Caution: Mercy over Judgment?

[OneSmallFlower]

I believe you. I think it will make it easier to let Diocesan priests to marry if Pope Francis I has his way.
In Christs’ love
tweedlealice

I actually don’t think it will, even just on a purely functional level.

In most first-world countries we’re not experiencing red martyrdom, but that’s not the case for a good portion of the world. Among the practical benefits of clerical celibacy is the fact that a priest in persecuted territory can’t be blackmailed with the lives of his wife and children into renouncing his faith or abandoning his parishioners.

There’s also what I call the “Fr. Mulcahy Concern”: in times of war, a bishop needs to be able to order as many priests as necessary to leave the diocese and go serve as military chaplains. Having a few married priests in the diocese (e.g. Episcopalian converts, usually) is no trouble, as you still have a large pool of strong young men to draw from. But if you get rid of clerical celibacy, that pool of battle-worthy young priests without families to care for and worry about gets shrunk by quite a bit.

The Fr. Mulcahy Concern applies also in ordinary clerical life; we all know how often a priest gets assigned to move from one parish in a diocese to another, sometimes in a whole different city or even region. Imagine the burden it’d be to have to tell Fr. So-and-so he and his family have to pick up and move again.

Last among the practical concerns is the matter of inheritance, one of the original problems with the married clerical state in the ancient world. Priests don’t make a lot of money; the church pretty much just provides for their basic needs and a few luxuries. It’s a huge draw on church resources to try to provide for his family as well, and what happens when Father dies? Is the house he lived in the property of the church or of his wife? What if his wife is abusive and he has to (legally) divorce her? Can she sue the Church for the parish car? Does the church pay for the custody battle over the kids? What if the church loses?

Obviously these problems can all be handled and are being handled by other denominations like the Anglicans and Episcopalians. But when you serve 1/7th of the world’s population, in every situation and circumstance under the sun, sometimes it’s better just to keep things simple.

 

[OneSmallFlower]

I believe you. I think it will make it easier to let Diocesan priests to marry if Pope Francis I has his way.
In Christs’ love
tweedlealice

I actually don’t think it will, even just on a purely functional level.

In most first-world countries we’re not experiencing red martyrdom, but that’s not the case for a good portion of the world. Among the practical benefits of clerical celibacy is the fact that a priest in persecuted territory can’t be blackmailed with the lives of his wife and children into renouncing his faith or abandoning his parishioners.

There’s also what I call the “Fr. Mulcahy Concern”: in times of war, a bishop needs to be able to order as many priests as necessary to leave the diocese and go serve as military chaplains. Having a few married priests in the diocese (e.g. Episcopalian converts, usually) is no trouble, as you still have a large pool of strong young men to draw from. But if you get rid of clerical celibacy, that pool of battle-worthy young priests without families to care for and worry about gets shrunk by quite a bit.

The Fr. Mulcahy Concern applies also in ordinary clerical life; we all know how often a priest gets assigned to move from one parish in a diocese to another, sometimes in a whole different city or even region. Imagine the burden it’d be to have to tell Fr. So-and-so he and his family have to pick up and move again.

Last among the practical concerns is the matter of inheritance, one of the original problems with the married clerical state in the ancient world. Priests don’t make a lot of money; the church pretty much just provides for their basic needs and a few luxuries. It’s a huge draw on church resources to try to provide for his family as well, and what happens when Father dies? Is the house he lived in the property of the church or of his wife? What if his wife is abusive and he has to (legally) divorce her? Can she sue the Church for the parish car? Does the church pay for the custody battle over the kids? What if the church loses?

Obviously these problems can all be handled and are being handled by other denominations like the Anglicans and Episcopalians. But when you serve 1/7th of the world’s population, in every situation and circumstance under the sun, sometimes it’s better just to keep things simple.

God bless,
–1SF

 

[Viki63]

A Franciscan brother asked St Francis a question.
“Brother Francis,” he said, “What would you do if you knew that the priest celebrating Mass had three concubines on the side?” Francis, without missing a beat, said slowly, “When it came time for holy Communion, I would go to receive the sacred Body of my Lord from the priest´s anointed hands.”

What was Francis getting at? He was getting at a tremendous truth of the faith and a tremendous gift of the Lord. No matter how sinful a priest is, provided that he has the intention to do what the Church does — at Mass, for example, to change bread and wine into Christ´s body and blood, or in confession, no matter how sinful he is personally, to forgive the penitent´s sins — Christ himself acts through that minister in the sacraments.

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