Why is it that Ukrainian Catholic priests can get married?

[sidetrack]

I’m not totally sure if the Ukrainian Catholic Church would be a branch of Eastern Catholicism but just to say me thinking it is a denomination of Eastern Catholicism is why I’m putting this here.I’ve heard that Ukrainian Catholic priests can get married unless they would like to rise to the rank of bishop.Is this true?.If so what historical reasons and other kinds of reasons are there for this?.Thnak you very much so for your time.

 

[ciero]

I’m not totally sure if the Ukrainian Catholic Church would be a branch of Eastern Catholicism but just to say me thinking it is a denomination of Eastern Catholicism is why I’m putting this here.I’ve heard that Ukrainian Catholic priests can get married unless they would like to rise to the rank of bishop.Is this true?.If so what historical reasons and other kinds of reasons are there for this?.Thnak you very much so for your time.

All Eastern Catholic priests can be married. Let me re phrase the question for you. Why is it Latin priests can NOT be married? A married priesthood was the universal custom of the church for almost 1000 years.

As far as the bishops go…bishops are chosen from among the monastics, not from a group of celibate priests who want to be bishops.

 

[Patchunky]

.I’ve heard that Ukrainian Catholic priests can get married unless they would like to rise to the rank of bishop.Is this true?.

No, Ukrainian Catholic priests cannot get married, HOWEVER, Ukrainian Catholics along with many other Eastern Catholic churches ordain married men to the Holy Priesthood. There is a big difference.

Bishops are chosen from among the celebate clergy.

Hope this helps…

 

[LoyalViews]

Why is it Latin priests can NOT be married? A married priesthood was the universal custom of the church for almost 1000 years.

You’re just drooling for someone to respond, right?

 

[ciero]

You’re just drooling for someone to respond, right?

Questions like this one always make me laugh…if they only know a bit of history or even read wikipedia to get an idea of what they are talking about. Its always the Easterners who are the weirdos.

 

[Hesychios]

Hi Ciero,

Questions like this one always make me laugh…if they only know a bit of history or even read wikipedia to get an idea of what they are talking about. Its always the Easterners who are the weirdos.

In general I am in agreement.

However I am pretty sure that some synods of the western churches began to restrict optional celibacy during the first millennium. It is clear that these were regional synods meeting in local councils, and mandating celibacy not for the entire church but for the jurisdictions they represented. This practice was creeping across the west for centuries.

So one cannot say that the practice of ordaining married men was universal for the entire 1000 years. But I think one could make a strong argument that was the practice universally in the first several centuries, and (probably) in parts of the western church even out into the eight century or later.

 

[ciero]

Hi Ciero,
In general I am in agreement.

However I am pretty sure that some synods of the western churches began to restrict optional celibacy during the first millennium. It is clear that these were regional synods meeting in local councils, and mandating celibacy not for the entire church but for the jurisdictions they represented. This practice was creeping across the west for centuries.

So one cannot say that the practice of ordaining married men was universal for the entire 1000 years. But I think one could make a strong argument that was the practice universally in the first several centuries, and (probably) in parts of the western church even out into the eight century or later.

Married priests in Scandinavia into the 1300’s as well as other places. Even though bishops started to outlaw the married priesthood in the West it died hard. Many places the priest was still secretly married.

 

[Hesychios]

Married priests in Scandinavia into the 1300’s as well as other places. Even though bishops started to outlaw the married priesthood in the West it died hard. Many places the priest was still secretly married.

I didn’t know about Scandinavia, but yes, that is true. The married priesthood died hard in the west.

And some synods were calling for clerical celibacy years after it had already been called in those particular areas, which indicates that it was not being followed. Bishops were still ordaining married men generations later.

 

[Diak]

Even in the time of Chaucer there were married parish priests in England (his “Reeve’s Tale” is a satirical look at a priest and his daughter preparing for her marriage). Odo Rigaldus, bishop of Rouen as late as the thirteenth century in France witnesses that a “not insignificant” number of parish priests were not celibate at that late date. Ordericus Vitalis, who wrote an important ecclesiastical history in the twelfth century, was himself the son of a village priest. Henry, Archdeacon of Huntingdon was also the son of a priest and wrote the Historia Anglorum in the mid-twelfth century.

No, Ukrainian Catholic priests cannot get married, HOWEVER, Ukrainian Catholics along with many other Eastern Catholic churches ordain married men to the Holy Priesthood. There is a big difference.

Bishops are chosen from among the celebate clergy.

Mark makes an excellent clarification here; a married UGCC man may be ordained priest but priests cannot be married after ordination. When one is ordained to major orders, namely diaconate, his state is fixed at that point, whether married or celibate.

 

[Halyna]

NO! Ukrainian priests cannot marry. However, a married man (once he IS married) can become a priest.
I knew a married priest and he told me that after Seminary they had so much time that if they wanted to get married (this one had a high-school sweet heart) they could up to a certain time before ordination.
I am also close with a particular family whose father was a Ukrainian priest.
My home church now has a priest with a family.

