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Good Catholics, Good Priests -- and Married

By John Hewko
Saturday, March 23, 2002; Page A21 (Washington Post)

My grandfather was a married Catholic priest. And so was my great-grandfather and his father. There probably would have been a fourth generation of Catholic priests in my family, except that my grandfather had three daughters (the youngest being my mother). Three generations of married priests who were as Catholic as the pope.

As the debate within the Roman Catholic Church over the celibacy of priests heats up, many Catholics are missing the fact that the church already permits married priests. It has done so, at least with respect to Ukrainian Catholics such as my grandfather, for more than 400 years. This precedent goes back to the 16th century.

Although at the time most Ukrainians were Orthodox, a significant portion of the Ukrainian lands had been incorporated into the Catholic Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In 1596 the Ukrainian bishops and the papacy entered into the Union of Brest, pursuant to which the Ukrainians agreed to join the Catholic Church and to accept fully the authority of the pope on all matters of faith and dogma. In return, the Ukrainians were permitted to retain their Orthodox liturgy and rites and to continue the tradition that priests (but not bishops) could be married.

The popular view of many in the United States is that a Catholic priest cannot be married; it stems in large part from the common misperception that the terms Catholic Church and Roman Catholic Church are synonymous. In fact, the Universal Catholic Church, under the tutelage of the pope, is comprised of many particular churches or "rites."

The vast majority of Catholics in the world belong to the Roman (or Western rite) Church, which does not permit its priests to be married. But there are numerous Catholics who belong to one of the many Eastern Catholic Churches; these include the Ukrainians, the Maronites, the Chaldeans, the Melkites and others. They are not Orthodox and are no less Catholic than members of the Roman rite. But their priests can be married.

Although the spiritual and scriptural arguments that support celibacy are noble and complex and go back to the earliest days of the church, the concept of mandatory celibacy is not rooted in theological considerations, nor is it a dogma of the Catholic Church. Rather, it gathered momentum in the Middle Ages in response to a number of historical factors, became firmly entrenched with the Council of Trent in the mid-1500s, and is today an obligatory disciplinary rule imposed by the institutional Roman Catholic Church on its priests.

But times have changed. The institution of priesthood, and with it the church as a whole, are passing through a moment of intense crisis and face an acute shortage of clergy. Since 1970 the number of men studying to be priests in diocesan seminaries has decreased dramatically, from more than 17,000 in 1970 to 3,400 in 2001, and in religious order seminaries from more than 11,000 to 1,500.

Although there are indications that the situation is improving in selected dioceses, the time is ripe for a frank and open discussion within the Roman Catholic Church in this country as to the wisdom of mandatory celibacy. Celibacy has served for many centuries as a powerful symbol of dedication to faith and vocation, and those countless priests who have voluntarily, unswervingly and selflessly followed its call deserve our highest praise and admiration. Celibacy has also removed from priesthood the potential distractions of married life, the responsibility of raising children and the financial burden of maintaining a family.

The institution of celibacy has functioned reasonably well over time, and there is an inherent danger in taking radical action during a crisis that may be only a short-lived occurrence in a historical period marked by spiritual and moral decline.

Yet, despite these arguments, some change is needed. By all accounts, my grandfather was a dedicated, compassionate and very popular priest. His wife, children and grandchildren were generally not a distraction but a source of additional strength, experience and wisdom. In the Ukrainian Church the families of priests are often a wellspring of future clergy, and the wives of priests make an invaluable contribution to the spiritual and charitable life of the parish and local community.

There are many young Catholics who have the talent, energy and inclination to enter the priesthood but are denied access because, after considerable reflection, they honestly doubt their ability to adhere to the demands of celibacy. Although the option of celibacy should be kept open for those priests who want it, the shortage of priests is real, and there is little doubt that the pool of potential candidates would increase dramatically if mandatory celibacy were abolished.

The beauty of any such reform is that there is little need to gaze into a crystal ball and experiment: The Catholic Church today already has married priests and they appear to be doing quite well.

The writer is an attorney and a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

� 2002 The Washington Post Company

You see, not all Byzantine Catholics are rigid traditionalists. The above fellow suggests abolishing celibacy for all Catholic priests. (Of course, in this article, the author doesn't claim to be either a Ukrainian Byzantine Catholic or a Roman Catholic.)

Another question that may be worthwhile to ask: "Do married Catholic priests molest children?" One would hope they don't, but until the idea that celibacy breeds pedophilia is squelched, it's unlikely that it would even be asked.

[ 03-24-2002: Message edited by: RichC ]

According to the New England Journal of Medicine the highest rate of incest occurs among Protesant ministers. You can only commit incest with your own kids.

As one of our former President's said "Its not sex"

Rich,

When two Marines and one salior had abducted and raped a little Japanese girl. And some high ranking officer (either Marine or Naval?) made remarks something to the effect of: I don't know why they did this... if they wanted some sex all they had to do is get a prostitute. The officer was quite quickly relieved of his command, under the outrage and shock of the civilian world that some how lack & want of sex leads one to pedophillia.

But it seems it's acceptable to speak this way about the celibate Priesthood.

