Why should the Roman Catholic Church be made to allow married priests when other Catholic Churches already do?

[namax91]

If some Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches allow married priests, why is there so much pressure for the Roman Church to allow the same thing? Are people just unaware that there are other Churches that are in full communion with Rome?

 

[AnnArbor]

I’m not sure what the correlation is. Can you expand on it? Also, there are married Latin-rite Catholic priests.

 

[namax91]

I’m not sure what the correlation is.

I’m saying that if a married person wants to be a priest, why can’t he just get ordained in an Eastern-rite Church? Why would he need to wait for the Roman Church to let him be ordained?

 

[Tarpeian_Rock]

If some Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches allow married priests, why is there so much pressure for the Roman Church to allow the same thing? Are people just unaware that there are other Churches that are in full communion with Rome?

Who is “making it?” And one doesn’t change rites out of convenience.

 

[crumblymunky]

Its incredibly difficult to obtain a canonical rite change if there are Roman parishes you could go to, and you can’t be ordained an Eastern priest without being Eastern rite.

 

[ProVobis]

Also, there are married Latin-rite Catholic priests.

This is true. However, it seems most, if not all of them, have come from Protestant ministry, where it was perhaps felt they already had had sufficient seminary (and other types of) formation necessary for the Catholic priesthood.

 

[GEddie]

No-one is going to “make” the Roman Church rescind priestly celibacy; no-one has authority to do so.

If that happens it would be because the Pope decided that was what the Church needed.

But it won’t happen because of a smaller clergy, nor because some in the sinners’ seats are uncomfortable with some men giving up marriage for the sake of the Church. I.e., nobody should hold their breath waiting for that change.

ICXC NIKA.

 

[pianistclare]

This is true. However, it seems most, if not all of them, have come from Protestant ministry, where it was perhaps felt they already had had sufficient seminary (and other types of) formation necessary for the Catholic priesthood.

Protestant Ministry?
Don’t you mean Anglican?

 

[ProVobis]

Protestant Ministry?
Don’t you mean Anglican?

Some Lutherans too, I believe.

 

[commenter]

No-one is going to “make” the Roman Church rescind priestly celibacy; no-one has authority to do so.

If that happens it would be because the Pope decided that was what the Church needed.

But it won’t happen because of a smaller clergy, nor because some in the sinners’ seats are uncomfortable with some men giving up marriage for the sake of the Church. I.e., nobody should hold their breath waiting for that change.

ICXC NIKA.

in the sinners’ seats?

 

[janeway529]

If some Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches allow married priests, why is there so much pressure for the Roman Church to allow the same thing? Are people just unaware that there are other Churches that are in full communion with Rome?

Your second question is pretty much the answer to your first question.

 

[Gorgias]

I’m saying that if a married person wants to be a priest, why can’t he just get ordained in an Eastern-rite Church?

Because he’s not a member of an Eastern Rite Church, but rather, is a member of the Latin Church.

Why would he need to wait for the Roman Church to let him be ordained?

Again, because he’s a member of the Latin Church, and that is not the normative practice of the Latin Church.

Also, it’d be a pretty long wait. As in “till death do you part.” Just sayin’…

 

[SMHW]

I’m saying that if a married person wants to be a priest, why can’t he just get ordained in an Eastern-rite Church? Why would he need to wait for the Roman Church to let him be ordained?

Are you suggesting it is a simple matter to change your ritual Church?

 

[LoyalViews]

When someone asks me why I’m forfeiting marriage to become a priest, they’ll often explain to me why they think a priest should be able to marry. I’m usually told it’ll make priests happier, less lonely, and curb the abuse crisis and give a friendlier image to the Church. I think it’s a lack of catechesis on the nature of the Holy Orders.

I just say that it’s in the job description. We know what we’re doing, and God’s will is superior to that of my imagination. If I’m called to marriage, I’ll be married. If I’m caused to priesthood, I’ll be a priest.

 

[babochka]

Its incredibly difficult to obtain a canonical rite change if there are Roman parishes you could go to, and you can’t be ordained an Eastern priest without being Eastern rite.

Really, it isn’t. West to East is pretty easy. My own bishop has told me that he pretty much rubber-stamps them. Now, getting ordained as a married man after such a transfer is another story, but perhaps not as difficult as it used to be.

 

[Gorgias]

I’m saying that if a married person wants to be a priest, why can’t he just get ordained in an Eastern-rite Church?

Just curious:

Are you asking why a Latin Rite Catholic might not leave his Rite in order to be ordained so as to function as a priest in an Eastern Rite Church? Or, are you asking why a person might not leave his Rite, get ordained in an Easter Rite Church, and then attempt to function as a priest in the Latin Rite Church?

