A Catholic priest who recently announced that he got a parishioner pregnant says his son was born Saturday. And guess what, he’s got some advice for the Church.
He thinks the Vatican should consider allowing married priests.
“It’s sad I had to choose between caring for this child and all the people I care for at our church. It’s sad I was put in that position,” he told The Daily News. “I know I’m not worthy to be speaking publicly about this because I’m a sinner, but I hope this might help the Catholic Church to look more deeply at the possibility of finding some way to open the door to a married priesthood.”
I get that he’s trying to do the right thing by the child. But you should probably keep your mouth shut when it comes to advice on that kind of thing for a while. I mean, you’re a priest who just had a baby out of wedlock with a parishioner. Don’t go talking to the Daily News the day after your child is born. Come on.
October 3, 2013 at 5:21 pm
And . . . we're supposed to believe that allowing priests like him to marry will magically instill them with self-control? Having an outlet for his appetites doesn't make a man more self-controlled–whether the outlet is his wife or a convenient alternative.
October 3, 2013 at 5:43 pm
I get your point, but at the same time I think the Roman Catholic position on this one is not very good. A lot of men who could be perfectly good priests choose not to do so because they also want to be fathers. Additionally, thus used to be up to bishops, so bishops could take someone of proven quality from the community and ordain them, often training them in the diocese rather than sending them away to seminary. No one is going to listen to this particular priest, but hopefully someone might notice the Orthodox and perhaps realize the solution to the priest shortage is right there in the parish, and it might even be you.
October 3, 2013 at 5:51 pm
Our college chaplain is a married former Anglican minister now Catholic priest who is entirely supportive of celibacy. He and his wife have five kids and he would be the first to admit that being both a father and a priest has many challenges. He appreciates that the celibate priesthood frees a man to put his energies entirely into the care of his flock.
"There are some eunuchs, who were so born from the mother’s womb, some were made so by men, and some have made themselves so for love of the kingdom of heaven; take this in, you whose hearts are large enough for it." The words of Jesus found in Matthew 19 (v12).
October 3, 2013 at 5:56 pm
"It's sad…" And yet, the rule was one to which he acceded in becoming a priest. It was NOT something imposed against his will, nor after his ordination.
August, you miss the point. You argue this is the Church's fault, whereas, the priest, in violating his sacred vows is clearly the one at fault.
October 3, 2013 at 8:13 pm
…..um- but he became a priest before being married….sorry- you can't go backwards- he violated his promises to remain celibate and chaste. My husband, because of our Byzantine rite allowing men to marry BEFORE ordination to the diaconate, has promised to be married and chaste – the poor sinner priest is embarrassing himself…
October 3, 2013 at 8:55 pm
I must ask August, are the vocations booming in those churches that ordain (call, whatever) married men, or in some cases women, as clergy?
October 3, 2013 at 9:27 pm
This guy broke his vows – and no one forced those upon him. So arguing for a married priesthood as a remedy for his succumbing to temptation is wrong headed.
To go all the way back to Jesus on this one, Jesus did not rule out all married men from the 12, nor did He disqualify Peter from leadership among the 12 because of his marital status. If male virginity was originally supposed to be the standard requirement for the ministerial priesthood, certainly the Son of God could and would have made it so, starting with the 12. He did not.
If the Roman Rite of the Catholic church is to move toward ordaining married men, it should be out of fidelity to Christ – not to "solve" some "shortage" of priests, nor to "help" some priests overcome temptation. Married men are also called by the church to chastity, and to plan their families with periodic chaste continence. This periodic chaste continence while sharing a marriage bed can be a severe temptation as well. Older men who are faithfully married with a wife beyond child bearing years and well known in their local communities can be much more of a known quantity for ordination compared to most of those younger men considered for ordination today.
October 3, 2013 at 9:45 pm
It's sad I had to choose between caring for this child and all the people I care for at our church. It's sad I was put in that position.
I wonder who put him in that position…
October 4, 2013 at 12:07 am
So breaking a vow to God. Check. Sex without marriage. Check. Giving advise to the 2000 year old Church founded by Christ as the only path to heaven on how to 'improve things'…..priceless.
