Calls from Bishops, Priests and Laity Worldwide for Optional Celibacy
Jesuits Call for Married Priests.
The May 4,2009 issue of the Jesuit weekly America openly called for the “recruitment and training of married men”
as priests, ordaining permanent deacons to the priesthood, and welcoming back married priests.
http://www.americamagazine.org/content/article.cfm?article_id=11620
Cardinal Egan Says Optional Celibacy is “Legitimate Discussion.”
In March, 2009 New York’s Cardinal Egan said he believed optional celibacy would be coming up for discussion by
the church's hierarchy: “I think it is a perfectly legitimate discussion” (Catholic News Service and New York Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/22/nyregion/22egan.html
Brazilian Priests Petition For Celibacy Change. A national group representing 18,000 Brazilian priests approved a petition asking Pope Benedict XVI to change the celibacy law. The petition asks that bishops be allowed to ordain married men they consider worthy of priesthood, and to welcome back priests who left the active ministry to marry. According to media reports, the petition was sent to the Vatican's Congregation for the Clergy. (www.adnkronos.com)
Austrian Bishop, Priests Lobby for Married Priesthood. An Austrian group called Priest’s Initiative is intensifying its lobbying for ordination of married men and the return of priests who left the active ministry to marry. The group, comprised of more than 300 priests, points to a severe shortage saying one priest is often responsible for three or more parishes. Meanwhile, Bishop Helmut Kratzl, of Vienna has published a new book called A Church With a Future that calls for an end to mandatory celibacy saying celibacy is the reason for the drastic fall in vocations. (The Tablet 1/12/08)
Over 16,000 Aussies Petition for Married, Women Priests. In 2007, a petition designed by a group of lay and religious leaders in Australia generated over 16,000 signatures in just three months. The petition calls on the Australian Catholic Bishops to collectively discuss the possibility of ordination of married men and, separately, the ordination of women. The petitioners contextualized their call within the growing crisis of a lack of priests in many parts of Australia. More information is available at http://www.catholica.com.au/
New President of German Bishops Supports Optional Celibacy.
In 2008, in a surprising vote, Robert Zollitsch, the Archbishop of Freiburg, was elected the new president
of the German Bishops' Conference. Considered a liberal, Zollitsch advocated easing the celibacy requirement
for priests. In an interview published in Der Spiegel, Zollitsch said that celibacy was a "gift,"
but not essential.
(www.dw-world.de)
Dutch Dominicans: Eucharist Primary. At their June 2005 provincial chapter, Dominicans in Holland formed a committee of experts to study “whether celebrating the Eucharist depends on the ministry of ordained men, or whether it is possible that the Church community it has appointed, celebrate the Eucharist themselves.” In August, the outcome: “The Church and the Ministry” was sent to every parish in Holland. The 38-page booklet proposes that parishes choose Mass presiders from among their community and present selected candidates “women or men, homo- or heterosexual, married or single” to the bishop for ordination. At the time of the statement, the Netherlands had 1,557 parishes and only 1,112 priests, many of whom are elderly. (full text available at www.futurechurch.org).
The Other Health Crisis: Why Priests Are Coping Poorly. In 2007, an article by Fr. Paul Stanosz published in Commonweal points to an array of issues affecting priest morale. Says Fr. Paul: “First, our bishops must be honest about the crisis of health, morale, and collegiality among priests. At a recent Milwaukee Council of Priests meeting, the vicar for clergy announced that “the wheels are falling off the wagons,” and that he was overwhelmed with the problems of priests under fifty years of age. Such bluntness is rare. Many people are afraid that speaking about the problem will affect vocational recruitment.” Full text available at www.commonwealmagazine.org/article.php3?id_article=2068
Zambia Married Priests Go Public. In late 2007, some Zambian priests who left the active ministry to marry called for secretly married priests to come out in the open and celebrate Mass. In early August, the Movement for Married Priests Now- Zambia Chapter held a rally to announce the beginning of their activities. The group was founded by excommunicated Catholic Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo. Although the Vatican has made it clear that it does not support or recognize any of Milingo's work, his wife Maria told members of the media that the Archbishop constantly updates the Vatican on his activity.
