Opinion: Cardinal O'Brien, Chaste Celibacy, Chaste Marriage and Clerical Service

2/25/2013

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"No one has a right to receive the sacrament of Holy Orders. Indeed no one claims this office for himself; he is called to it by God. Anyone who thinks he recognizes the signs of God's call to the ordained ministry must humbly submit his desire to the authority of the Church, who has the responsibility and right to call someone to receive orders. Like every grace this sacrament can be received only as an unmerited gift. "

"All the ordained ministers of the Latin Church, with the exception of permanent deacons, are normally chosen from among men of faith who live a celibate life and who intend to remain celibate "for the sake of the kingdom of heaven." Called to consecrate themselves with undivided heart to the Lord and to "the affairs of the Lord," they give themselves entirely to God and to men. Celibacy is a sign of this new life to the service of which the
Church's minister is consecrated; accepted with a joyous heart celibacy radiantly proclaims the Reign of God."

"In the Eastern Churches a different discipline has been in force for many centuries: while bishops are chosen solely from among celibates, married men can be ordained as deacons and priests. This practice has long been considered legitimate; these priests exercise a fruitful ministry within their communities. Moreover, priestly celibacy is held in great honor in the Eastern Churches and many priests have freely chosen it for the sake of the Kingdom of God. In the East as in the West a man who has already received the sacrament of Holy Orders can no longer marry." (CCC #1577 - 1579)

Now, to another aspect of this topic which some Catholics do not know, there are already married clerics in the Western or Latin Rite Catholic Church. First, there are married clerics in the Order of Deacons. The restoration of the Order was promoted by the Second Vatican Council. Its ranks are open to both married and celibate men. Remember, married men become clerics when they are ordained as deacons. They are no longer laymen. Thus the oxymoron "lay deacons" reflects a lack of good teaching and is just plain wrong.

The adjective permanent, often used to describe married deacons, does not change the nature of the ordination or what is sacramentally conferred with the imposition of the Bishops hands on the ordinand. A deacon is a deacon. Rather, it denotes the intention of the deacon to remain in that rank of ordered service. A transitional deacon intends to be considered for ordination to the priesthood.

Second, we have a growing body of married men who have been ordained to the Catholic priesthood. For these men the discipline of celibacy was dispensed by the Church prior to ordination. Most come from other Christian communities. The most visible and fastest growing of these priests are coming to us as a gift, through the Ordinariates established for groups of former Anglicans coming into full communion with the Catholic Church.

Sadly, many Press reports, opinion pieces and editorials often pose the question this way, "Should priests be allowed to marry?" That reveals either a complete misunderstanding of the issues and the history or an agenda. The real issue is whether already married men should be allowed to discern a vocation to the priesthood and, if chosen by the Church, to be ordained?

Consecrated celibacy is a prophetic sign and a gift to the whole Church which was instituted and lived by Jesus, demonstrated in the lives of many of the Apostles, confirmed in the earliest witness of the ancient Church and confirmed in the unbroken tradition of the Church. (See, e.g., Matt. 19:12)

Consecrated Christian marriage is also a prophetic sign and a gift to the whole Church, especially in an age which is so preoccupied with rejecting marriage at its own peril and replacing it with profane counterfeits. At the foundation of both chaste, consecrated celibacy and chaste, sacramental marriage is a call to live the nuptial or spousal mystery in which they both participate.

The consecrated celibate does so in an immediate and prophetic way, while the married man does so in a mediated way, through his chaste love with one woman and the couple's openness to life. Both responses have a prophetic dimension as well as a pastoral one. After all, when love is perfected and complete in the Resurrection there will be no marriage.

The teaching of Jesus on this is quite clear. In heaven there will be no marriage. (See, e.g, Mt. 22:30, Mk. 12:25) We will all be married to the Lamb and live in the eternal communion of Trinitarian Love where all love is completed and perfected. (See, Rev 19:7-10)

To use an old clich� some of my best friends are priests, both celibate and married. They are living their vocation to the priesthood with dignity and holiness. Within that community of celibate and married priests, there are different expressions in the one priesthood of ...
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Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: celibacy, mandatory celibacy, chastity, chaste marriage, priesthood, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, married clerics, ordinariate, byzantine, married priests, Deacon Keith Fournier

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1 - 4 of 4 Comments

rosanne santos
2 months ago
Are sacraments by married priests valid?
• Sacraments by married priests are valid because “Sacred ordination never becomes invalid” (Canon 290).
• "Sacraments conferred by married priests are valid including Baptism and consecrating the Eucharist at Mass" ~ Father John J. Strynkowski, Executive director of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
• The minister able to confect the sacrament of Eucharist in the person of Christ is a validly ordained priest alone” (Canon 900). “Every priest and a priest alone validly administers anointing of the sick” (Canon 1003).

