Issue of married Catholic priests gains traction under pope

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VATICAN CITY (AP) — As the Vatican copes with the growing clergy sex abuse scandal and declining number of priests worldwide, it is laying the groundwork to open formal debate on an issue that has long been taboo: opening up the priesthood to married men in parts of the world where clergy are scarce.
Pope Francis has convened a meeting of South American bishops next year focusing on the plight of the church in the Amazon, a vast territory served by far too few priests. During that synod, the question of ordaining married men of proven virtue — so-called “viri probati” — is expected to figure on the agenda.

This week, a two-hour documentary on Italian television is likely to contribute to the conversation. “The Choice: Priests and Love” profiles more than a dozen men in four European countries who are either living clandestinely with women, have created their own unsanctioned church communities where married priests preside at Mass, or left the Catholic priesthood altogether to marry.
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Issue of married Catholic priests gains traction under pope
 
Next year’s synod is probably the beginning of the end for mandatory celibacy for priests in the Church.
 
Yes, there are married priests in the Church already, but they are the exception and not the norm. Any priest who enters the clerical state of the Church directly as a Catholic (i.e., not an Anglican convert as those priests are) is required to be celibate and forbidden to marry and cannot be ordained if already married. Next year’s synod will likely change that in that there will be priests ordained while already married Catholic men in South America. Other bishops have already expressed interest in introducing this practice in their dioceses (Germany and some bishops in Canada have already expressed interest in ordaining married men) so the practice will likely spread to other areas in the next few years. Eventually the restriction on ordaining married men will be dropped altogether, everywhere.

EDIT: Just to clarify, I am not saying that I am in favor of married priests (quite the opposite), but I am merely predicting the way things are going.
 
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Too bad the homosexual priests and bishops have turned away prayerful, pious men who loved the Rosary and serving in their parishes for the last 60 years. They are responsible for the priest shortage. And so the attack on the Church and it’s holy, prayerful, and celibate men continue.

Married men, who have wives that will be going through pregnancy, delivery, and having young children, are the last choice to send to remote areas, far from hospitals and services.

I know a retired priest who would not move an hour out of the city because it was ‘too remote’ and ‘what would I do out there’. He was unwilling to serve a country parish on a Sunday because it did not suit him and his social connections. So he’s retired and enjoying city life. This is the kind of thing Catholics have just learned to live with. We need to expect more from our clergy after decades of less. Priests used to be available for confession every Saturday morning and that has just become a faint memory now. Let’s continue to pray for the cleansing of our Church and for the Lord to send men of virtue and faith to serve the faithful who have to go out into the world, proclaiming the Gospel with their lives. The Church has 2,000 years of holy men and women. This world is desperate for them today.
 
There is a depressing air of “revolution” in Rome. It seems that in the Vatican these days, there is an attempt to make the church less and less catholic.
 
Celibacy will never go away, even if the average parish priest is married. We will always have monastic / religious life.
 
PennyinCanada said:
Priests used to be available for confession every Saturday morning and that has just become a faint memory now.
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Depends where you are. Here in Vancouver, priests hear confessions at the cathedral Monday to Saturday three times a day…and there’s often a line. At another local parish, the Dominican friars hear confessions before and after each of the seven Sunday Masses.
 
They will also change the face of parishes, parishioners will need to become better givers to support a family, be ready to NOT have a priest ready when they need the Last Rites, etc.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
I have difficulty respecting people who can’t set aside their sexual urges to do something else.
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But it’s more than that. They must also have a calling to the priesthood. This is the fallacy of the push for married priests; that there is somehow an untapped pool of men who are called to marriage and priesthood.
 
There do seem to be some married men who have a calling to the priesthood, as shown by Eastern churches, Anglican church, and some of the Catholic priests who became Protestant ministers so they could marry but still serve in a “priestly” capacity. However, I am with you in your skepticism about there being a huge, untapped pool of married candidates for the Latin Catholic priesthood. We don’t really have good models for a Mr and Mrs Priest couple, and given the authority structure of the Church, it seems like balancing that with the role of a husband in a marriage would be a tall order. I can see most men being called to one or the other and not both.
 
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We have a married priest in our parish and he was born and raised in the Catholic Church.
 
Neither do I. I know he had to go through a lot of channels to do it tho. Very nice family. He was very persistent about answering the Call and found a compassionate Bishop who encouraged him.

Quite honestly, I was mortified when I found out he was married. I assumed he was a convert until he told us he was a cradle Roman Catholic. I still have a hard time reconciling his being a married priest. 😫
 
May a clergyman who had been a Roman Catholic apply to the Pastoral Provision?

Men who have formally defected from the Catholic Church may not be considered for the Pastoral Provision. Other cases must be referred to the Holy See.

http://www.pastoralprovision.org/faqs.htm
 
TheLittleLady said:
They will also change the face of parishes, parishioners will need to become better givers to support a family, be ready to NOT have a priest ready when they need the Last Rites, etc.
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Priests in our diocese are on a good salary with free housing on top of that. Definitely enough to support a family.

I have no idea why a deacon, or even a religious sister or brother, could not perform the last rites.
 
Many diocese pay priests more than lots of their married parishioners make. And yes, there is free housing, utilities paid, and lots of meals provided by parishioners, a travel stipend, etc. Military chaplains make the same pay as any other officer of the same rank, while their parishioners are mostly enlisted. I never really understood the argument that it’s unaffordable for them to support a family when most of the rest of us do just that on the same or less, with more bills and less help.
 
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