The Rite of Ordination is the same for transitional and permanent deacons. The vow is of celibacy. Now Cannon 277 of the Code of Cannon Law does state that all clerics are bound to perpetual continence as a result of being bound to celibacy. Cannon 1037 specifies the requirement for celibacy to unmarried candidates for the permanent deacons.There is a vow of perpetual continence for transitional deacons only.
The whole idea of viri probati is to try to avoid many of these problems. You are essentially choosing a family…not just a priest. You would not be allowing a 25 - 30 year old priest to marry and start a family. It is really not all that much different than choosing and vetting a Anglican convert who is a priest (along with his family) to become a catholic priest. This (Anglican priests becoming catholic priests) has been going on for almost 40 years. It works. Deacons have been around for about 50 years. The concept of the diaconate is not that far from viri probati either. This works well too. In fact you are starting to have a very real culture of married clergy in the catholic church that can and should be built from.Having said that, given the vast number of responsibilities that priests have, I do not see how allowing priests to have even more responsibilities to their family on top of that is going to help the situation. And then we will have to be dealing with priests who are having marital trouble, priests who are getting divorced, priests whose kids are getting picked up by the police, etc. it’s not a pretty picture given that our Catholic priest is not just a guy who administers the budget and preaches, he is the guy who stands in for Jesus Christ.
He looked concerned and quietly reflected … "Those cost money … "???There is a promise of perpetual continence for transitional deacons only.
Edited because it is a promise not a vow.
That question is bound to be asked, I think, in connection with the business about the special needs of remote dioceses in sparsely populated areas of the Amazon region. Prospective seminarians are going to ask, “If it’s all right for married men to be ordained in parts of Brazil, Peru, and Venezuela, then why not here in Chicago, or Toronto, or Dublin as well?”However, once you start letting some married priests in the door, it’s hard to say no to the 25-year-old guy who wants to be a priest but also would like to get married.
Oh, no, nothing like that! The marriage vow to the wife precedes the consecration, so that sacred duty is still a duty for as long as that wife lives. His body belongs to her; he wouldn’t have the authority to deny her that.I am sorry. I was not clear. The promise of perpetual continence comes in the promise by unmarried deacons not to marry.
There is no requirement for married permanent deacons to refrain from marital relations.
I agree. Perhaps only 20%-30% of the parishes in the US are like this…they have more money than they need. The issue is that it is a missed opportunity to not devote a full time priest to this parish, and use its resources to expand. They can’t devote a full time priest because there are not enough priests in this country. Instead the church simply tries to maintain what is available now with its limitations in clergy.Your parish is an anomaly. Many parishes are not doing well, financially, because they do not happen to be located in a well-off area. The poor people who live there, many of whom are often elderly and have been going to that church their whole life and would have difficulty driving some distance to get to church elsewhere, still need to go to Mass.