The rate of pedophilia among married Protestant clergy is similar to that of unmarried Catholic clergy. This sinful activity has its roots in things other than whether one is married or single.

I suppose that the Hewko article,coming at a time when the Church is grappling with the tragedy of clergy sexual abuse, tended to elicit responses that linked the issue of priestly celibacy with that tragedy. I would have hoped, however, that there would also have been some greater focus on what he wrote (and didn't write).

I share Lawyer Hewko's admiration for the generations of married European priests who have nurtured the faith of Greek Catholics in Central and Eastern Europe and continue to do so in America. I also admire those few American married men who have managed to fly under the radar of Rome and the Apostolic Delegate, obtain priestly ordination abroad and eventually return to serve in this country. But I would have wished Hewko's article to have mentioned the anomaly of their being no married candidates for the Holy Priesthood (so far as I am aware) in any of our seminaries who have been born in this country and who will be ordained here to serve here, in either the Ukrainian or Ruthenian jurisdictions. I am unaware of there having been a single ordination of a married man in this country by any of the Ukrainian or Ruthenian eparchs in the last century. And, although the web page of the Ukrainian Seminary in Ottawa suggests that candidates there may consider marriage before ordination, I am told that the brief experiment in ordaining married men in Canada has not been revived for several years. Isn't it time that our hierarchs took the papal bull by the horns?

Another aspect of Hewko's article, alluded to in some of the posts, is its implication that our married priests do not share the failings of their Roman brothers. True? After all, all of our ordinands in this country have been celibates, and have been raised in the same culture, is it not possible that some of them have 'acted out' their sexual disfunctionality in unacceptable ways? And is it not possible that some married priests will fail in coming to terms wiith their sexuality that their acting out may be directed towards others than young boys? Maybe small communities are better at keeping thier domestic secrets from the press and public.

Tim

Dear Tim,

If I remember correctly, Metropolitan Michael ordained 3 or 4 married priests for parishes in Manitoba last summer. I remember because I was about to post the story here. When I tried to log onto the Forum, the server had crashed. The story may still be on the website.

www.archeparchy.ca [archeparchy.ca]


John
Pilgrim and Odd Duck

I am delighted to learn that my information on the demise of the married-priest revival in Canada was incorrect. The web site, however, seems impenetrable past the first page.

Anyone else have a link to information on these ordinations?

Anyone else see any reaction to the Hewko article? I wrote to him directly and got nom response. As well-intentioned as it was, the article did a great disservice to the Byzantine Church by giving the impression that married parish clergy had been the norm in the US and by suggesting that Greek Catholic priests are somehow immune to the pressures and failings of their Roman counterparts.

It used to be said that the two greatest temptations of the celibate priest were "Punch" and "Judy". Now we have been subjected to an avalanche of reports that suggest that some celibates also face the additional temptation of "Junior". If we step back, however, we will realize that sexual disfunctionaliity and substance abuse are not limited to celibates, or indeed to male clergy, and that sexual disfunctionality may lead to actions directed towards the opposite sex as well as the same sex. Our priests and religious are living in the same stressful world as their Roman brothers and sisters.

Let's all pray for our priests and religious this Easter!

Tim,
Here is a link to the church where the ordinations took place and it has alittle hting on it.
-ukrainiancatholic
http://www.icenter.net/~mwpage/pilgrimage.html

Tim, You have to go down to the bottom of the page and click on Ukranian Catholic Archeparchy of Winnipeg, then click on Announcements. The pertinent article is dated August 20, 2001.

Vicki


[QUOTE]Originally posted by TIM:
[QB]I am delighted to learn that my information on the demise of the married-priest revival in Canada was incorrect. The web site, however, seems impenetrable past the first page.

Dear Tim,

I had not realized how difficult the Winnepeg website is to use. They have made major changes since last year. The text of the announcement follows.

----------------------------------------

Announcements - Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Winnipeg


August 20, 2001
Four Men Ordained to the Holy Priesthood

His Grace, Most Rev. Michael Bzdel ordained four men to the Holy
Priesthood yesterday, Sunday August 19, 2001 at the final
Hierarchical Divine Liturgy at the Cooks Creek Annual Dormition
Pilgrimage.

Approximately 1200 people particpated in the service
where Nestor Yakiwchuk, Michael Krochak, Peter Chorney and Emil
Kardasinec were elevated by "Divine Grace that always heals the
infirm" to the Presbyterate. Yakiwchuk, Krochak, and Chorney have
been married deacons serving the Archeparchy for close to twenty
years before their ordinations.

Fr. Krochak will be pastor of St.
John the Apostle (Winnipeg), Fr. Chorney will be pastor of Sacred
Heart parish in Gimli and surrounding area, Fr. Kardasinec will be
pastor of the parishes in The Pas, Flin Flon and Thompson, and Fr.
Yakiwchuk has yet to be assigned.


---------------------------------

John
Pilgrim and Odd Duck

Don't forget Bishop Basil Losten right here in the good ol' USA ordained Stepan Bilyk and Kyril Mandolev, both married, to the priesthood in New York last Summer (I think it was last August).
Subdeacon Randolph Brown, a sinner