Catholic theologians call for an end to compulsory celibacy

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Around a third of all Catholic theology professors at universities in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, on Friday called for reforms to the Catholic Church, according to a report in the German daily “Süddeutsche Zeitung”.

“It looks like we struck a nerve,” said Judith Könemann a professor from Münster and one of 144 signatories of the declaration.

dw-world.de/dw/article/0,14816788,00.html

Ending compulsory celibacy is not taking action against the sex abuse scandal. No studies have shown a link between sex abuse and celibacy.
 
What’s your view? Was celibacy introduced in the middle ages:shrug:
 
Theologians, The only thing wrong with theology is theologians.
 
It is good news to hear that two third of the German theologians is not liberal any more. Their number is dwindling.
 
Well they certainly have the right to petition. No problem there. Of course I think they hurt their cause when they bundle in something that has already been decisively dealt with (women priests)…
The other two items, Priestly celibacy and lay participation in the selection of a bishop, are church disciplines that certainly could change.
While I don’t see the selection process of a Bishop changing, I do see priestly celibacy as something that could possibly change. The Church is currently embracing ordained Married Anglican men into the priesthood and we will need to see how this plays out…

Of course if the Vatican does change the discipline, it won’t be because 1/3 of the theologens ask for it. 😛

Peace
James
 
Abyssinia said:
Around a third of all Catholic theology professors at universities in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, on Friday called for reforms to the Catholic Church, according to a report in the German daily “Süddeutsche Zeitung”.

“It looks like we struck a nerve,” said Judith Könemann a professor from Münster and one of 144 signatories of the declaration.

dw-world.de/dw/article/0,14816788,00.html

Ending compulsory celibacy is not taking action against the sex abuse scandal. No studies have shown a link between sex abuse and celibacy.
Click to expand...
Misleading post title.

What’s the point? Rebellion didn’t start with this century and I expect it will go on until the Second Coming.
 
Well said. Clerical celebacy is not new (it’s a practice reflected in the Scriptures) but it’s uniform application as a discipline in the Latin churche is certainly a later innovation. As demonstrated by the Eastern Orthodox, and the orthodox Reformation churches, the tradition of married priests also goes back to Apostolic times, and is a viable discipline also.

Female ordination is a whole other bucket of worms, and shouldn’t be lumped into such a discussion.

Peace to you.
JRKH said:
Well they certainly have the right to petition. No problem there. Of course I think they hurt their cause when they bundle in something that has already been decisively dealt with (women priests)…
The other two items, Priestly celibacy and lay participation in the selection of a bishop, are church disciplines that certainly could change.
While I don’t see the selection process of a Bishop changing, I do see priestly celibacy as something that could possibly change. The Church is currently embracing ordained Married Anglican men into the priesthood and we will need to see how this plays out…

Of course if the Vatican does change the discipline, it won’t be because 1/3 of the theologens ask for it. 😛

Peace
James
Click to expand...
 
A more correct title for this thread might be:

“Dissident Catholic theologians call for an end to compulsory celibacy.”
 
Dave_B said:
What’s your view? Was celibacy introduced in the middle ages:shrug:
Click to expand...
No. Celibacy has been a discipline of the Church since the earliest days. It was always the preferred state of life for clergy. It was mandetory for many religious priests from the beginnings of the orders. It became mandetory for all priests around the 1100’s.

The character of the discipline has changed over time. While the current discipline is to not ordain a man who is already married (in the Latin rite) without a dispensation (such as granted to some Anglican clergy who convert to Catholicism), there was a time, starting around the 4th Century, when married men could be ordained but would abstain from further relations with their wives.
 
Abyssinia said:
Around a third of all Catholic theology professors at universities in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, on Friday called for reforms to the Catholic Church, according to a report in the German daily “Süddeutsche Zeitung”.

“It looks like we struck a nerve,” said Judith Könemann a professor from Münster and one of 144 signatories of the declaration.

dw-world.de/dw/article/0,14816788,00.html

Ending compulsory celibacy is not taking action against the sex abuse scandal. No studies have shown a link between sex abuse and celibacy.
Click to expand...
It is shameful that they would use the homosexual priest scandal to try to advance their liberal agenda.
 
What is new? More theologians trying to lead the Church. They want to do away with the Magisterium and make the Church a democracy. Who they think they are. Wait. Germany again and again. they never leave the CC alone.
 
Sailor_Kenshin said:
Misleading post title…
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Misleading only in the sense that the headline was not very informative. The standard of this forum does require that we use the headline as the thread title.

I think ending compulsory celibacy, which is merely a discipline, is the least of their proposals. Ordaining female priests and allowing the laity to choose bishops are both more radical.

