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Benedict calls for reflection on celibacy rule
Read the article / show / issue that provoked me to write a letter and my response below that or go straight to my response
Date Posted on this Site
November 21, 2006
Publication
National Post
Publication Date
November 16, 2006
Published Content
By Richard Foot
Hundreds of Roman Catholic priests across Canada who left the ministry to marry were expected to hold private prayer vigils last night on the eve of an extraordinary meeting at the Vatican to discuss the Church's centuries-old rule on celibacy.
Pope Benedict XVI has summoned senior Vatican officials today for a "reflection" on the traditional ban on priestly marriage, one of the most contentious issues facing the Catholic Church.
The meeting, announced this week, is raising the hopes of some Catholics in Canada who have long advocated allowing priests to marry.
While no one expects the Pope to lift the ban anytime soon, some hold the hope change is in the air.
"This meeting could be a sign that attitudes are changing in the upper levels of the Vatican," said Jim Noonan, a member of the Ottawa chapter of Corpus, a North American organization of married Catholic priests who want the Church to relax its rules on celibacy.
"I think the Pope is beginning to realize that with the extreme shortage of priests around the world, he has to do something," Mr. Noonan said.
"Many of us have been saying for years that if you accept married priests, you'll get many more people who are prepared to serve. It may be an answer to a very serious problem."
Today's meeting in Rome was prompted by Emmanuel Milingo, an excommunicated Zambian archbishop who founded a group called Married Priests Now.
The renegade priest was married in 2001, but was welcomed back into the Church by John Paul II. He was excommunicated in September for installing four married Catholic priests as bishops in Washington, D.C.
The Vatican has warned today's meeting has not been called to make quick changes to its celibacy rules, but to discuss Mr. Milingo's "disobedience."
However it also said the meeting will consider requests for exemptions to the rules, particularly for priests who left the Church to get married and now want to return.
For years, the Vatican has allowed married clergy from the Anglican, Lutheran and other Churches to convert and become Catholic priests without having to renounce their marriages or give up their families. As a result, many Catholic parishes across North America are now led by married priests.
Michael Higgins, one of Canada's best-known Catholic scholars, says while he would welcome an end to the celibacy rule, he doubts real change is imminent.
"I would be very surprised if Pope Benedict decided to change the rules," said Mr. Higgins, president of St. Thomas University in Fredericton, N.B.
"I suspect he's called this meeting because of concerns about the message sent out by an archbishop who has been married and who has flouted the public laws of the church."
Still, the mere fact the Pope is talking openly about the issue gives married priests such as Mr. Noonan a sense of optimism.
Mr. Noonan says he was a celibate priest for 26 years before getting married in 1991. He estimates there are 5,000 married Catholic priests in Canada, out of 150,000 worldwide.
"There's nothing wrong with celibacy," he said "There is value to celibacy. But it's against human nature to demand that priests give up this human right to marriage, and children and family.
"There was nothing demanded of Jesus, and there's nothing in the Bible or in the early Church that should make it a law. More and more, Catholic people realize it doesn't make sense."
As celibacy is a matter of Church discipline rather than doctrine, the Pope could dissolve the ban on marriage with nothing more than his signature on a canonical document.
My Response Letter
Your portrayal of celibacy in the Catholic Church is weak, one-sided, and written to sensationalize.
How else can you explain why the reporter spends several paragraphs suggesting that abolishment of the discipline of celibacy is the locus of the Vatican meeting, only to quote the Vatican as saying the meeting was convened to discuss Mr. Milingo's "disobedience"?
And why are all of the persons quoted in the article against celibacy? Where is a quote from a Catholic Bishop or priest affirming the value of celibacy? This is hardly balanced reporting.
If we are to fully understand the issue, why didn't the reporter provide at least one paragraph of historical background? Or a quote from the bible? (Both Jesus and St. Paul speak about the benefits of celibacy.)
Why did the reporter not provide context for the number of priests in Canada? He allows Mr. Noonan to suggest there are 5,000 married priests in Canada. Doesn't this seem high, especially when there are only about 8,400 priests in Canada?
Readers in general, and Catholics in particular, deserve better.
Jason Gennaro
Was my response published?
No
Did I get a response?
No