Viva il Papa!
It is nice to know that the free spirited, pick and choose, Catholics of the United States are upset by the selection of this new Pope. I have to admit I was extremely worried considering the events which have transpired in the past few years involving the sex scandal and the consistent decline in the Priesthood, that the new Pontiff would be someone of liberal thought.
I wasn't sure whether I personally would be put in a position of opposing a position of the Holy Father or not. Thank the Lord I was not put in that position.
However for the sake of argument, let's just suppose for a second that a Pope would take the position of elliminating the celebacy rule or institute a canon that would allow for women to be ordained. How would we, as believers in the infalibility of the Holy Father, have reacted? Would we as defenders of the faith be obligated to stand against this? I know I would have struggled with it, but after researching the foundation and reasoning surrounding the original canon on celebacy it appears to be a man-made position, not a heavenly edict.
The rule stems from the early 1100's when the Catholic Church had an onslaught of Priests who were leaving Church property to their families upon their death. Large amounts of Church assets were falling into secular hands. It is only in the last century has this been (what I feel) mistakenly interpreted to be a Biblical law.
It is my belief (not at all to be misconstrued as a position of the Catholic Church) that a man of God is best serving his flock when he is dedicated 24 hours a day to such a task. Too many times as a father of three have I had to make decisions on what's best for my children when those decisions were in direct contradiction to the needs of my professional life. - I personally want my Priests and more accurately my Pastor to be tending to me, his sheep, at all times.
Just my thoughts on the subject.
Apr 26, 2005
U.S. Catholics and the New Pope
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11 comments:
Where will we get good young men to fill the places of the dying celebates? The church is in danger of losing it's most basic leadership, it's parish priests. This is apparent by the number of deacons, etc. it has taken on in the past years due to the lack of priestly vocations. Do we let the church die as we hold on to the notion that a celebate person is the only answer?
What makes you indicate that the "Church" will die by a lessening number of Priests? And why is ordaining married men and women the answer vs bringing back the valiance, honor and encouragement for young men who have a calling? - I would think it would behoove us to put more effort into encouraging the fledgling call that a man gets from God vs. pointing out the reasons he should ignore it.
Who will say Mass?? The decline in numbers continues. How do we bring up the count when an alarming number of pedofiles found a safe haven in out midst? Amidst all of this bad press where is "damage control"? How is the church actively looking for contenders? There are so many good ,married men willing to step up and help to lead. Will they be turned away now only to be begged to return decades form now when the church is in crisis?
1. In the early Church priest traveled covered many miles to say mass for a congregation.
2. While I am not naive and know that this crisis is present in the Church, I believe the press and those out to discredit the Catholic Church are exploiting the actual number for their own purposes.
3. I would like to see the Bishops look at new methods to attract new Priests and encourage those who feel they have a calling. I agree they could be more aggressive in this.
Prayer can also help - How many young men feel they may be called at a moment in their lives when they are unsure of what to do only to disregard it... We need encouragement of this call from all facets of our Catholic society.
and lastly you have taken that I am deadset against allowing Priests to marry. I am not - I simply present the argument that a single man with no encumbrances to family and finances would be better capable to serve a parish.
Again,who will say Mass when the present priests die? The actual numbers of confirmed pedofiles is staggering and what about those who have yet to come forward? I personally know of two young men from my home town who were victims. They have not told their stories yet, maybe never will. I argue that a single unmarried priest is not who I would go to for counseling about marriage or family problems. It is like a teenager trying to counsel a young couple on how to "parent" a child.
First Anonymous - A rule here is that no unsubstantiated statistics or hypotheticals can be used. The term Staggering isnt quantifiable. Who or what is your source?
I would point out that the percentage of pedofiles in general society is much higher than in the Priesthood (Newsweek graph of childhood sex offenders Feb 05) so to classify boldly that it is "Staggering" doesn't put it in real numbers.
As far as I'm concerned if one Priest is PROVEN to have done this it is one too many, however what gives you the impression that allowing these Priests to marry would make that any different?
In terms of your statement about counseling... If a person goes to a Priest solely for the counsel on a sexual problem with a woman (then I agree) however those who go to a Priest for marrital problems do so because in the Catholic Church marriage is a sacrament....Not unlike the Sacrament of Holy Orders - and when people dedicate their lives to another (in the case of a Priest to God) - the Priest most definitely is qualified to counsel them.
Again I ask, Who will say Mass?
I guess in your doomsday scenario - the very very limited priests that we do have.
And when they die?
:-)
PA- You are right as in it is nor biblical law for a priest to be celebate and a man. It is although biblical tradition. Which holds as much weight as biblical law.
My personal belief is we should allow those already married to become priests as we do with deacons. Yet still have those who enter the priest hood before marriage take the oath of celebecy.
As for if the Pope ever decreed that women could become priests or priests are allowed to marry. If this happens and he used the official pulpit, that is making it dogma, it would not be right for us as Catholics to go against this decree. It is seldom that a pope uses his pulpit like this, but when he does he speaks on behalf of Christ. That does come from the bible when Peter was given the keys to the kingdom.
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