Married men may be considered for the priesthood?

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Hmm, I thought the political climate was anti-rich, anti-white, and anti-male.
 
  • There already are some married priests. Some Anglican priests came over (and may have also been legitimately ordained, although Anglican apostolic succession got muddled a bit with Royalty … instead of … Bishops’ doing some of the ordaining … in the past.
  • “The Church” (or factions of it) regularly wash out otherwise qualified single men. I know of some of these… So the shortage sometimes bows to exclusivity it seems. 🤔 Or something.
Once, upon making a modest donation to a visiting Bishop from “Oceania” I added a smiling
" … ordain more priests!". He looked concerned and quietly reflected … "Those cost money … "

But considering married men (or especially women …) seems more fashionable a story to the media … than just ordaining older men, say.

Ordaining more married men would mean a lot of attendant problems per wives and children, insurance and possibly even more property rights problems than the Church wishes to have.

We DO need more good priests, especially ones that pass on the faith and are walking examples of sainthood.

And to administer the sacraments. As a priority. Rather than as an adjunct to reinforcing whatever secular Social Justice theme du jour is in vogue at the colleges or on TV this week.
 
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CaptFun said:
He looked concerned and quietly reflected … "Those cost money … "
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This is a huge consideration. The financial burden on a parish with a married priest is increased.

If your only priest is a married man, the parishioners have to adapt to a priest who will not always be there to give last rites or to answer your calls. He will have commitments to his wife and family that must be met.
 
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CaptFun said:
But considering married men (or especially women …) seems more fashionable a story to the media … than just ordaining older men, say.

Ordaining more married men would mean a lot of attendant problems per wives and children, insurance and possibly even more property rights problems than the Church wishes to have.
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Eastern Catholics seem to manaage.
 
While this discussion is about already married men becoming priest, that won’t be the end of the discussion. Why then can’t “already priests” marry (… and prior to that … 😱 - DATE?!),?

🙏 to the Lord of the Harvest for more good priests in any case.
 
Since we have many already serving here from Africa and since Africa contains many, many countries, I don’t see that a ‘political comment’ has any bearing on reality.
 
Had a conversation with our Republican Senator’s office week before last, we were discussing tighter restrictions on visas from some countries. I was assured that it is going to get even more restrictive in the upcoming months.

Governments who agree with our President will have a generous visa process. Governments who disagree, who are insulted, they will simply make it more difficult for people - good people like priests and doctors and students will be be the ones who are punished.
 
TheLittleLady said:
This is a huge consideration. The financial burden on a parish with a married priest is increased.

If your only priest is a married man, the parishioners have to adapt to a priest who will not always be there to give last rites or to answer your calls. He will have commitments to his wife and family that must be met.
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The alternative, even in the United States, can be a priest shared with a parish a good distance away who simply cannot be everywhere at once. It is also a high rate of burn-out among priests who aren’t being given any help because of fears that the help that can be obtained can’t be as dedicated as an unmarried priest. There may also be more priests living alone than there ever used to be in the past–the issue of loneliness and lack of everyday support touches more of them.

The consideration most worth being concerned about is the effect on the marriage and family of the priest. Are they in a position to make the kinds of sacrifices required, sacrifices which are very much like those that the families of physicians once had to make? You cannot sacrifice holy marriages even for the sake of the needs of the faithful. When an Anglican priest joins the Church, it is much easier to assess this. The wives and families know what they are getting into and they’ve had the experience of being out of that, too. The Catholics who haven’t had that are in a different situation.
 
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Bite your tongue. 😉 This is their year. Plenty of good seats still available. --The Pirates Front Office.
 
From experience, I know this is false. Our Order currently has a brother priest from Africa working in our seminary in NJ. If the paperwork is filled out properly, there is no risk of illegal stay past the expiration of the visa, and the priest is suitably sponsored, there is no problem with the government. In all honesty, we’ve actually found that is much easier for priests to immigrate for ministry than for the average person.
 
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There is a Priest from Zimbabwe serving at my Parish right now. Another originally from Vietnam, then Canada.
 
Hello. We have several priests here (outside of Chicago) from Africa. I met one of them last week. So nice. Catholicism is really growing in Africa he tells me. We also have a wonderful new Eastern European priest. I really like him and he discusses some of the great unknown saints from Europe.

Just my opinion, I don’t support married priests. The vocation and dedication of priests and nuns are life-changing. This involves a total devotion of self to God first and then a community.

//// God Bless all our devoted, loving priests and nuns who helped teach us as children so we may become the faithful Catholics we are today. Thank you ////
 
I can pretty much say I “know” the Orioles aren’t going to be in the playoffs this year. 😦
 
Not exactly. The entire history and experience of Eastern Catholics is extremely different from Latin-rite, starting with first and foremost the size of the congregation. If you have a centuries’ old tradition of small parishes, ethnically based, with an engrained tradition of married priests with families, where the expectations and the examples are there going back for generations, in a very SMALL group of people served, that is a far cry from the Latin-rite groups involving very very large congregations, very diverse, with no traditions, no examples of married priests/families, where priests are seen less as the 'father/guide of a ‘tribal’ like group and more as the CEO of a ‘hierarchy’ where things kind of run ‘by the seat of the pants’ and rules get made up as they go along.
 
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