Can a married Priest with children be a Bishop?

[GodHeals]

Hi,

Can a married Priest with children be a Bishop? Maybe that depends on a lot of factors, or if one of the Eastern Catholic Churches?

Also, is it proper to say Eastern Catholic Churches with a plural or not, since they are part of the Catholic Church and usually the Orthodox are referred to as Churches?

Thank you!
Brian

 

[DL82]

Normally, at least in the Byzantine traditions, Bishops are chosen from among the celibate clergy. A married priest is not normally elevated to Bishop, although I am not sure what happens if he is a widower.

The only married Catholic Bishop I am aware of is the leader of the Anglican Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, who was a Bishop in the Church of England prior to being received into the Church.

 

[Digitonomy]

The only married Catholic Bishop I am aware of is the leader of the Anglican Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, who was a Bishop in the Church of England prior to being received into the Church.

Keith Newton is the ordinary of whom you speak, but he is not actually a bishop.

It is not currently permitted for married clergy to join the episcopate licitly, and this has been the case for many centuries. Generally the only time this sort of thing occurs is in cases similar to that of former Archbishop Milingo and those he consecrated as bishop.

 

[Dakota_Roberts]

Hi,

Can a married Priest with children be a Bishop? Maybe that depends on a lot of factors, or if one of the Eastern Catholic Churches?

Also, is it proper to say Eastern Catholic Churches with a plural or not, since they are part of the Catholic Church and usually the Orthodox are referred to as Churches?

Thank you!
Brian

Widower with children, maybe, but never a married man in either the Latin Catholic Church, Eastern Catholic Churches or Eastern Orthodox Churches.

 

[DaveBj]

Married Episcopal and (I think) Lutheran clergy have been accepted as Catholic priests. However, I think that one of the requirements for this unusual step is that the candidate not have children (as opposed to adult offspring); i.e., people other than the spouse that are actually dependent on him.

Within the Roman church, I seriously doubt that any married priest could become a bishop; if so, then the “married with children” question would be moot.

 

[DexUK]

To the best of my knowledge (i.e. this is what I understand to be true but I don’t have references to hand) the highest a married Catholic priest will be able to get to is a Monsignor. Also he is unlikely if not prohibited from becoming a Parish Priest in the UK at least… here he would be a Priest in Charge (or Administrator) rather than the formal Parish Priest.

 

[Zekariya]

Normally, at least in the Byzantine traditions, Bishops are chosen from among the celibate clergy. A married priest is not normally elevated to Bishop, although I am not sure what happens if he is a widower.

Bishops (at least in the Eastern Orthodox Church - not sure about the Eastern Catholics) are generally chosen from among the monks. A widower who is a professed/tonsured monk can be chosen to be a bishop.

 

[GodHeals]

Bishops (at least in the Eastern Orthodox Church - not sure about the Eastern Catholics) are generally chosen from among the monks. A widower who is a professed/tonsured monk can be chosen to be a bishop.

Thank you ALL for the (name removed by moderator)ut. So, it seems very very unlikely if impossible to have a married Bishop in the Catholic Church as a whole, including all orders from West and East.

tonsured means just the haircut or more, like a specific ordination or something?

 

[Zekariya]

Thank you ALL for the (name removed by moderator)ut.

tonsured means just the haircut or more, like a specific ordination or something?

In the East, being “tonsured as a monk” means something similar to the Wests “fully professed” monks.

All Eastern Christians are tonsured at baptism. One is also tonsured in first step of minor orders. One is also tonsured when one becomes a monastic.

An Eastern tonsure is four clips (with scissors or such) of hair of one’s head in the Sign of the Cross.

 

[superamazingman]

Hi,

Can a married Priest with children be a Bishop? Maybe that depends on a lot of factors, or if one of the Eastern Catholic Churches?

Also, is it proper to say Eastern Catholic Churches with a plural or not, since they are part of the Catholic Church and usually the Orthodox are referred to as Churches?

Thank you!
Brian

Theoretically? Yes. Practically? Probably not. It usually doesn’t happen.

 

[MarkThompson]

Thank you ALL for the (name removed by moderator)ut. So, it seems very very unlikely if impossible to have a married Bishop in the Catholic Church as a whole, including all orders from West and East.

tonsured means just the haircut or more, like a specific ordination or something?

There is no “theological” problem with a bishop’s being married or having children, the way there is with, for instance, a bishop’s being a woman. In other words, this is a question of discipline, not of dogma.

[BIBLEDRB]1 Tim 3:2[/BIBLEDRB]

 

[DL82]

Interesting, just before the Holy Father resigns, a married recent convert asks for advice about married bishops…

Mr Blair, have we uncovered your secret identity?
mobile.twitter.com/TonyForPope

 

[GodHeals]

There is no “theological” problem with a bishop’s being married or having children, the way there is with, for instance, a bishop’s being a woman. In other words, this is a question of discipline, not of dogma.

