness, and same-sex marriages that have damaged how American society now views it. Marriage is considered a legal right only, and has little or nothing to do with Sacramentality or Holiness. Legal Marriage is only civil recognition of a Sacrament that is created by God for His purposes. Edited August 19, 2003 by jasJis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
electricdisk Posted August 20, 2003 Author Share Posted August 20, 2003 Imagine the headlines... "Today from Rome, The Holy Father and his wife today announced that they are going to have twins" He will be taking 'paternity' leave with his wife for a few weeks while he stays at home to help take care of the children. In the mean time, Bishop So-n-so will be taking care of business while the Pope is away. His wife, Mrs. Jones will also take the next month off to recouperate with her children. After that, she will continue her carrier at the dotcom megaconglomerate ad agency on Madison Avenue, leaving her children in the Vatican Daycare center during the week. (Of course, we all know how Mrs. Jones got her job.... She was hired due to the special relationship that Cardinal McGillicutty and the Madison Avenue executive Carl Weimer share. She was hired as a special favor to the Bishop.) I suppose it is possible.... ******** SACERDOTALIS CAELIBATUS ENCYCLICAL OF POPE PAUL VI ON THE CELIBACY OF THE PRIEST JUNE 24, 1967 To the Bishops, Priests and Faithful of the Whole Catholic World. Priestly celibacy has been guarded by the Church for centuries as a brilliant jewel, and retains its value undiminished even in our time when the outlook of men and the state of the world have undergone such profound changes. Amid the modern stirrings of opinion, a tendency has also been manifested, and even a desire expressed, to ask the Church to re-examine this characteristic institution. It is said that in the world of our time the observance of celibacy has come to be difficult or even impossible. ****** I suppose it is possible.... http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/...dotalis_en.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VanHooty Posted August 20, 2003 Share Posted August 20, 2003 Hey, I live in the diocese of Green Bay, which is under the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. Well, I was "afraid" of this. Ever since the scandals, I have been waiting for something of this nature to pop up. I'm not exactly opposed to ending of priestly celebacy either. I'm just torn on the issue. Celibacy is a wonderful gift and is a very strong voice in dissent of the current culture. That, and Protestants still have their own shortages, despite the fact that they allow their priests to marry. :unsure: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Huether Posted August 21, 2003 Share Posted August 21, 2003 And I wounder how this would ride with the priests that had been ordained half a century ago, and remaind faithful to their vows despite wanting possibly to have a wife and kids. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasJis Posted August 21, 2003 Share Posted August 21, 2003 From the article: "A random national survey that Hoge did in 2001 of 1,800 active and retired priests - 1,279 of whom responded - showed that 53% of diocesan priests and 60% of religious order priests agreed with the statement, "Celibacy should be a matter of personal choice for diocesan priests."" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PedroX Posted August 21, 2003 Share Posted August 21, 2003 Van Hooty, Just in to add to what you said about this being in response to the scandals: Numerous polls have shown that the number of "religious" leaders across denominations and faiths (Protestant, Catholic, Rabbis, Muslims) that commit child abuse is the same. They all have about a 4-6% rate. Strangely, this is the same rate for school teachers, social workers and police as well. I have seen these results on CNN and Fox News as well as in several scholarly papers. Quote these studies to the next person that tells you that celibacy causes child abuse. peace... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmotherofpirl Posted August 21, 2003 Share Posted August 21, 2003 The news interviewed an married ex-priest last night who said he wanted the Church to change the doctrine of celibacy, but would NOT rejoin the priesthood unless a lot of other doctrines were changed as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PedroX Posted August 22, 2003 Share Posted August 22, 2003 Cmom, that seems to be the problem. They can't just stop at celibacy. They also want to push for other issues. peace... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Huether Posted August 22, 2003 Share Posted August 22, 2003 The news interviewed an married ex-priest last night who said he wanted the Church to change the doctrine of celibacy, but would NOT rejoin the priesthood unless a lot of other doctrines were changed as well. Maybe that's why he's an "ex" priest. He didn't know that celibacy is a discipline and not a doctrine! LOL. It's interesting, and I think Ironmonk picked this one up too - or was it Likos, that if you get to know ex-Catholics you find out that the reason they left (while real to them) are simply out of pure ignorance or confusion about what the Church REALLY teaches. If they truly understood why the Church teaches what she does, then they wouldn't leave! And if you talk to new-Catholics... The reason they join is because they come to an understanding of the Church. Interesting right?... RIGHT! :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now