Four of Twelve Bishop Groups at 2005 Eucharist Synod want discussion of Married Priests. Even though the final documents of the 2005 Synod on the Eucharist, affirmed mandatory celibacy, it is highly significant that four of the twelve bishop working groups wanted further study of married priests. Even though Australia’s Cardinal Pell sought to portray the synod as overwhelmingly endorsing mandatory celibacy, he was contradicted a scant three days later by Cardinal Walter Kasper who affirmed that not only was optional celibacy still up for discussion but so was communion for divorced and remarried Catholics. FutureChurch reports)
One Third of Austrian Priests Live With Female Partner. After an Austrian parish priest announced he was resigning because his partner was pregnant and he wanted to stand by her, his bishop, Elmar Fischer, said he respected his decision but regretted that the parish was losing a “truly committed pastor.” According to a theologian who worked with the bishop for many years, a third of all priests in Austria live with a female partner. The new pastor told the local paper that Mandatory celibacy is “altogether questionable.... married men should be allowed to become priests.” (The Tablet 1/6/2007)
Eastern Orthodox want to renew order of ordained women deacons. At the January 2006 Isaac Hecker Lecture at St. Paul’s College in Washington, DC, Orthodox theologian Kyriaki Karidoyanes FitzGerald said that women deacons have “never totally disappeared in the life of the Orthodox churches” and there are signs the Church wants to renew the practice. FitzGerald noted that Orthodox perspectives on the subject “are important to Catholics, as Catholicism not only recognizes the validity of Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox sacraments [but] the Orthodox Church is also considered as a ‘sister church’ by Rome.” (America, 2/6/06)
Irish Bishops see possibility of women, married priests. The Bishop of Clogher, Joseph Duffy said in January that if the priest shortage continues women priests may become acceptable. But such a move would require agreement on a 'universal level' in the Church: 'It would only be on that basis that it would be introduced but I would have no objection to it.' Bishop Duffy said of 97 priests in his diocese, only three are under 40, and in 20 years most active priests will have retired. (Wire reports, Jan 18, 2006) In early January 2006, Bishop William Walsh of Killaloe Ireland told the Dublin Sunday Tribune the church is able to find room for both celibate and married priests. "I have known some very fine priests who have left the priesthood because they found the challenge of celibacy not life-giving for them. Men like that are a great loss to the ministerial priesthood,". (NCR 1/6/06)
French Archbishop favors optional celibacy. Meanwhile French Archbishop Roland Minnerath who served as secretary-general to Synod on the Eucharist, spoke in favor of married priests in his new book To the Burgunds Who Believe in Heaven and to Those Who Don't Believe. Minnerath, a canon lawyer from Dijon in Burgundy, noted that historically "Celibacy was convenient for the priestly vocation, but was not dogmatically bound. Ordaining a married man does not cause any doctrinal problems." (NCR 1/20/06)
Gallup shows Catholic parishioners favor married, female priests, want priest at last rites and Mass at least weekly. A 2005 Gallup Survey found that 68% of all U.S. Catholics are registered at a parish and have some definite opinions about solutions to the priest shortage. Sixty-one percent thought it would be good to ordain celibate women while 54% approved of ordaining married women. Eighty one percent supported the return of priests who have married and 75% favored ordaining married men. Only 20% thought it would be ok if no priest was available to administer the last rites and just 40% thought it was okay to reduce Mass availability to less than once per week. (Study funded by National Catholic Reporter and published 9/30/2005)
This resource was prepared by FutureChurch for the Optional Celibacy: So All Can Be At the Table project. www.futurechurch.org, 216-228-0869 Permission granted to photocopy upon receipt of emailed or written request to FutureChurch.
