Married priests in the Ruthenian Catholic Church

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MarcusAndreas

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Are married men ordained priests in the Ruthenian Catholic Church? (Specifically, the Metropolitan Church of Pittsburgh) I’ve heard that they have some odd legal hoops and hurdles that make it a non-occurrence for the most part.

Does anyone know anything?
 
When I was involved, it seemed like only Bishop John (Kudrick) was willing to give it a go. Now the little synod has some new players so perhaps things have opened up across the country.

But there are two issues I can recall …

1: The candidates have to be approved by Rome on a case by case basis. I don’t think any other EC church has this stipulation, but it seems some Pittsburgh Metropolia hierarchs in the past actually asked for it 🤷. I’ll not speculate on this.

2: Perhaps more importantly there are precious few candidates and the culture in most of the parishes is not attuned to this possibility, so suitable married men might not receive much encouragement in this direction. This is important because the candidate has to go to seminary on his own nickel in most cases, the expense might be entirely on him and his (presumably young) family.

I believe bishop John has brought a few men with families from Europe, and as I recall there was one priest once from the UGCC serving in Michigan with his family (I get this stuff mixed up - hard to remember - don’t take mine as the last word on this).

Hopefully Aramis or Patchunky will reply, they both seem to be very well informed on matters within the Pittsburgh Metropolia. 🙂
 
MarcusAndreas said:
Are married men ordained priests in the Ruthenian Catholic Church? (Specifically, the Metropolitan Church of Pittsburgh) I’ve heard that they have some odd legal hoops and hurdles that make it a non-occurrence for the most part.

Does anyone know anything?
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Yes, it is possible for the married to receive Holy Orders either as a priest or as a deacon in some eastern Catholic Churches. It is not possible in every eastern Catholic Church though because they all do not allow it by their laws. In the Byzantine Church USA it is allowed when the Holy See allows it according to the particular laws:

Canon 758 §3
§1. Married men, after completion of the formation prescribed by law, can be admitted to the order of deacon
§2. Concerning the admission of married men to the order of the presbyterate, the special norms issued by the Apostolic See are to be observed, unless dispensations are granted by the same See in individual cases.

My priest told me that if a married Byzantine person takes priestly Holy Orders here in the USA they may have to tansfer to a parish in Europe to be a pastor. The historic even often referred to is the prohibition of married priests coming from Europe to serve in the USA in the 1890s due to danger of scandal in the environment of Latin celebate priests with their eventual defection. Misunderstood is that the USA was not their jurisdiciton (of the Hungarian Greek Catholic bishop) then but that of the Latin Church. The Holy See never granted any blanket permission outside the ancient territories of the Greek Catholics.
 
Vico said:
My priest told me that if a married Byzantine person takes priestly Holy Orders here in the USA they may have to tansfer to a parish in Europe to be a pastor. The historic even often referred to is the prohibition of married priests coming from Europe to serve in the USA in the 1890s due to danger of scandal in the environment of Latin celebate priests with their eventual defection. Misunderstood is that the USA was not their jurisdiciton (of the Hungarian Greek Catholic bishop) then but that of the Latin Church. The Holy See never granted any blanket permission outside the ancient territories of the Greek Catholics.
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Our married priest was ordained in his home country of Slovakia, but came to the USA about two years ago. His wife is American and her family lives in our city. My parish is Ruthenian. Our Bishop has expressed a willingness to bring more married priests to the Eparchy, but I don’t know if he is willing to ordain a married man.
 
Hesychios said:
When I was involved, it seemed like only Bishop John (Kudrick) was willing to give it a go. Now the little synod has some new players so perhaps things have opened up across the country.

But there are two issues I can recall …

1: The candidates have to be approved by Rome on a case by case basis. I don’t think any other EC church has this stipulation, but it seems some Pittsburgh Metropolia hierarchs in the past actually asked for it 🤷. I’ll not speculate on this.

