The practical consequences of allowing married clergy in the Roman Church

[Maximian]

In order to get married a man must meet, flirt and date with women. He may have to do this several times before he finds a woman who will have him.

Is this appropriate activity for a priest?

In the Orthodox (and therefore Eastern Catholic) churches the solution is that married priests are only possible if they were already married before becoming priests. Will this be the rule in the Amazon and wherever else it is adopted?

Secondly, what happens when a woman gets a civil divorce from her priest husband?

Thirdly, will the church be responsible for maintaining, housing, social benefits and pensioning of the priest’s wife and family? Or will marriage be the prerogative only of rich priests?

 

[Tis_Bearself]

In order to get married a man must meet, flirt and date with women. He may have to do this several times before he finds a woman who will have him.

Is this appropriate activity for a priest?

He’ll be getting married before he’s ordained. So yes, it’s appropriate activity for a single, non-ordained man, who may or may not be permitted to become a priest later (as there is no guarantee he will make it to ordination at that point).

In the Orthodox (and therefore Uniat) churches the solution is that married priests are only possible if they were already married before becoming priests. Will this be the rule in the Amazon and wherever else it is adopted?

To the extent the Catholic Church already permits married priests, they have to be married prior to being ordained, so I see no reason why this would change.

Secondly, what happens when a woman gets a civil divorce from her priest husband?

Same thing that happens when any other Catholic’s spouse gets a civil divorce. The Church would consider them still married. It’s unlikely the priest would seek an annulment unless there was some extraordinary circumstance, as he would not be permitted to remarry due to already being ordained.

Thirdly, will the church be responsible for maintaining, housing, social benefits and pensioning of the priest’s wife and family? Or will marriage be the prerogative only of rich priests?

The Church is going to have to figure that out, but I would imagine that the Church would have to provide a reasonable amount of all those things as it would not be very Christlike to ordain a married man and then refuse to provide for his spouse and children. Once again, the Church already has some married priests, both Eastern and Latin Catholic, so it’s not exactly brand new uncharted territory.

 

[BartholomewB]

In order to get married a man must meet, flirt and date with women. He may have to do this several times before he finds a woman who will have him.

Is this appropriate activity for a priest?

There are many celibate priests in the Catholic Church who, in the days of their youth, before they decided on their vocation, met, flirted, and dated with women. That is a normal activity for young men, including those young men who go on to become Catholic priests.

 

[Mi_Rose]

I can tell you what happens now with permanent deacons,who are clergy and most of whom are married. Men may be married before they are ordained and they need their wife’s permission to be ordained. In our diocese ,at least, if there is a civil divorce it is followed by a leave of absence and an annulment.
If they are single when they get ordained they may not marry…

 

[TomH1]

and therefore Uniat)

In your charity could you avoid the term ‘Uniat’. It is a pejorative term mainly employed by the Eastern Orthodox for Eastern Catholic churches. Our fellow Catholics find the term offensive. They are properly referred to as Eastern Catholics.

 

[OddBird]

Thirdly, will the church be responsible for maintaining, housing, social benefits and pensioning of the priest’s wife and family? Or will marriage be the prerogative only of rich priests?

Reformed pastor here. As we have been having married ministers for a while, here is how we deal with it :

In the Reformed churches I know, most ministers’ spouses have to work in order for the couple to make enough to maintain a family. Those where the wife (or, more rarely, the husband) stays home are generally financially struggling and rely on a solidarity system (here, ministers who make a reasonable income financially help those who are less fortunate via a contribution and redistribution system).

Pastors’ salaries are not paid by the parish but by the central synod.

We have a pensioning system (via a pension organism with no link to any church).

Rectories are generally put on disposition by the parishes, but nowadays we do have to pay a rent, albeit an advantageous one.

 

[Vico]

In order to get married a man must meet, flirt and date with women. He may have to do this several times before he finds a woman who will have him.

Is this appropriate activity for a priest?
…

Oxford Dictinary definition of flirt, verb:

• behave as though attracted to or trying to attract someone, but for amusement rather than with serious intentions

 

[Maximian]

behave as though attracted to or trying to attract someone, but for amusement rather than with serious intentions

Ok, use whatever word you prefer. Some kind of interaction has to take place which is of a romantic nature.