[BIBLEDRB]1 Tim 3:2[/BIBLEDRB]

How is St. Paul and other Bishops or Priests not in sin if they aren’t following what they are preaching? Or is St. Paul describing, but not prescribing, the best situation?

 

[Zekariya]

How is St. Paul and other Bishops or Priests not in sin if they aren’t following what they are preaching? Or is St. Paul describing, but not prescribing, the best situation?

When St Paul says, “a husband of one wife”, this excludes widowers that got remarried. Also, today it is a disciplinary action to only choose bishops from the unmarried.

 

[UncleBill]

Married Episcopal and (I think) Lutheran clergy have been accepted as Catholic priests. **However, I think that one of the requirements for this unusual step is that the candidate not have children (as opposed to adult offspring); i.e., people other than the spouse that are actually dependent on him.
**
Within the Roman church, I seriously doubt that any married priest could become a bishop; if so, then the “married with children” question would be moot.

This is pure malarchy!! A great number of the former Anglican clergy now Catholic priests have young children. One of the priests near me has 8 kids under 18!

 

[UncleBill]

Hi,

Can a married Priest with children be a Bishop? Maybe that depends on a lot of factors, or if one of the Eastern Catholic Churches?

Also, is it proper to say Eastern Catholic Churches with a plural or not, since they are part of the Catholic Church and usually the Orthodox are referred to as Churches?

Thank you!
Brian

It is proper to refer to the Eastern Catholic Churches, in the plural. Each of the Eastern Catholic Churches are a full church in their own right (not RITE>>>>LOL). The Catholic Church is a communion of CHURCHES.

 

[Zekariya]

It is proper to refer to the Eastern Catholic Churches, in the plural. Each of the Eastern Catholic Churches are a full church in their own right (not RITE>>>>LOL). The Catholic Church is a communion of CHURCHES.

You are correct. Some Churches share the same rite and some Churches have multiple rites.

Alexandrian liturgical tradition; 2 sui iuris Churches
Coptic Catholic Church
Ethiopic Catholic Church

Antiochian (Antiochene or West-Syrian) liturgical tradition; 3 sui iuris Churches
Maronite Catholic Church
(West) Syrian Catholic Church
Syro-Malankara Catholic Church

Armenian Rite; 1 sui iuris Church
Armenian Catholic Church

Chaldean or East Syrian liturgical tradition; 2 sui iuris Churches
Chaldean Catholic Church
Syro-Malabar Catholic Church

Byzantine (Constantinopolitan) liturgical tradition; 14 sui iuris Churches
Albanian Greek-Catholic Church
Belarusian Greek Catholic Church
Bulgarian Greek Catholic Church
Byzantine Church of Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro
Greek Byzantine Catholic Church
Melkite Greek Catholic Church
Hungarian Greek Catholic Church
Italo-Greek Catholic Church
Macedonian Greek Catholic Church
Romanian Church United with Rome, Greek-Catholic
Russian Catholic Church
Ruthenian Catholic Church
Slovak Greek Catholic Church
Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church

The Latin (Western) Catholic Church 1 sui iuris Church that celebrates many liturgical rites

Actively celebrated:
Roman Rite, whose historical forms are usually classified as follows
Pre-Tridentine Mass (the various pre-1570 forms)
Tridentine Mass (1570-1970 and still authorized in circumstances indicated in the document Summorum Pontificum as an extraordinary form of the Roman Rite)
Mass of Paul VI (1970–present)
Anglican Use (restricted to formerly Anglican congregations)
Ambrosian Rite (Milan, Italy and neighbouring areas)
Aquileian Rite (defunct: northeastern Italy)
Rite of Braga (Braga, Portugal)
Mozarabic Rite (Toledo and Salamanca, Spain)

Defunct or rarely celebrated:
Durham Rite (defunct: Durham, England)
Gallican Rite (defunct: Gaul, i.e., France)
Celtic Rite (defunct: British Isles)
Sarum Rite (defunct: England)
Catholic Order Rites (generally defunct)
Benedictine Rite
Carmelite Rite
Carthusian Rite
Cistercian Rite
Dominican Rite
Franciscan Rite
Friars Minor Capuchin Rite
Premonstratensian Rite
Servite Rite

 

[GodHeals]

When St Paul says, “a husband of one wife”, this excludes widowers that got remarried. Also, today it is a disciplinary action to only choose bishops from the unmarried.

But when you wife dies, she is no longer your wife? Therefore, if remarry, still one wife?

But how do we see that scripture then?

 

[Zekariya]

But when you wife dies, she is no longer your wife? Therefore, if remarry, still one wife?

No, if you remarry she will be your second wife. Example: “My first wife died in an accident 20 years ago. I met Julia, my second wife when I moved to Baltimore.” The Church does not ordain anyone who has ever had a second wife.

 

[DaveBj]

This is pure malarchy!! A great number of the former Anglican clergy now Catholic priests have young children. One of the priests near me has 8 kids under 18!

Take a chill pill, UB. I didn’t present it as fact; I said “I think that . . .”

And the word you were looking for is “malark[e]y.”