Are sacraments by married priests legal?

• “There is a canonical basis for permitting the ministry of priests who have been laicized or suspended due to attempted marriage… The faithful have a right to request sacraments from suspended priests for any just cause, but the impetus must come from the faithful and not from the suspended priest” (Haselberger, J. 2004, thesis in Catholic canon law, p 115 & 98).

• “Prohibition [against married priests] is suspended whenever it is necessary to care for the faithful in danger of death. If [juridical censure- a very rare procedure] has not been declared, the prohibition is also suspended whenever a member of the faithful requests a sacrament; a person is permitted to request this for any just cause” (Canon 1335).

• “If a priest who has no authorization to assist at marriages is available, he should be asked to participate in the extraordinary form celebration when it can be prudently judged an authorized witness will be unavailable for a month” (Canon 1116). Weddings by certified married priests are legally recognized by states but not always by institutional church.

• “In a case of necessity, any person with the right intention confers baptism licitly” (Canon 861).

• “Even though a priest lacks the faculty to hear confessions, he absolves validly and licitly any penitents whatsoever in danger of death from any censures and sins, even if an approved priest is present” (Canon 976).

• “The salvation of souls must always be the supreme law in the church” (Canon 1752).
abey
2 months ago
If the history of fallen churches like the Anglican, its episcopals & others are looked into, it is plainly clear that the ordination of Women & Gay agendas(rebellion against the scriptures) are interconnected & the day the Catholic Church become complacent to this grave Error, is the day the Church can said to be fallen, fallen into the error of Modernism like the others, to which its enemies work to (for everything of the devil is in deceit), like in the case against Cardinal Brian through the BBC, & it would be most ignorant to think not that behind are the heads of Freemasonry, its royals & its offshoots, the Arc enemy of not just the Catholic Church but that of Christianity, if the Marian apparition in the warnings to the Church about freemasonry & its initiations(to a false mary spiritually going by the name of a great mother godess) is any indication, to which it seems some compromising critical members of the Church have fallen/deceived into.
Augustine, Obl.S.B.
2 months ago
A good article, Deacon, with some interesting questions to consider. However, I think you left out a question that also needs to be considered: should the Church continue to close and merge parishes due to a lack of priests, while denying discernment of priestly vocations to married men who have been Catholic all their lives, while allowing converts who are married the rite of ordination? Think of how the shortage of priests would be affected if even half of the permanent deacons in the country were allowed ordination to the priesthood.
michael
2 months ago
Deacon Keith...one of the great results of Pope Paul VI's reign was his insistence that the issue of priestly celibacy be looked at very carefully. This brought about the publications of a number of historical books by the likes of Cardinal Stickler and various other authors of note. The findings in connection with the research asked for by Paul VI have clearly demonstrated that priestly celibacy and clerical celibacy for bishops and deacons as well, is of apostolic origins. In short, then, there is NOT an "unbroken" tradition of married clergy in the Catholic eastern rites and "Orthodox" groups. They broke tradition. I would ask you to investigate the Council of Trullo in the 8th century in order to see the rupture and discontinuity in regards to priestly celibacy. Until Trullo, clerical celibacy was imposed as it was of apostolic origins. If one were married, he had to leave his wife, who in turn would be provided for by the Church. In fact, there are many ancient documents where the wife signed away her marital rites in order to give her husband to the Church.

Bishops and priests are not bachelors, but rather married man, i.e., married to the Bride of Christ the Church. Those who are married clergy and continue to live and have relations with a natural wife are tolerated as it has become "legitimate" or legal to use the words of the New Catechism. Legitimate, Deacon Keith, but not the ideal nor desirable. In a real way, there is bigamy going on here with married clergy. One man with two wives, and the Wife that is the Church is always preferred to the natural wife. The biggest supports of priestly celibacy are always wives of married clergy who often do not get the attention they need.

Finally, as AB. Fulton Sheen often said, whenever there was to be a Theophany or a God-appearance, Jewish men were told to be chaste with their wives. A CAtholic priest has a daily Theophany at the altar in the presence of the Word made Flesh.

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