Mrs. Longenecker has an inadvertently ironic news headline clipped out and stuck to the fridge. It comes from a Catholic paper and says, “Married clergy Argue for Celibacy from Personal Experience”.
As a married former Anglican priest who is now a Catholic I sometimes hear Catholics say things like, “Excellent, and it’s about time too! I hope all our priests could marry. That would solve a lot of the problems.”
What they mean is that relaxing the celibacy rule will solve the priest shortage, solve the problems of pedophile priests, solve the problem of loneliness and ‘difficult’ celibate priests.
I can tell you from being in a church with married clergy that you would only exchange one set of problems for another. Here’s a story from England about a married priest who ran off with his female assistant. I am not relishing the problems outlined in this article, nor am I tut tutting and pointing the finger at the Anglicans.
I’m simply pointing out that having married clergy would not necessarily solve any problems.
Marriage has problems too. It was all best summed up by an old Irish priest I met in England. “What do you think Father,” I said, “About all of us married men becoming Catholic priests?”
“Well,” he said with a twinkle in his eye, “I expect sometimes we’ll be jealous of you…and then again, I expect sometimes you’ll be jealous of us.”
HA! A funny little jab that he gave you there :)Fr. D. What do you foresee happening if the East reunites with West? I know that the Orthodox priests can marry, and I have heard that they would want to retain such a thing… possible?-g-
Sweet, sweet little elephants grazing amongst the land, where for art thou trunks, in the parched sand?MAN!Figure out this riddle, leave your answer on our Tekeme blog and enter to WIN a free blog design:i sropmie ot opst laktngi butoa hnastplee!In Christ,Ashley
The trouble always starts when priests start riding motorcycles. Celibate or married, the real culprit must be motorcycles.http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/3443251/Swinging-biker-vicar-punished-after-parishioners-complain-about-her-wild-ways.html
@George Weis:I’m not Fr. Longenecker, but I think I can answer your question on his behalf. Though, if I’m wrong on any of the details, I certainly don’t claim to speak for him and ask his correction. :)Priests in the Orthodox churches cannot marry, but married men may receive the Sacrament of Holy Orders. Put differently, once married, a man may become a priest; but once a priest, he cannot marry. (Hence, a priest whose wife dies cannot remarry.)Incidentally, in order to be a bishop, one must be celibate. There is also a prescribed period of continence before celebration of the Divine Liturgy for married priests, though I’m not sure how many days it lasts.In any case, the Eastern Catholic Churches have the same disciplinary guidelines with respect to married priests, at least to my knowledge. In the event that the Orthodox were reunited with Rome, I assume they would be able to retain those practices as well.
I love that headline Mrs. L has on the fridge. :)George Weis, when the Orthodox and Catholic Churches were united, the East had its own rules for married priests and West had their own rules. They were united in doctrine but didn’t have to be united in discipline. Even today the Eastern Catholic Churches have their own rules about married priests, following the practice of hte Orthodox Churches instead of the Latin Rite Catholic Church.
An Episcopalian couple I know were on the search committee for a new pastor, after their priest and his wife had a bitter divorce that divided their church (“his” side and “her” side). They interviewed potential pastors AND their wives, stressing how important it was for their congregation to get a happily married couple. The priest they hired seemed perfect, a happily married man with a couple of teenage boys.Less than a year after the family moved to the church, the priest’s wife left him for someone at the old church, whom she’d been having an affair with for years. I’m not saying it’s typical by any means — but imagine!!!
Hey, thanks for clearing that up folks!-g-