Pope Francis open to having some married men become priests

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redbaron162

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foxnews.com/world/2017/03/10/pope-francis-open-to-having-some-married-men-become-priests.html

I think we may see this one day in a similar way that Eastern Catholics have it (Must be married before ordination, cannot remarry if widowed, etc…)

I admit I would be interested in this if the Church decided to allow it (I am discerning a vocation in the Deaconate but must wait till 35 before I can officially start the process) I would love to be a priest though I agree that celibacy is the preference for good reasons
 
This seems like it should be bombshell news, although apparently the idea has been kicking around for a while now.
 
redbaron162 said:
foxnews.com/world/2017/03/10/pope-francis-open-to-having-some-married-men-become-priests.html

I think we may see this one day in a similar way that Eastern Catholics have it (Must be married before ordination, cannot remarry if widowed, etc…)

I admit I would be interested in this if the Church decided to allow it (I am discerning a vocation in the Deaconate but must wait till 35 before I can officially start the process) I would love to be a priest though I agree that celibacy is the preference for good reasons
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I wish you prayers and good fortune on your calling.
I am a little more cautious than I would have been a few years ago. Celibacy would always be an important part of the priesthood, in the religious order men, so ordaining married men might be instituted for diocesan priests, the great majority of whom now live alone. The problem is that the “marriage crisis” is even greater now than the priest crisis.

The local Episcopal bishop has said the divorce rate among his clergy has drastically increased in recent years.

The Church would have to be very, very careful not to overload marriages, and keep men from time with children. Some fathers I know tend to be very involved with family problems - young adults taking drugs, taking custody of grandchildren, or marital issues, that could not have been predicted 5 years earlier. Given the realities, the Church would have to really screen and observe candidates and families - so no young married men would get admitted to seminary.

Further, the seminary would likely have to be extended, since the seminarian would not be living at the seminary, and would have ongoing family responsibilities no seminarian has now. The process of “formation” would likely add 1 or 2 years. Then once ordained, the priest would not carry anywhere near the load of a major parish, with on call emergencies.

I know Eastern Catholic priests in our area, but they pastor parishes with 50 or so families, plus some additional chaplain work, which they apparently can limit as their life allows. What I don’t know is how married Eastern Catholic priests do, where that is the norm. We need to ask them what strengths marriage brings to the priesthood.
 
Good. They can start with ordaining more married deacons to the priesthood.

These men along with their families already know what is entailed in being a priest, much more so than a man off the streets.
 
tomarin said:
This seems like it should be bombshell news, although apparently the idea has been kicking around for a while now.
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In the Latin Church yes. I believe the Eastern Catholic church has always allowed a married man to become a priest (I could be wrong about when this started but TLTG (Too Lazy To Google).
 
Sarcelle said:
Good. They can start with ordaining more married deacons to the priesthood.

These men along with their families already know what is entailed in being a priest, much more so than a man off the streets.
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I don’t know if you would find a whole lot of Deacons who would do this. My understanding is that the calling of a Permanent Deacon is different from the calling of a Priest. Although a Priest does become a transitional deacon for a year, I don’t think you can compare the two deaconates or say necessarily that being a Permanent Deacon prepares you for the Priesthood.
 
He has already allowed some married Anglican priests who converted to Catholicism to be ordained. We have one in my diocese, and Fr. Dwight Longenecker is pretty well-known married ex-Anglican priest.
 
Sarcelle said:
Good. They can start with ordaining more married deacons to the priesthood.

These men along with their families already know what is entailed in being a priest, much more so than a man off the streets.
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This, absolutely. I’ve long thought that such would be the best way forward with a priesthood that included married men.
 
What an interesting topic. Just a note, I believe an individual is called Deacon, but the Order spelled Diaconate.

The Catholic Church does have married Priests in the Anglican Ordinariate. Like the Eastern Churches were described, most are smaller parishes.

