Pope may allow married men as Priests

Lamb

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http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/10/europe/pope-married-men-priests/index.html?adkey=bn

Pope Francis has said he is open to married men becoming priests to combat the Roman Catholic Church's shortage of clergy..

The option would allow men who are already married to be ordained as priests. But single men who are already priests would not be allowed to marry, according to the Pope.
"Voluntary celibacy is not a solution," he said.
 

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Why not? Anglican priests coming into the RC are allowed to be married and so are Eastern Catholic priests already.
 

Josiah

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Pope Francis has said he is open to married men becoming priests to combat the Roman Catholic Church's shortage of clergy..

The option would allow men who are already married to be ordained as priests. But single men who are already priests would not be allowed to marry, according to the Pope.
"Voluntary celibacy is not a solution," he said.



This is entirely up to the RC Denomination - an internal, practical issue. PERSONALLY, I think it's a good move (for a number of reasons) and I suspect it will eventually happen - sooner or later.

Of course, the prohibition of marriage has never been absolute, there have always been exceptions and some rites have never prohibited this. And this prohibition has only been in place since 1139 so that denomination was perfectly okay with this for a long time.


THING IS: this is a huge issue of pride for RC priests. And (this may surprise some) there is very little promotion of this among Catholic laity and none among the clergy of the RC Denomination; it's VERY well entrenched into Catholic culture and is a huge part of the identity of the priests in that denomination. Being celebrant is a HUGE part of the identity of RCC priests. If Francis does this, it will really shake up the culture of the RC Denomination and undermine the glory that its priests have. I suspect this move will not be particularly welcomed in that denomination, especially not among the clergy. We'll see....


Is it necessary? Protestants often make too much of the "shortage" of RCC clergy. Yes, it's WAY down.... but Catholic clergy these days do very little. The local RCC priest has little in common with the local say Baptist pastor in terms of duties. As the shortage began some 50 years ago, priests have simply done less and less, with NON clergy assuming more and more of the parish ministry. Today, even large parishes only have one priest.... and pretty much all he does is deliver the Sacraments.... They do no administrative work, they don't lead Bible studies or teach any classes (even Adult Confirmation Classes are now lay-lead), and rarely does any counseling. With the rise of lay ministers and Deacons - who now do nearly all the ministry of the local parish - there's actually not much the priest does: I'm not saying he's not working 40 hours a week (he might be) but parishes have simply reduced the NEED for him to exclusively what he alone is permitted to do. The extreme shortage only impacts very rural areas where they are very small parishes spread out over large areas. The RC Denomination use to be able to assign their old and bad priests to such parishes but those are now needed..... leaving some of those with little clergy service for the Sacraments. I think the RC Denomination will "solve" that primarily by permitting Deacons and others to fulfill some of these roles, not by HOPING to gain more priests by permitting them to marry.



Pax Christi



- Josiah



.
 
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Cassia

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off-topic but I found this interesting from a post elsewhere

Here's the Lutheran Orthodox churches' position on female ordination. The Lutheran Orthodox Church, inc - LOC General News

Women in the Ministry

There is much debate today concerning women in positions of leadership in the ministry. Setting the basic tone is Galatians 3:28: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus."

How does all of this lead up to women ministers? Perhaps you are thinking that although we have laid a biblical foundation for "neither male nor female" in Christ, certain verses in the New Testament still seem to ban women from ministry positions in the church. Let's examine these verses for the true interpretation.

"Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law" (1 Corinthians 14:34).

"Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence" (1 Timothy 2:11-12).

In these verses, Paul cannot be addressing women who were in the ministry, but rather those in the congregation who were out of order. How do we know this? We have many such proofs, many from Paul himself. Here is a partial list of women who were all in influential positions of leadership in the early church.

Pheobe (Romans 16:1-2): This woman was a deaconess of the church in Cenchrea, who was beloved of Paul and many other Christians for the help she gave to them. She filled an important position of leadership. It would be a difficult stretch of the imagination to say that this woman fulfilled her duties without ever speaking in the church!

Priscilla (Acts 18:26): Priscilla and her husband Aquila are often mentioned with great respect by Paul. Together they were pastors of a church in Ephesus, and were responsible for teaching the full gospel to Apollos. We are informed that they both taught Apollos, and pastored the church together. In fact, Priscilla is sometimes listed ahead of Aquila when their names come up. This has led some to speculate that of the two, she was the primary teacher and her husband oversaw the ministry. At any rate, we see here a woman in a very prominent position of teaching and pastoring. (Other references to Priscilla and Aquila are Acts 18:2, 18; Romans 16:3, and I Corinthians 16:19).

Euodia and Syntyche (Philippians 4:2-3): Here we see reference to two women who were "true yokefellow" and who labored with Paul in the advancement of the gospel.

