It's Your Call
Before all else, can anyone tell me who that bizarre-looking diocesan on EWTN wearing the plastic hat is? If I had my wits around me, I'd think it's the right fringe's new golden boy, James Mason -- he who wants all priests to be Mr. Man masculine and would add Mamma Mia to the resurrected Index... Best part: if it were Mason on EWTN, he'd be appearing with a bunch of boys with beards named Mary.
Oh, the irony!
It's funny -- in a rare moment of reality, even the Brothers Mary noted earlier today that they haven't had many laypeople on the last few days while they kept talking over the Pope. Last time I checked, the event in Cologne this weekend was not World Youth Priest Day.
Oh well, another opportunity to be tres grateful for the real Catholic coverage provided by CTV and Radio Vaticana.
Speaking of annoying talking heads, now it can be told: Comcast cable subscribers nationwide can find me on a TV screen near you this Monday night, the 22nd, at 9pm as a panelist on the It's Your Call with Lynn Doyle program. I'm a return guest -- my first appearance was on the evening of 19 April, when I defended the new Pope against vicious ax-grinding.
As announced before, the topic this time is clerical celibacy. But I'd really like to have a discussion about it in advance among us....
Keeping in mind that mandatory celibacy is a disciplinary requirement perfectly licit to be changed (and given the Pastoral Provision's dispensation of it), what are your thoughts on it? Should optional become the rule, or would it be too damaging to parish and ecclesial life? Would an optional policy justify the increased demands on a priest? Would an optional policy justify the expansion of the pool of men eligible to fill the ranks of the presbyterate, thus easing the vocations crisis? Would, as Andrew Greeley said, "'Optional celibacy' immediately mean 'mandatory marriage'"? Let's go all out on this.
Now, given this outlet's notably high DPT (Decibels Per Trad) Index, I'm sure there are some out there who'd like to have their own little Elvis-Robert Goulet moment and shoot the TV while I'm on it. The Vegas Hilton would keep 15 RCA console TV sets in stock for the King in case Goulet was on a media blitz....
Stock up for the next consistory.
-30-
Oh, the irony!
It's funny -- in a rare moment of reality, even the Brothers Mary noted earlier today that they haven't had many laypeople on the last few days while they kept talking over the Pope. Last time I checked, the event in Cologne this weekend was not World Youth Priest Day.
Oh well, another opportunity to be tres grateful for the real Catholic coverage provided by CTV and Radio Vaticana.
Speaking of annoying talking heads, now it can be told: Comcast cable subscribers nationwide can find me on a TV screen near you this Monday night, the 22nd, at 9pm as a panelist on the It's Your Call with Lynn Doyle program. I'm a return guest -- my first appearance was on the evening of 19 April, when I defended the new Pope against vicious ax-grinding.
As announced before, the topic this time is clerical celibacy. But I'd really like to have a discussion about it in advance among us....
Keeping in mind that mandatory celibacy is a disciplinary requirement perfectly licit to be changed (and given the Pastoral Provision's dispensation of it), what are your thoughts on it? Should optional become the rule, or would it be too damaging to parish and ecclesial life? Would an optional policy justify the increased demands on a priest? Would an optional policy justify the expansion of the pool of men eligible to fill the ranks of the presbyterate, thus easing the vocations crisis? Would, as Andrew Greeley said, "'Optional celibacy' immediately mean 'mandatory marriage'"? Let's go all out on this.
Now, given this outlet's notably high DPT (Decibels Per Trad) Index, I'm sure there are some out there who'd like to have their own little Elvis-Robert Goulet moment and shoot the TV while I'm on it. The Vegas Hilton would keep 15 RCA console TV sets in stock for the King in case Goulet was on a media blitz....
Stock up for the next consistory.
-30-
posted by Rocco Palmo at 18:04
6 Comments:
Can anyone name one Christian denomination that has married clergy, apart from the Orthodox, that doesn't have a clergy shortage or isn't losing population? Married clergy won't fix the vocation problem.
On a practical note, does anyone think that stingy Catholics are going to suddenly start giving to pay for Father and his family? Parishes seem to mostly barely stay on top of their regular bills.
I don't know about the stinginess, but I agree with Ian. A wife and kids isn't likely to stimulate interest in the priesthood.
Just what the priesthood needs is /another/ redefinition of its collective identity.
Seriously, though..
Why are you just consistantly yet unnecesarily... mean?
His name's Peter Mitchell, he's of the diocese of Lincoln NE --- but not born there, his accent's half-brit, half-cheesehead. Which, with his facial features, has me believing he's the son of Dr. Robin Mitchell, who was a professor of English Literature at Marquette back in the late 70's when I was a college student and this Fr. Peter would have been a toddler ......
Gyrovagus - anything can be abused, even celibacy. The abuse of something is a lousy argument to do away with it.
Jimmy Mac,
But some things about our current problems are particular, at least to some extent, aren't they? The priest shortage we keep hearing about has not always been there, has it? The post VII priestly exodus - whatever its causes - was not a regular event, I don't think.
As for the "it isn't working any more" notion - the Church has gone through horribly rough patches in the past. Periods of deep clerical corruption (even deeper than today...). Aren't there particular saints who are noted for their efforts to reform the clergy? St. Catherine of Siena, maybe?
On the practical side of the question - it seems to me that if you were to change the discipline, you'd need to make a case for a compelling change in the culture, or the understanding of the priesthood, or the understanding of sexuality, or something - that necessitated such a change. If it worked once - and I'm supposing here that it did - why has it stopped working? And what is the character of that reason why it no longer works?
Of course, there are those who say that things are improving already - that the "Generation John Paul II priests," whatever you might think of them, are willing to embrace celibacy, and that their numbers are increasing. But I have no evidence for that other than anecdotal.
On the theological side (and I'm not pretending to be any kind of serious theologian), I had always thought celibacy to be part of the particular way the priest was an "other Christ" - that is, he participated in the action off Christ in the marriage of Christ and the Church. The Church was the bride which the priest sanctified (through Christ's action, naturally). This seemed to fit with the priest's sacramental activities - baptism, the Eucharist, confession - which are integral to the sanctification of the Church. (And the reasoning here has everything to do with fittingness and nothing to do with necessity.) The Church is his bride, and he is Father to his people.
So much for what comes off the top of my head.
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