Points of consideration on the issues dealing with marriages and families have been mentioned.

As well, also mentioned the calling of the Priesthood and Diaconate are different. While some married Deacons would accept the call, I think many are content living out their current ministry.

It will be interesting to see how it works out.
 
Hoosier_Daddy said:
Where did my church go?
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It’s still right here. Priestly celibacy isn’t a doctrine, it’s a discipline. I don’t necessarily agree with married priests, I think there would be more problems with trying to sustain two vocations well. But there’s nothing inherently wrong with it.
 
When my son was very ill, he was administered the sacraments by a married priest who was a former Anglican. It is possible in Eastern Rites.
 
seagal said:
It’s still right here. Priestly celibacy isn’t a doctrine, it’s a discipline. I don’t necessarily agree with married priests, I think there would be more problems with trying to sustain two vocations well. But there’s nothing inherently wrong with it.
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Plus as others have pointed out, several corners of the Catholic Church including the Anglican Ordinariates and the Easter Rite Churches allow married priests already.

I will say as someone who is a former Catholic but now member of a church with married clergy I’ve not found the devotion to the priestly vocation to be any less among the married Anglican clergy then it was among the celibate Catholic clergy. Certainly it’s a harder balancing act for the married clergy, and one their families must contend with. But from what I’ve seen the families take on a portion of the priestly vocation themselves gladly.
 
Hoosier_Daddy said:
Where did my church go?
Click to expand...
Even if married men are ordained as priests, as already happens in the Eastern Catholic Churches and in the Anglican Ordinariates, and as happened in centuries past, the Church will always have religious life. Religious life, by its very nature, is celibate. The priesthood, in and of itself, is not intrinsically tied to celibacy. In the East, it is traditional for bishops, who are always celibate, to be raised from amongst the monastic ranks.
 
Cardinal Ratzinger:
"People need to get straight in their minds that times of crisis for celibacy are always times of crisis for marriage as well. For, as a matter of fact, today we are experiencing not only violations of celibacy; marriage itself is becoming increasingly fragile as the basis of our society. In the legislation of Western nations we see how it is increasingly placed on the same level as other forms and is thereby largely “dissolved” as a legal form. Nor is the hard work needed really to live marriage negligible. Put in practical terms, after the abolition of celibacy we would only have a different kind of problem with divorced priests. That is not unknown in the Protestant Churches. In this sense, we see, of course, that the lofty forms of human existence involve great risks.

“The conclusion that I would draw from this, however, is not that we should now say, “We can’t do it anymore,” but that we must learn again to believe. And that we must also be even more careful in the selection of candidates for the priesthood. The point is that someone ought really to accept it freely and not say, well now, I would like to become a priest, so I’ll put up with this. Or: Well then, I’m not interested in girls anyway, so I’ll go along with celibacy. That is not a basis to start from. The candidate for the priesthood has to recognize the faith as a force in his life, and he must know that he can live celibacy only in faith. Then celibacy can also become again a testimony that says something to people and that also gives them the courage to marry. The two institutions are interconnected. If fidelity in the one is no longer possible, the other no longer exists: one fidelity sustains the other.”
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catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=6624
 
TheDoctor said:
I don’t know if you would find a whole lot of Deacons who would do this. My understanding is that the calling of a Permanent Deacon is different from the calling of a Priest. Although a Priest does become a transitional deacon for a year, I don’t think you can compare the two deaconates or say necessarily that being a Permanent Deacon prepares you for the Priesthood.
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Exactly. They are formed very differently.
They are not interchangeable vocations.
 
I understand the allowing of former Anglican clergy who become Catholic to also, after a period of prayer, study, and discernment, become Catholic priests, but if it should become the norm that Catholic priests can be married, the church should probably be prepared to deal with divorced priests. I know of divorced, and sometimes remarried, protestant clergy. How about a dating priest? Perhaps we should be praying more for priests vocations.
 
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