 

[Maximian]

In your charity could you avoid the term ‘Uniat’. It is a pejorative term mainly employed by the Eastern Orthodox for Eastern Catholic churches. Our fellow Catholics find the term offensive. They are properly referred to as Eastern Catholics.

I had never heard that there waa any pejorative connotation but if there is I’ll use any term you like. I am editing accordingly.

Im interested in the issues, not the terminology.

 

[Maximian]

who go on to become Catholic priests.

Yes but it is possible that the door will be opened to men who are already priests to get married - as anglican ministers do, for example.

 

[Maximian]

In the Reformed churches I know,

Would that include reformed churches which condone contraception? The presumption must be that married priests would not do so, and may have very many children, precluding a salaried wife.

 

[OddBird]

Well, technically yes, but, needless to say, condoning contraception does not mean forcing everyone to contracept. In fact, I have several pastor friends who are explicitly open to life and have already big and still growing families. They manage (ETA : and two of them have wives working part-time).

There is, on the other hand, another factor, the accessibility of childcare. Here in Europe it is relatively easy to access. I have no idea of how it is in the US (assuming this is where you live).

 

[BartholomewB]

That’s an interesting point. If the rumor turns out to be true, and the forthcoming Apostolic Exhortation does in fact allow for married priests, what will be the reaction if, ten or twenty years from now, we see them having no more children than everyone else?

 

[paperwight]

That’s an interesting point. If the rumor turns out to be true, and the forthcoming Apostolic Exhortation does in fact allow for married priests, what will be the reaction if, ten or twenty years from now, we see them having no more children than everyone else?

I. for one will assume that they had had the self-control needed for NFP . And I would also assume that they would find NFP easier because of living n a permanently religious atmosphere ((frequent prayer, saying their Office, celebrating Mass, and so on).

I doubt if their having an average family would cause scandal, anyway. Surely most parishioners are aware that fertility problems can affect any couple?l.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

Surely most parishioners are aware that fertility problems can affect any couple?l.

It’s not even just “fertility problems”. Sexual relations aren’t a huge priority for every couple out there. Some couples make other things the priority. And when two people who feel the same way about that find each other, it can be a beautiful thing.

 

[OddBird]

Surely most parishioners are aware that fertility problems can affect any couple?

This.

But unfortunately it is not always true. As a married but infertile minister, the way some (mostly well-meaning) parishioners interfere is sometimes really intrusive.

Married ministers, or ministers who intend to marry, are warned that they will have to say goodbye to privacy, but I wasn’t expecting it to go that far.

 

[TMC]

In order to get married a man must meet, flirt and date with women. He may have to do this several times before he finds a woman who will have him.

Is this appropriate activity for a priest?

Yes.

10 characters.

 

[VanitasVanitatum]

The problems marriage has the potential to bring and the duties of priest should not mix.

 

[Vico]

Vico:

behave as though attracted to or trying to attract someone, but for amusement rather than with serious intentions

Ok, use whatever word you prefer. Some kind of interaction has to take place which is of a romantic nature.

Yes, Oxford Dictionary: romantic, adjective:

• conducive to or characterized by the expression of love.

 

[PennyinCanada]

I was in an Eastern rite parish that closed a few years back. The parish maintained the church building plus a house on the property. When a parish is full, the bills get paid, but as in many parishes, declining numbers meant we could not pay all the bills and the chancery sold the property. It was double the bills. You can only go so long before a roof needs changing, the furnace and hot water tank needs replacing, the heating for the winter, insurance for the buildings, snow removal for parking, and so on.

Another parish closed before ours, and the chancery said to them ‘If only you had come to us sooner!’ so when we saw the amount of money coming in was not going to cover all the expenses over the course of the year, the chancery was contacted. Their reply was that no money was coming. So the property was sold. Now at this point the mortgage for the house was paid for and not part of the costs.

Imagine a church has declining numbers, maybe it’s tough to find a priest, maybe that parish will have to share a priest with a third parish. Things get spread pretty thin, including cash flow. Priests with wives often have wives with jobs and kids in school so they are not very easily moved around.

In a nutshell, I see declining numbers of families attending church, threats of church closures, and adding a priest with a family seems to be an additional financial burden to a financially stressed system.