2: Perhaps more importantly there are precious few candidates and the culture in most of the parishes is not attuned to this possibility, so suitable married men might not receive much encouragement in this direction. This is important because the candidate has to go to seminary on his own nickel in most cases, the expense might be entirely on him and his (presumably young) family.

I believe bishop John has brought a few men with families from Europe, and as I recall there was one priest once from the UGCC serving in Michigan with his family (I get this stuff mixed up - hard to remember - don’t take mine as the last word on this).

Hopefully Aramis or Patchunky will reply, they both seem to be very well informed on matters within the Pittsburgh Metropolia. 🙂
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My wife won’t assent. Bishop George was willing to apply to Rome if I could (1) get the wife’s permission, (2) complete the canonical transfer, and (3) quit smoking. I seem to be getting them done in reverse order, and Bishop George is now in the arms of the Lord.

For the diaconate, no approval is needed; it’s only for the presbyterate. And it’s a requirement in Ruthenian Particular Law.
 
Aramis said:
My wife won’t assent. Bishop George was willing to apply to Rome if I could (1) get the wife’s permission, (2) complete the canonical transfer, and (3) quit smoking. I seem to be getting them done in reverse order, and Bishop George is now in the arms of the Lord.

For the diaconate, no approval is needed; it’s only for the presbyterate.** And it’s a requirement in Ruthenian Particular Law.**
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It may be a requirement but as far as I have been told it is not always obeyed. The recent ordinations in Parma of married men was done with NO permissions and carried a bit of flack from some of the other bishops.
 
The only Byzantine priest, US born, that was ordained after marriage, in the USA (under the new laws of 1999) is Joseph Marquis and it occurred in Feb 12, 2006. All the other married Byzantine (Metropolitan Church) priests are on loan from Europe.
 
I’m not sure what the big hub-bub is. The provision of Particular Law referred to earlier in the thread is very nice but doesn’t really say much of anything. By that I mean that the infamous Cum data fuerit is still in force but, as with any Instruction (even canons), its provisions could, from day one of its inception, have been dispensed by particular action of the Holy See anyway. 🤷
 
malphono said:
I’m not sure what the big hub-bub is. The provision of Particular Law referred to earlier in the thread is very nice but doesn’t really say much of anything. By that I mean that the infamous Cum data fuerit is still in force but, as with any Instruction (even canons), its provisions could, from day one of its inception, have been dispensed by particular action of the Holy See anyway. 🤷
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If you ever discover what the big hub-bub is, please let us know here.
 
Vico said:
The only Byzantine priest, US born, that was ordained after marriage, in the USA (under the new laws of 1999) is Joseph Marquis and it occurred in Feb 12, 2006. All the other married Byzantine (Metropolitan Church) priests are on loan from Europe.
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This would be the priest in Michigan, I take it?
 
How do the four US Byzantine Jurisdictions handle applications of married men to both the diaconate and who eventually want to be ordained to the presbyterate? It seems there is variation according to particular law. I spoke with my pastor about this (Who is a celibate melkite) and he said the Melkite Church in the US is still trying to figure out how to financially support married clergy. Whereas he said, the Romanian eparchy has all married parochial clergy. Is this true?

How do the Oriental Jurisdictions in the US handle the married clergy?
 
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ciero:
It may be a requirement but as far as I have been told it is not always obeyed. The recent ordinations in Parma of married men was done with NO permissions and carried a bit of flack from some of the other bishops.

Bishop George noted that HH JP II had, after the approval was in on the RPL, again ordered the bishops of the Ruthenian church individually (or at least himself) to continue to delatinize.

If Bishop George had had his way, that item would have been stricken from RPL.
 
malphono said:
I’m not sure what the big hub-bub is. The provision of Particular Law referred to earlier in the thread is very nice but doesn’t really say much of anything. By that I mean that the infamous Cum data fuerit is still in force but, as with any Instruction (even canons), its provisions could, from day one of its inception, have been dispensed by particular action of the Holy See anyway. 🤷
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At least one Bishop is seeking to have a mandatory retirement age of 75 for priests to cut down on medical expences and is also actively recruiting married clergy from the homelands.:eek:👍
 
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