Here’s what I was always taught: Unlike Roman Catholics where the diocese and ‘Rome’ provided for the needs of their priests, the Eastern Rite was not so fortunate. The Holy Father did not provide a means of income. So, in the old country, when a priest was given a church, there was usually some land around the church (a farm) for that priest to support himself. And for the sake of necessity & survival he would have a family who would work the land and help support not only the family but the church as well.
Then too, in the old country, unlike in the US, a priest would travel from village to village to administer the sacraments, to have Divine Liturgy (which often times were at a person’s home or even outdoors in the fields - especially the underground church), to bury the dead, to baptize (what is why when a baby was born, the father would immediately baptize the child until the priest could come), etc.

I for one am ALL FOR MARRIED PRIESTS (that is again, a married man becomes a priest, but once he is a priest he cannot marry). Have you ever confessed to a married priest? A world of difference with one who understands our every day lives as to one who tries to understand our every day lives.

 

[ByzKat]

Even in the time of Chaucer there were married parish priests in England (his “Reeve’s Tale” is a satirical look at a priest and his daughter preparing for her marriage).

Father Deacon,

Take another look at the Reeve’s Tale. The priest’s daughter is illegitimate; there is no mention of her mother, she was raised in a nunnery, and is described as “somdel smoterlick” (somewhat sullied). The priest gave rich gifts to the miller to convince him to join their two families, even though the daughter is described of coming from “noble kin.”

There is no evidence here for a married priest - quite the contrary.

 

[adrift]

Celibacy of the Clergy

 

[The_Idiot]

Celibacy of the Clergy

with deference - what does that article have to do with the topic under discussion ?

The question was about Married Ukrainian Catholic priests - and that IS allowed .

 

[Patchunky]

This may be of some help…

youtu.be/FgjC2BXB5p8

 

[adrift]

with deference - what does that article have to do with the topic under discussion ?

The question was about Married Ukrainian Catholic priests - and that IS allowed .

Did you read the link?

 

[The_Idiot]

I did indeed and the final paragraph was really the only one that applies to the Ukrainian Catholic Church and it is of some antiquity .

The fact remains that providing the candidate for Ordination to the Deaconate has to be either married or celibate , and he has to make that decision for himself .

What his marital state is before he is ordained he has to stay in that state - it cannot be changed following Ordination to the Deaconate. This will also apply should he , following ordination to the Deaconate , be subsequently be ordained Priest.

I’m tired of seeing people posting questions regarding the Married Priesthood which are badly phrased and imply that priests may marry after ordination

 

[5Loaves]

From Celibacy in Context by Hieromonk Maximos:

It seems that the one thing everyone knows about the Eastern Churches is that “they have married priests.” Unfortunately, this often seems to be the only thing many people know about Eastern Christianity. What does not seem to be widely understood is that the Eastern Churches have very distinct theological, liturgical, and spiritual cultures in which the practice of ordaining married men to the priesthood (but not to the episcopate) must be understood.… In the Eastern Christian tradition celibacy is associated not with the priesthood but with monasticism. Most Eastern Christians expect their parish clergy to be married family men. …Eastern Christianity insists that both marriage and celibacy are necessary for a healthy Church. Eastern Christians do not see these two vocations as opposed to each other. They would regard it as suicidal to abandon clerical celibacy in such a way as to imply that the principle of celibacy no longer has any value. …

Please read the full article here.

(When this was written the monks were under the Ruthenian Eparchy of Van Nuys. They have since come under Eparch of the Romanian Catholic Eparchy of St. George in Canton.)

 

[5Loaves]

I’m not totally sure if the Ukrainian Catholic Church would be a branch of Eastern Catholicism but just to say me thinking it is **a denomination of Eastern Catholicism **is why I’m putting this here.

Just to clarify since you say you are unsure, no the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church isn’t “a branch of Eastern Catholicism” nor “a denomination of Eastern Catholicism”. Our Eastern Catholic Churches are each Catholic Churches, just as the Latin Church is a Catholic Church (which celebrates the Roman Rite, Ordinary Form and Extraordinary Form, in most but not all cases). The Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church like our other Churches is an autonomous, sui iuris self-governing, particular church in full communion with the Pope of Rome.

We are, except for the Maronites, Orthodox Churches which are in communion with Rome, and a married parish priesthood is our norm, with the compliment, as Fr. Maximos so well describes it, of those who have a monastic and celibate vocation.

JP2 Orientale Lumen…the Second Vatican Council has urged them [Eastern Catholic Churches] to rediscover their full identity, because they have "the right and the duty to govern themselves according to their own special disciplines… venerable and ancient tradition of the Eastern Churches … an integral part of the heritage of Christ’s Church

.

 

[watchot]

I admire what you have done here.
Watch The Big Year Online Free

 

[Vico]

All Eastern Catholic priests can be married. Let me re phrase the question for you. Why is it Latin priests can NOT be married? A married priesthood was the universal custom of the church for almost 1000 years.

As far as the bishops go…bishops are chosen from among the monastics, not from a group of celibate priests who want to be bishops.

Surely there were and are married priests, it was only marriage after orders that was prohibited by the Council of Nicea. Conjugal relations of married clergy is another matter. It goes back at least to the Decretals of Pope Siricius (385 A.D.)

christendom-awake.org/pages/mcgovern/celhist1.html