October 4, 2013 at 12:09 am
One more thing to artND76: Priesthood requires celibacy. Not virginity. Don't confuse the two as it confuses the issue.
October 4, 2013 at 12:51 am
Prot Teios: You are technically correct. However if you look at Sacerdotalis Caelibatus by Paul VI in paragraph 21 titled "Christ's Example", you will see that he says "Christ remained throughout His whole life in the state of celibacy" when in fact Christ remained throughout His whole life a male virgin – which is not the same thing either; it is something more. So I hold that Paul VI really uses the virginity of Christ as an argument for celibacy. Why would he not just go all the way and impose the same virginity that Christ set as an example for us?
The modern interpretation of celibacy is closer to male virginity than it is to early church celibacy. In the patristic era, clerical celibacy, strictly speaking meant the inability to enter marriage once a higher Order had been received. So in that time the ordination of married men to the deaconate or priesthood would be considered maintaining celibacy as long as they vowed not to remarry should their first (and only) wife die.
October 4, 2013 at 4:26 am
Bob the Ape said…
It's sad I had to choose between caring for this child and all the people I care for at our church. It's sad I was put in that position.
I wonder who put him in that position…
_____________________________________________
I wondered the exact same thing…
October 4, 2013 at 12:14 pm
Saint John the Beloved was the only Apostle who stood with the Virgin Mary at the Crucifixion. Saint John the Beloved was a virgin bishop of the Church given the care of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Jesus Christ's Mother. All priests are given the care of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church. The begotten son of this sinner priest will realize all the terrible things this man has visited upon him, the illegitmacy, the violation of his mother, the inability of this man to care for his illegitimate son. Who will believe or trust this man after he has violated his freely taken vows? Certainly not his son. Trying to justify his crime, the man would take all holy priests with him.
October 4, 2013 at 12:23 pm
Thanks ArtND76 for the clarification. Or might I say elaboration. We are all called to live in chastity, consistent with our state in life.
October 4, 2013 at 5:45 pm
Please go read my comment again, especially if you responded to me like I was some progressive retard. Yes, the priest was wrong. He should not have violated his vow. Nor should he be particularly listened to.
But there is a real need for priests, a real tradition of married priests in the Church, and a real need for human charity- i.e. it is a good idea not to force such a choice just because. As an example, let me point to the times St. Paul says marry the young because it is better to marry than to burn, and that women are saved through motherhood, etc… He's like ecstatic about being celibate so that he can go spread the gospel, yet if you really look at his direction to church leaders, practically every young woman in the churches would be married, and men would have to run that gauntlet and possibly run away to the desert for a while as well in order to answer the call to celibacy. And that worked to generate a lot of celibate priests, by the way. People seem to miss that point and keep hoping the great unwashed masses of single people who are single now because of massive societal breakdown are going to suddenly find a celibate vocation- laughable, if it weren't so sad.
Anyway, it is you who use this bad priest as issue bait. This priest broke is vow, therefore married priests are bad. This is the implication you are making, because, underneath it all, this is really a left/right political issue with you guys. We have been propagandized/taught to think this way, because the second we start solving problems on our own, and building our own communities, well that is when the politicos, in D.C., the Vatican, and everywhere feel threatened. You probably all know a very faithful old married man, who probably acts as an altar boy at weekday Mass, who could make a good priest. But you want to keep the focus on this bad priest instead and pretend I am against celibacy in order to keep that ball rolling. It might make you feel good, but it doesn't save souls, and it is a deception.
October 5, 2013 at 6:56 am
"It's sad I was put in that position"? "It's sad I was put in that position"?!!!!!!
Even with "this child," his baby, squirming in his arms this man won't face the consequences of his actions. 'Guess it's just too hard to say I messed up, I'm sorry, I'm going to repair what I can, and raise my kid.
It would probably the best lesson he could teach his kid if he did so.
October 8, 2013 at 7:36 am
These kinds of articles make me crazy. Why doesn't he just leave the priesthood? I refuse to pay for his wife and child especially when he choose a vocation that didn't include either. Let him leave and get a job to support his family.