One can continue working as a Catholic priest with his wife and children by his side. Just do it! don’t wait for Rome. It has happened through many centuries…people will start to believe, will live what they believe…finally Rome will accept what the people have already believed for many many years!
If you want to visit: http://maltesemarriedcatholicpriest.bravehost.com
There are many married Roman Catholic men who have a calling to the priesthood. Because of the stance of the Roman Church this leaves the man with only one of two choices; he can either ignore the calling to priesthood and feel unfulfilled or he can leave the Roman Church and turn to a Catholic tradition that does all married men to become priests. Neither one of these or truly acceptable answers but one that must be made none the less.
Many men are turning to alternatives of worship such as the Anglican churches, the Orthodox churches, or lesser known communities such as the Polish National Catholic Church (PNCC) or Old Catholic Church (OCC). All of these church’s ordinations and sacraments are considered “valid” by the Roman church but are not in full communion with Roman. Each of these options have other issues that must be addressed as to where their theology differs from Rome. And each man must make the decision individually based upon his beliefs.
Many of the alternatives to the Roman rules regarding celibacy base their ideas upon the writings of the early church fathers and letters that were written by St. Paul. Celibacy is a calling by God and is as special as the call to marriage. Neither should ever be forced upon a man, they are both special vocations that the Lord has seen to bestow upon a man.
So then why should Rome be so adamant about forcing men to be celibate? One must look back into history to understand the reasons. In the early church married men were allowed to priest and even bishops. However as time progressed into the middle ages it became very difficult for Rome to maintain separation of the man’s property and the church’s property. As a result many priest and bishops became quite rich and were passing these riches on to their children. Additionally many of the children of the priest’s and bishop’s children were availing themselves to Holy Orders simply to inherit their father’s position and wealth. In order to gain control of this, Rome issued a decree (I can’t remember which) that all priests and bishops were to be celibate (not married or widowed as well as without children). This prevented children from inheriting their father’s wealth, prestige and position of power in the church and in the community.
Today some of these rules have changed some what. widowed men may now enter the priesthood and married men may be ordained Deacons. The question is will the church ever continue this transformation? Not under the leadership of the current Pope and that of the college of cardinals. Maybe sometime in the far future we may see something along these lines but not now. And this is a shame. The Roman church is not only losing good priests but many good men as well.
I have made my choice and I am leaving the Roman church, the Church that I grew up in to convert to the OCC so that I can maintain my Catholic traditions as well ordination to the priesthood. I am married and have raised two wonderful daughters. I believe that I have much to offer as a priest and therefore I must make this change in my life. Some would ask me why don’t I just become a deacon in the Roman church? The answer is simple; I am called to offer the sacraments, all of them (except of course Holy Orders).
I hope that others in this community will answer this blog with their comments, feeling, desires, motivations and decisions. I look forward to reading them.
Keith Thompson
Why am I advocating the Roman Catholic Church adopts the discipline of the Orthodox Church regarding clerical celibacy? The reasons are complex and it would take a long thesis to explain them fully, but I will try to summarize them in a few short paragraphs.
God is calling married men to be priests. No profound powers of discernment are needed to know this. The evidence is all around us. So why are our Roman Catholic bishops ignoring God and failing to provide seminary training for married men as well as for single men?
It seems to me our bishops have a blind spot and don’t hear that God is calling married men to be priests.
I believe Pope Paul VI pointed the Church in the right direction to deal with this problem.
“What are the Church’s greatest needs at the present time?”, asked Pope Paul VI at a General Audience November 15, 1972. “Don’t be surprised at our answer and don’t write it off as simplistic or even superstitious: one of the Church’s greatest needs is to be defended against the evil we call the Devil.”
The Pope went on to say, “It is a departure from the picture provided by biblical Church teaching to refuse to acknowledge the Devil’s existence.”
Earlier in the year during a sermon at St. Peter’s Pope Paul warned that “the smoke of Satan has entered the temple of God through a fissure in the Church.”
Not surprisingly, the Pope was howled down for blaming problems in the Church on the Devil.
I don’t want to argue for the existence of the Devil which is a matter of faith and Church teaching. Renunciation of Satan has been an important part of our Catholic baptismal vows from the very earliest days of the Church.
The war between good and evil is taking place all around us all of the time and will continue until the end of time. The Church is one of the main battlegrounds where this war takes place.
If we are not hearing God and not being obedient to God, then we leave an area of darkness between ourselves and God. In this darkness dwells the force of evil Pope Paul was talking about.
God is calling married men to be priests. By not submitting to God’s will, the Church’s bishops are exposing the Church to this personal force of evil, the Devil.
Opening the priesthood to married men as well as to single men is the only way this particular problem is going to be solved.
Adopting the discipline of the Orthodox Church with regard to celibacy and the priesthood seems to me the easiest way for the Latin Rite Church to solve the problem.
Graham Briscombe