What's with our priests?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Rana
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
R

Rana

Guest
I don’t know if you have this in your part of the world but here in Lebanon more and more married men are joining the priesthood. Not because of pious intentions but rather because of economic factors. It is really bothersome, i don’t want to sound old-fashioned or anything but i just don’t feel comfortable around a married priest…something is just not right. However, this is not the issue, the new director of my previous school, a married priest, has just finished remodeling his two-story house! What does the church say about that? Is this permissible?
In my country more and more priests are becoming eager for money, last year when my Grandma died, a bishop and known priests serviced at the mass, each took a great amount of money which totalled to 3,000$, they have each given their prices before coming…i just read an article on Catholic Answers main website about this matter, and how priests take only a few for such masses…apparently not all…
Where are those pious priests of old times?
It is not that there are no good priests in my country, it is just that the unpious are increasing, this is causing great criticism from some of my Muslim friends…i tried to tell them what i read in Catholic Answers, but, unfortunately, reality is much more creadible than theory.
 
Hello Rana,
Which rite do you belong to? Here in the U.S. most of us are Latin Rite, which has only celibate priests.

Perhaps others here can suggest a course of action to take if you have evidence that your bishop is abusing his authority for economic gain.

God bless you,
Paul
 
Thank you Paul for taking the time to answer… answering your question, i am a Roman Catholic.
Yes, i’ve noticed that the Latin Rite does not allow married priests…there is a convent for Fransiscan priests near my home, i love them so…they still wear those brown robes and sandals, they are so pious and kind ( hope it brushes on some roman catholic priests that i know:))…i attend their mass from time to time even though they follow the Latin Rite…I don’t think there is any harm in that, is there?

God Bless,
Rana.
 
I have never heard of preists and bishops doing this. It is sad, they are hurting the church with their actions.

Isn’t the rite in Lebanon the Maronite rite? I think you may be getting a little confused with your terminology. Roman is often used to refer to the latin rite. It is also often used to refer to the entire church in communion with the church at Rome including all rites. Most Lebanese are Maronite rite Catholic. My dad is a Maronite. The Maronites are the only eastern rite that has been in communion with the church in Rome for the entire history of the church. They are named after the saint Maron.

It is fine if you go to a Latin rite mass if you want. You are allowed to go to any rite of the Catholic Church if you want because they are all in communion with eachother. All rites are also equal to eachother.
 
I have never heard of preists and bishops doing this. It is sad, they are hurting the church with their actions.

Isn’t the rite in Lebanon the Maronite rite? I think you may be getting a little confused with your terminology. Roman is often used to refer to the latin rite. It is also often used to refer to the entire church in communion with the church at Rome including all rites. Most Lebanese are Maronite rite Catholic. My dad is a Maronite. The Maronites are the only eastern rite that has been in communion with the church in Rome for the entire history of the church. They are named after the saint Maron.

The word “Roman” was introduced by the reformers to describe the church of Rome. They called all Catholics Roman Catholics, so we are all Roman Catholic, but the Roman Rite is the Latin Rite.

It is fine if you go to a Latin rite mass if you want. You are allowed to go to any rite of the Catholic Church if you want because they are all in communion with eachother. All rites are also equal to eachother.

The Maronite Rite uses the Liturgy of St. James, but I think that it is latinized quite a bit. They are probably the most like the Latin Rite of any of the eastern rites. They use the rosary, devotion to the sacred heart and other things of the latin rite.

The Maronites have always been very orthodox in their teachings.
 
40.png
jimmy:
The Maronite Rite uses the Liturgy of St. James, but I think that it is latinized quite a bit. They are probably the most like the Latin Rite of any of the eastern rites. They use the rosary, devotion to the sacred heart and other things of the latin rite.

The Maronites have always been very orthodox in their teachings.
Click to expand...
Just this morning I was reading The Liturgy of Saint James in The Mass of the Early Christians by Mike Aquilina. That book is blowing my mind. Anyway, the liturgy, is very beautiful. I would like to get the chance to attend a Maronite Rite mass someday.
 
40.png
PaulDupre:
Just this morning I was reading The Liturgy of Saint James in The Mass of the Early Christians by Mike Aquilina. That book is blowing my mind. Anyway, the liturgy, is very beautiful. I would like to get the chance to attend a Maronite Rite mass someday.
Click to expand...
My dad is Maronite but he goes to a Latin Rite church, so I have never attended there liturgy, but I have heard it is beautiful. I think they are very into there culture. The mothers like to cook alot and stuff. They have good food too.

I would like to attend there liturgy also, I never attended an eastern rite liturgy until about a month ago I attended a Byzantine Liturgy.

I have wanted to read that book by Aquilina along with Scott Hahn’s book “The Lambs Supper”. I would like to learn about it.

Some of what I said earlier may be wrong. It is disputed about there history. They may not have always been orthodox in teaching. The history is unknown somewhat.
 
Hello Jimmy, it is true that most Christians in Lebanon are Moronites, however, i am not (my mom is)…my father’s family follow the Byzantine Rite(Greek Catholic)…Hope i got it right this time 🙂

Since mom is very influencial we attend the maronite mass to celebrate major occasions such as Easter, Christmas, Palm Sunday,etc…regular sunday masses are left for dad’s 🙂
Actually i am more comfortable attending a maronite mass since it is the official rite of the country and it is taught and practiced in all Catholic Schools, so i am more familiar with it…they use siriani as a second language in mass along with the native tongue (arabic)…
The maronites are truly devoted to Mary and the sacred heart …two months ago a miracle happened in one of the villages…the statue of Mary moved, she started opening and closing her eyes, many saw her, she even healed a cripple, and a muslim boy…
Actually miracles of the sort happen almost yearly…whether it is true or not, it is all about faith…

It is true that women cook and stuff…actually for every occasion we do special dishes, especially in St.Barbara’s day (here it is considered as Halloween in the US, children wear masks and go from door to door to trick-or-treat)
 
More specifically i follow the Melkite Catholic Church with a Byzantine Rite…i am positive about the terminology this time:D
And if you would like to attend a mass of byzantine liturgy in the U.S…you can find addresses through this website
opuslibani.org.lb/newdioceses/ant/index.htm
 
Actually married priests are allowed in THE Byzantine rite.

I don’t know about the Maronites though.
 
Christ is in our midst! He is and He always will be!
40.png
Rana:
More specifically i follow the Melkite Catholic Church with a Byzantine Rite…i am positive about the terminology this time:D
And if you would like to attend a mass of byzantine liturgy in the U.S…you can find addresses through this website
opuslibani.org.lb/newdioceses/ant/index.htm
Click to expand...
Rana,

Yes, the Melkite Church allows married priests. My experience as a Melite deacon in the United States (well, actually I’m bi-ritual – Latin and Melkite) tells me that about 1/3 of the priests in Lebanon are married. There are a large number of religious priests (Basilians) there as well. My previous and current bishops are both from Lebanon.

The Church permits priests to maintain a standard of living that is consistent with that of the people the priest serves. It shouldn’t be better or worse.

I have also experienced a reality that when a bishop comes to your parish, he does expect a donation, part of which defrays his cost of coming there. Take heart, however, even St. John Chrysostom complained about his clergy acting as yours do today. It’s nothing new, even though it’s sad and hard to explain to Muslims.

But there are very good priests such as Fr. Elias Chakour who is curently in Israel or Fr. Frias Khoury-Diab in Palestine.

Deacon Ed
 
I want to add something to Rana’s use of “Roman Catholic.” As i understand it, in the Middle East (and elsewhere) members of the Latin Rite are Latin Catholics. Roman does not refer to such Christians. Roman refers to the second Rome, Constantinople, thus one can here of Melkite Greek Catholics called Roman Catholics, and Antiochians Orthodox called Roman Orthodox. If one is in Turkey, “Roman Catholic Church” refers to the Greek Orthodox Church (since Christians in the Byzantine Empire were called Roman Catholics for centuries). “Roman Catholic” used to refer to Latin Rite Catholics is a misnomer, especially for those from Milan, Italy, Braga Protugal, Dominicans, Carthusians, Mozarabs (who still use that usage) or others who belong to the same Church, but may not use the Roman Rite (and in this era in which National Bishop Conferences can prescribe this or that in the Liturgy, it is not really the Roman Rite outside of the ancient and God-saved city of Rome).

In Christ,
Adam
 
40.png
akemner:
I want to add something to Rana’s use of “Roman Catholic.” As i understand it, in the Middle East (and elsewhere) members of the Latin Rite are Latin Catholics. Roman does not refer to such Christians. Roman refers to the second Rome, Constantinople, thus one can here of Melkite Greek Catholics called Roman Catholics, and Antiochians Orthodox called Roman Orthodox. If one is in Turkey, “Roman Catholic Church” refers to the Greek Orthodox Church (since Christians in the Byzantine Empire were called Roman Catholics for centuries). “Roman Catholic” used to refer to Latin Rite Catholics is a misnomer, especially for those from Milan, Italy, Braga Protugal, Dominicans, Carthusians, Mozarabs (who still use that usage) or others who belong to the same Church, but may not use the Roman Rite (and in this era in which National Bishop Conferences can prescribe this or that in the Liturgy, it is not really the Roman Rite outside of the ancient and God-saved city of Rome).

In Christ,
Adam
Click to expand...
Adam,

You are correct. Most Melkites will say they are “Roman Catholic” which is a direct translation of the Arabic, but the word “Rome” does, indeed, refer to Constantinople – the New Rome.

Deacon Ed
 
We had a great Melkite priest named Fr. Barum in our diocese, he was called an Archmandrake. He passed away some time ago and we miss him. He gave some great talks.

God bless…
Deacon Tony SFO
 
Deacon Tony560:
We had a great Melkite priest named Fr. Barum in our diocese, he was called an Archmandrake. He passed away some time ago and we miss him. He gave some great talks.

God bless…
Deacon Tony SFO
Click to expand...
Deacon Tony,

You must be referring to Archimandrite Stephen Barham. He fell asleep in the Lord in 2000 if I recall correctly.

Deacon Ed
 
Sorry about the spelling. Yes, that was him. He was a great speaker and continued in ministry dispite many physical set backs. We miss him.
God Bless
Deacon Tony SFO
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top