 

[JimmyM]

Peter Hitchens, an English journalist and author, argues in this blog post, and I agree with him, that the ‘campaigns to feminise various highly important and symbolic jobs are far more to do with annoying people who do have objections to this dogmatic equality, and with dethroning older ideas and conventions, than they are to do with female equality’.

 

[Matt_Collins]

I’m usually told it’ll … curb the abuse crisis. I think it’s a lack of catechesis on the nature of the Holy Orders.

Anyone who believes it’ll curb the abuse crisis does not pay attention to the news. To my knowledge, protestant ministers, teachers, and boy scout leaders can all be married, and they all are known to abuse children at the same or greater rate than celibate priests.

 

[Matt_Collins]

I attend an Anglican Use parish of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter. Our pastor is a married former Anglican priest who converted to Catholicism without any assurance he would be able to be ordained in the Catholic Church, and for 5 years was a Catholic layman until Pope Francis granted his petition to be ordained. That was about 18 months ago. He and his wife are expecting their 8th child. He is an exemplary priest. Were that all priests were as dedicated, well formed, and apostolic as he.

I have nothing against the idea of married priests in concept, and this pastor is an example of what a good married priest would be like. However, seeing how this works in practice, I recognize that there are very significant downsides to having a married clergy:

1. At least in my pastor’s case, he has to work in a second full-time job (the job he had before he was ordained a Catholic priest) to make enough money to support his family.
2. Because of that, and because his wife and children need their husband/father at home, too, he simply is not as available to the apostolate as a celibate priest would be. This is not to put him down. It is a simple fact.
3. His wife and kids simply don’t get to see him nearly as much as they would like. He simply doesn’t have the time to do what ordinary fathers do with their families, like attend dance recitals, go on weekend camping trips, attend little league baseball games, school plays, etc.
4. He never gets a break.
5. While the parishioners try to protect his wife from extra duties, the simple reality is that when no one signs up to run the coffee hour, or to run the “whatever”, it falls on her.
6. His wife and children are always “on” and expected to be perfect, when in fact they are just ordinary people themselves, with all their strengths and weaknesses. Along with this, their family has significantly less privacy than ordinary families.
7. Without his additional job, it would be a significant financial burden on the parish to provide adequate support for him and his family. His kids need to be educated, too. They need college tuition, too. They need health insurance, too.
8. If his wife or child has an emergency at the same time as he has to say Mass or hear confessions, or even an extended emergency such as a hospitalization, there is no one to step in to cover him at the parish. While this is true for any priest, the fact is that in our pastor’s case, it is 9 times more likely to occur.

So if the Latin Rite decides to go down this path in a more complete way than it already has, then we’ll need to:

1. Commit to providing a real salary to married priests with families. Far more than they get now. Enough that they don’t have to work a second job. That means that we’re all going to have to pony up a whole lot more than we currently do in the Sunday collection.
2. Develop a new model of how a parish can be run. Sacraments and theology by the priest, roofing contracts by the laity.
3. Figure out how we’re going to handle the inevitable divorces among priests. We’d better not deceive ourselves into thinking that it really doesn’t matter that he’s a divorced priest. It does.
4. Consider that the vocation to both marriage and the priesthood implies that the wife has an integral part in supporting her husband’s ministry. What does that mean? Is being a priest’s wife a vocation in itself? How will we support and train these wives?
5. Find ways of allowing priests adequate time off to attend to their families, especially during emergencies.

So I’m not completely opposed to widening the use of a married priesthood in the Latin Rite, if we do this, we have to do it very carefully and thoughtfully. It’s not a win-win situation. There are signficant drawbacks, both on a practical level and on a theological level. If we do allowed married priests, we should look to our Eastern Rite Catholic brothers and sisters to learn how this can be done, rather than to Protestant churches. Protestant ministers don’t have the same theology regarding either marriage or ministry, so they are NOT adequate role models for us.

 

[ByzCathCantor]

If we do allowed married priests, we should look to our Eastern Rite Catholic brothers and sisters to learn how this can be done, rather than to Protestant churches.

Matt, I was particularly struck by the account you gave of your pastor. Your testimony was stunningly similar to many I have heard or read of married priests in Catholic ministry. The additional sacrifices made by the pastor, his wife and his entire family are both real and significant. I grew up in a parish with a married priest and family, at a time when this was not the norm for my own particular Eastern Catholic church in the USA. I could easily provide a similar account (though perhaps not as eloquently as you managed).

Now that Pope Francis has recently removed the restriction on married clergy in the Eastern & Oriental Churches outside their original canonical territories, some such particular churches will need to address these issues in modern context after having been served almost entirely by a celibate clergy in recent generations.

I agree that looking to the Protestant churches as a model should not be done for reasons noted. However, I would emphasize that we as Catholics still need to better understand and help mitigate the challenges faced by ministering married clergy even in the particular Catholic churches where that discipline is accepted but has not been practiced or permitted for some time.