Junia (Romans 16:7): In this verse we see Paul sending greetings to Andronicus and Junia, his "fellow-prisoners" who are of note among the apostles. Junia is a woman's name. In some modern translations, an "s" has been added (Junias) because the translators were so sure a woman could not be an apostle, that they assumed a copyist has accidentally dropped the "s." However the proper male ending would have been "ius," not "ias." No church commentator earlier than the Middle Ages questioned that Junia was both a woman and an apostle.

Though there were other women throughout the Bible in positions of leadership, such as prophetesses, evangelists, judges, leaders, etc., the above references should be enough to establish that women were indeed a vital and normal part of church leadership. Paul expected women to speak in the church, or else why would he have given the following directive? It would have been useless to give directions for women who were speaking in the church, if they were never allowed to do so.

1 Corinthians 11:5, "But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven."

Furthermore, if Paul believed that all women should never teach or speak in church, why does he commend many women who did just that?

Even in Paul's day, there were those who tried to twist the meaning his words.

"...His (Paul's) letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do other Scriptures, to their own destruction" (2 Peter 3:16).

It is a fair conclusion that the testimony of the bulk of Scripture, church history and God's anointing upon them, all speak plainly for women being able to fulfill all positions of the five-fold offices of apostle, prophet, pastor, evangelist and teacher.

The Lord gave the church gifts of His choosing in the form of men and women who would lead the church into perfection (Ephesians 4:8-12).

It is the Lord who calls men and women to His ministry. He does not call special people, but the call goes out to "whosoever will." First, we are called to salvation; then as we walk in obedience to Him, He calls for us to be baptized in His Holy Spirit. As we continue to obey and follow Him, He then may choose us to serve Him in a full-time ministry. He chooses people for the ministry out of those who have walked in obedience to His other calls. He desires that all follow, but can only choose those who are obedient. These men and women who have answered the call are set in the ministry by Jesus Himself. Man's ordination does not qualify them, but the ordination of God does. Men will recognize those who are truly called by Him. They will even recognize women who are called of God as God empowers them with His anointing and power which cannot be denied.

When this Scripture says, "appointed and gave men to us," it does not mean just the male sex. The same man whom God created in the beginning which included male and female is the one referred to here. These "men" are both male and female and they have a responsibility to bring others into the maturity that they possess.

Based on what we believe to be sound scriptural examples, we welcome the work of women in the ministry and support the ordination of qualified women called to His service.
Our doctrine conforms to the Eucharist and the Eucharist in turn confirms our doctrine. (Saint Irenaeus of Lyons)
 

Josiah

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Here's the Lutheran Orthodox churches' position on female ordination. The Lutheran Orthodox Church, inc - LOC General News


For the record, just as a matter of information, the LOC is an EXTREMELY tiny Lutheran denomination - quite "out of synch" with Confessional, traditional Lutheranism on many points.


Also, this thread is not about women pastors, it's about the frequent, current polity of the Roman Rite of The Roman Catholic denomination.
 

Cassia

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For the record, just as a matter of information, the LOC is an EXTREMELY tiny Lutheran denomination - quite "out of synch" with Confessional, traditional Lutheranism on many points.


Also, this thread is not about women pastors, it's about the frequent, current polity of the Roman Rite of The Roman Catholic denomination.
Good information. Thank you for answering.
 

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http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/10/europe/pope-married-men-priests/index.html?adkey=bn

Pope Francis has said he is open to married men becoming priests to combat the Roman Catholic Church's shortage of clergy..

The option would allow men who are already married to be ordained as priests. But single men who are already priests would not be allowed to marry, according to the Pope.
"Voluntary celibacy is not a solution," he said.

not fair
So if they quit and marry they can become a priest again.
 

~Jo~

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Sorry but I think its about time they did, why should they have to live without a women in there life, its not going to make them any least a good priest, you never know it might make them a better one... in this day and age its time to move on.. I really hope it does happen.. but hey what do I know ..
 

psalms 91

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I agree, it is past time
 

MoreCoffee

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http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/10/europe/pope-married-men-priests/index.html?adkey=bn

Pope Francis has said he is open to married men becoming priests to combat the Roman Catholic Church's shortage of clergy..

The option would allow men who are already married to be ordained as priests. But single men who are already priests would not be allowed to marry, according to the Pope.
"Voluntary celibacy is not a solution," he said.

The Catholic Church has married priest in a number of the eastern rites. The Roman rite has had celibate priests for many centuries. Celibacy is a discipline not a dogma or a moral teaching so it can be changed.
 

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Bout time they caught up to biblical times where the apostle Paul gave instructions for leaders and not once did he demand that only singles could pastor! That's mental.
 

MoreCoffee

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Bout time they caught up to biblical times where the apostle Paul gave instructions for leaders and not once did he demand that only singles could pastor! That's mental.

I am glad you don't get a vote on the matter.
 

Josiah

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Cassia

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The letter of the word would have it illegal for unmarried to be in that position in the first place.
 
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