Here are some alternative headlines used by news articles:

German Catholics urge reforms as papal visit nears
(Reuters)

Better in some ways, worse in some others. Better in that it mentions multiple reforms, worse in that it obscures that the people calling for reforms are a minority of German speaking theologians (even if a sizable number of them)

Germany: theologians call for women’s ordination, lend support to homosexual partnerships
(Catholic Culture)

That is probably the best news headline I’ve seen. It mentions some of the more extreme reforms being suggested and it restricts the proponents to German theologians.

BTW: if you can read German, the Catholic Culture article has links to the two Suddeutsche Zeitung newspaper articles.
 
I think it is misleading to refer to this as “compulsory celibacy”. No one is forced to be a priest. No one is withholding the celibacy requirement from seminarians. Celibacy is one aspect of the vocation of the priesthood which a man enters into freely. It’s like saying that lack of contact with the world is being forced on nuns living in cloister or that isolation is being forced on hermits. :confused:
 
I think of celibacy of priests not just as a challenge but as a means of obtaining holiness and grace, not only for the priests but also for the Church, God’s people whom they serve.
Pope Paul VI Encyclical on this subject is forever an inspiring eye-opener message, full of wisdom and great understanding.
‘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. …The sum of these objections would appear to drown out the solemn and age-old voice of the pastors of the Church and of the masters of the spiritual life, and to nullify the living testimony of the countless ranks of saints and faithful ministers of God, for whom celibacy has been the object of the total and generous gift of themselves to the mystery of Christ, as well as its outward sign. But no, this voice, still strong and untroubled, is the voice not just of the past but of the present too. Ever intent on the realities of today, we cannot close our eyes to this magnificent, wonderful reality: that there are still today in God’s holy Church, in every part of the world where she exercises her beneficent influence, great numbers of her ministers—subdeacons, deacons, priests and bishops—who are living their life of voluntary and consecrated celibacy in the most exemplary way.’
We are called for a life of holiness and perfection, because our Heavenly Father is Holy and Perfect.
Peace,
Rina
 
I just cannot but quote this beautiful part of the Encyclical:
‘Nor can we overlook the immense ranks of men and women in religious life, of laity and of young people too, united in the faithful observance of perfect chastity. They live in chastity, not out of disdain for the gift of life, but because of a greater love for that new life which springs from the Paschal mystery. They live this life of courageous self-denial and spiritual joyfulness with exemplary fidelity and also with relative facility. This magnificent phenomenon bears testimony to an exceptional facet of the kingdom of God living in the midst of modern society, to which it renders humble and beneficial service as the “light of the world” and the “salt of the earth.” We cannot withhold the expression of Our admiration; the spirit of Christ is certainly breathing here.’ Pope Paul VI, June 1967
Please take some time to read the whole letter.
Peace,
Rina
 
Dave_B said:
What’s your view? Was celibacy introduced in the middle ages:shrug:
Click to expand...
If by ‘introduced’ you mean ‘artificially imposed upon’, I would say that this view is demonstrably, patently, unquestionably false.

The fact that the Council that came to be known as Lateran I made the Gregorian position on celibacy on a mixed (both celibate and married) body of clergy, in a semi-bureaucratic manner does not change the validity of the reform. Historically, celibacy was a real necessity for the clergy, and it was not being lived uniformly or consistently in the period before the First Lateran Council.

Statements like yours bother me, because they’re basically the same quality of argumentation as the people whose concern with our liturgy is reduced to revanchism for the hiccups in implementation of the OF over the Tridentine form, thereby completely obscuring real liturgical questions.
 
laszlo said:
It is good news to hear that two third of the German theologians is not liberal any more. Their number is dwindling.
Click to expand...
No, the other two thirds are Muslims and Unitarian Universalists.

Their one Orthodox Catholic theologian is on loan to Rome, I hear. 😃
 
Mandatory celibacy cuts the Gordian knot for the legion of ecclesiastics dispersed throughout the world, between the Gospel and their own zoological circumstances.

Its something that took an incredible amount of institutional courage to advocate (i.e., to win over for our priests and religious), and it is significant that there was a parallel reform in simony during this same period.

Namely, to spell out in temporal barrenness and eunuchdom that the ecclesiastical office and religious life are not of this world and that one cannot increase in one world without risking decline in the other. It re-emphasizes that the basic ideal of every Christian is martyrdom, and forces the men who are standing three or four feet higher than us at Mass and consecrating the Body of our Lord to be the first to undertake this endeavor.

We must stand by celibacy unconditionally, as this is something that was fought for and won… imagine attempting to ‘impose’ celibacy on the clergy of another faith (or another professional caste)–it would be unthinkable.
 
Sadly, we are going to see more and more people trying to link the sex abuse scandal to their particular point of view in order to gain in air of legitimacy. The article completely ignores the fact that their is no actual or logical connection between priestly ceibacy and predatory priests, nor between an all male priesthood and sexual abuse.

The reality is that this isn’t anything more then another minority group (lets remember the pressumable 2/3 rds of theologians don’t support this proposition to some degree) trying to ger themselves hears. They have been around since the beginning and will be around until the end.

Blessings,
Steve
 
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