Reply to Rogue Pope

Forum Index » Religion

Reply to "Rogue Pope"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]There are married Roman Catholic priests now - the CC welcomed episcopal and anglican priests who were already married who wanted to move over to RC[/quote]

This is correct, although the men involved were (re)ordained because the Church does not recognize Anglican/Episcopal ordination.

There also are (and have been from the beginning) Eastern Rite (Byzantine) priests who are married.

Celibacy in the Latin Church is a discipline/traditional practice. It is not integral to the priesthood. Chastity as an Evangelical Counsel/religious vow is, however, integral to that state of life.

The Church continues to discuss allowing diocesan (secular/non-order) priests to marry. The most recent proposal was to ordain “viri selecti” (selected, older men) in remote areas where the regular priests rarely visit. As far as I know, that hasn’t gone anywhere. There are rare historical examples of mature married men being ordained by dispensation with the consent of their wives and an agreement to live separately, but those don’t provide much of an experiential database. The “sheep dipped” Anglicans/Episcopals probably will provide more over time.

Whether a married Latin priesthood would be helpful, neutral, or even harmful is an open question. It probably would swell the ranks at least initially (after the required time for selection and training). But the relative quality of men likely to be recruited might vary. The first probably would come from the ranks of Permanent Deacons, who are a mixed bag and typically older than the current ordinands. The Latin Church also has no tradition of priest’s wives, who face unique challenges.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics