Married to Sacrament of Holy Orders

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A man and a woman are married, they raise their kids and decide to live as brother and sister. With mutual agreement can say the husband proceed to Holy Orders (be ordained Priest)?
 
fms said:
A man and a woman are married, they raise their kids and decide to live as brother and sister. With mutual agreement can say the husband proceed to Holy Orders (be ordained Priest)?
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Other posters may wish to address the rather complex issues this raises in the Latin Church, but directly to your point, the intervention of the Holy See would be required. There has been a precedent, but whether or not the Holy See would approve such an arrangement today may be highly doubtful.
 
fms said:
A man and a woman are married, they raise their kids and decide to live as brother and sister. With mutual agreement can say the husband proceed to Holy Orders (be ordained Priest)?
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He can be ordained a Deacon even without ‘living as brother and sister’ (which is part of the sacrament of Holy Orders). And in the Eastern Catholic churches he can indeed become a priest even if still married and fully living as married.

In the Latin Church - not sure. I’m sure there are other posters here who can tell you.
 
LilyM said:
He can be ordained a Deacon even without ‘living as brother and sister’ (which is part of the sacrament of Holy Orders). And in the Eastern Catholic churches he can indeed become a priest even if still married and fully living as married.

In the Latin Church - not sure. I’m sure there are other posters here who can tell you.
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Only in most of the Eastern Churches. A few do not permit married Priests, and IIRC, one doesn’t permit married clerics at all.

And change of enrollment to obtain ordination is considered to be an inappropriate reason to change canonical enrollment.

As the son of a Roman Church Deacon, the choice to live as brother and sister is their option, not a requirement; at one point in the history of the Roman Church, it was not an option for married clerics, but a requirement. But that was also 1100 years ago.
 
What if the woman divorces him and there is no hope of renconciliation (e.g. she marries someone else and they start a family). Can he be admitted to the priesthood?
 
fms said:
What if the woman divorces him and there is no hope of renconciliation (e.g. she marries someone else and they start a family). Can he be admitted to the priesthood?
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Not in keeping with the rules in St. Timothy’s Epistle. Which call for a man of one marriage, and upright standing in the community.

I know of a priest who is a widower; he entered a Latin Rite seminary after being widowed. Fr. Eric.

He is celibate, but has been married.

See 1 Tim 3:8-12… specifically speaking of deacons
8 Similarly, deacons must be dignified, not deceitful, not addicted to drink, not greedy for sordid gain,
9 holding fast to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience.
10 Moreover, they should be tested first; then, if there is nothing against them, let them serve as deacons.
11 Women, similarly, should be dignified, not slanderers, but temperate and faithful in everything.
12 Deacons may be married only once and must manage their children and their households well.

1 Tim 3 speaks of Bishops and Deacons; but since every priest is a deacon as well… It is my understanding that verse 11 is speaking of the wives, but might also or instead refer to deaconesses.
 
Celibacy mean “not married.” Therefore someone who is married in the eyes of the Church cannot be a priest in the Latin Rite unless he has converted as a minister and has gone through formation and then ordained a Catholic priest. Celibacy, in the correct definition, does not mean “no sex” but “no marriage.” Even those who are married deacons make a promise of celibacy which states that if their spouse dies they cannot get remarried, but married deacons certainly can have sex, as can married Eastern and Latin Rite Catholic priests. I have never heard of a Cathoic man (not a minister convert), who is currently married becoming a priest because he has promised not to have sex with his wife.
 
fms said:
What if the woman divorces him and there is no hope of renconciliation (e.g. she marries someone else and they start a family). Can he be admitted to the priesthood?
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Some orders will allow such a man to become a priest-IF the wife is the one who left the marriage and he is a Catholic in good standing.
 
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