Time to reconsider rule of celibacy
Nov 15, 2006
POPE Benedict has called a meeting of Vatican advisers to discuss the issue of celibacy.
POPE Benedict has called a meeting of Vatican advisers to discuss the issue of celibacy.
The meeting was prompted by Zambian Archbishop Milingo’s ordination of four married men in America in September.
That led to his automatic excommunication from the Roman Catholic Church. Now Milingo is planning a convention for 1000 married priests in December in New York.
Christian churches have had trouble coming to terms with some aspects of the new global social culture. Attendance in European churches is dropping dramatically.
The issue of celibacy has become a crisis point for the Catholic Church. No-one would claim that union between man and woman is a sin and many Christian churches allow their priests to marry. It is primarily the Catholic Church that has insisted on the necessity of celibacy for its priesthood.
As a result, there is a global shortage of young men becoming Catholic priests. There is also a persistent flow of priests leaving the Church to get married. There have also been problems, especially in the USA, of priests abusing young parishioners.
The Catholic Church has been the rock of Christianity ever since St Peter arrived in Rome. It is the oldest and most revered of the Christian churches. But that does not mean that it should not review its doctrines.
The issue of celibacy is a human matter, not a sacred one. To reject celibacy is not to reject the divinity of Christ.
Even dogmatic religions need to adapt to changing times. This has been one reason for the success of evangelist churches around the world.
The Roman Catholic Church should not fear to critically reconsider its insistence that its clergy remain celibate. If it allowed its clergy to marry, it would attract a renewed inflow of young men that would re-energise its congregations and halt the steady loss of its members to the evangelist churches.
The meeting was prompted by Zambian Archbishop Milingo’s ordination of four married men in America in September.
That led to his automatic excommunication from the Roman Catholic Church. Now Milingo is planning a convention for 1000 married priests in December in New York.
Christian churches have had trouble coming to terms with some aspects of the new global social culture. Attendance in European churches is dropping dramatically.
The issue of celibacy has become a crisis point for the Catholic Church. No-one would claim that union between man and woman is a sin and many Christian churches allow their priests to marry. It is primarily the Catholic Church that has insisted on the necessity of celibacy for its priesthood.
As a result, there is a global shortage of young men becoming Catholic priests. There is also a persistent flow of priests leaving the Church to get married. There have also been problems, especially in the USA, of priests abusing young parishioners.
The Catholic Church has been the rock of Christianity ever since St Peter arrived in Rome. It is the oldest and most revered of the Christian churches. But that does not mean that it should not review its doctrines.
The issue of celibacy is a human matter, not a sacred one. To reject celibacy is not to reject the divinity of Christ.
Even dogmatic religions need to adapt to changing times. This has been one reason for the success of evangelist churches around the world.
The Roman Catholic Church should not fear to critically reconsider its insistence that its clergy remain celibate. If it allowed its clergy to marry, it would attract a renewed inflow of young men that would re-energise its congregations and halt the steady loss of its members to the evangelist churches.