www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology What Eparchies in the United States Ordain Married men?

Im still learning little by little of the Eastern Catholic Churches traditions, Im curious what Eparchies will ordain married men to the priest hood, specifically will the The Byzantine Catholic Archeparchy of Pittsburgh ordain a man who is married? I know others might but I don't know which ones. Thank you

I have heard that the Archeparchy of Pittsburgh of the Ruthenian Byzantine Catholic Church will not ordain married men to the priesthood.

Bishop John (Eparchy of Parma) ordained a married man to the priesthood in 2006. Bishop John Michael (Romanian) has. Bishop Elya (Melkites) has.

The US hierarchs of the UGCC ordain married men.

I had heard the same thing but I wasn't sure, I tried e-mailing them but havent gotten a straight answer

So the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia will ordain married men...and your sure of this? lol sorry I just get so many mixed signals

As far as I know ordination of married candidates is no longer an issue amongst the hierarchs of the UGCC in North America.

No sure what they are doing in South America though.

Phili certainly has a good number of young married priests from Ukraine.

I think the only Byzantine Hierarchs who do not ordain married candidates are some (or 1) in the Ruthenian church.

What are the "mixed signals" that you are getting?

That's what I was told (but especially in the Parma Eparchy) when I enquired about the matter. I was told that the Eparchy of Parma does not, and will not in the near future, ordain married men to the priesthood.

I was also told by the Ukrainians (every Eparchy I contacted) that they do ordain married men, but a Latin who switched over must be part of the Church for at least 5 years and also have a stable marriage for over 5 years as well.

Well for example the rector of St. Josaphats told me they consider ordaining married men but not unless they would consider celibacy, what in the world does that mean? It seems no one is giving me a definitive answer

It may help to bear in mind that a vocation to Matrimony plus a vocation to the Holy Priesthood is not sufficient reason for a Roman Catholic to join us - to come to our Church is a vocation in itself. The "culture shock" is seldom easy. In addition several hierarchs have burned their fingers, so to speak - I'm thinking of a specific case (never mind where) whose goal was to be ordained a married priest by one of our hierarchs, then obtain bi-ritual faculties, and serve for the Latins! For this one of our bishops should stick his neck out?

A bishop whom I knew fairly well was so flooded with letters from Roman Catholics seeking to come to us purely because of the married priesthood possibility that the bishop had a letter mimeographed to inform the inquirers that this was not an option - don't call us and we probably won't call you either. Some of the inquiries were honest, after a fashion - men had the nerve to write the bishop and admit in the letter that never in their lives had they attended the Divine Liturgy anywhere!

Perhaps this helps to clarify why you may seem to be getting mixed signals, and why some hierarchs have requirements which might seem stringent.

Sorry to seem negative, but problems do happen.

Fr. Serge

I am at a loss to understand the point of all of this and what it serves, in the Latin or Eastern rites.

AMM:

Actually kinda simple. The Latin Church is absolutely against a married priesthood in its ranks. It said so at a world-wide Synod of Bishops a few years ago, affirming its long-standing discipline.

At the same time, the Eastern Catholic Churches, particularly those in the United States and other Western countries, are moving toward a full restoration of their own discipline in this area--something exactly at odds with their Latin brethren.

Now mix the two in the Western countries like the United States and you have Catholic men who feel the call and are already married. If there were an open door with no barriers, there might be a flood and that in turn would replicate the situation that lead to the problems for the Eastern Catholic Churches in the early 20th century. You might have calls to Rome to restrict the practice again in the West. There is already the mindset that Eastern Catholics outside their traditional homelands are not really "entitled" to their traditions, so it is no wonder that Eastern Catholic bishops are treading carefully. The BCC, for example, is in somewhat of a different situation. They are an Eastern Catholic Church wholly outside traditional territory. They answer directly to the Pope in Rome and have no synod with which to identify in Europe. So they may be in something of a twilight zone when it comes to providing a definite answer to this question.

BOB

Many of the replies have helped me to understand the gravity of the situation, it would be wrong to approach a church simply to be able to be a married priest, I ask all of you..please pray for me Im struggling deeply with this so please pray for me.

The BCC as a sui juris church has it's own synod in the USA presided over by the Metropolitan. So naturally the next level up in the structure is the Pope, as for all sui juris churches. They have only in recent times decided to finally follow the instructions of the Popes of nearly a 100 years to get back to their own tradition in so many things. Even Vatican II did not do much for them as evidenced that it closed nearly 50 years ago and the Metropolitan (often referred to still as Archbishop Schott) does not style himself 'His Beatitude', or wear the white klobuk. Monastercism continues to take a back seat unless it is based on an RC model. It needs to be recalled that the Americas as no more the traditional territory for the RCs than any of the various eastern churches, they all arrived from over the sea. Just some got here first. It takes time to undo the effects of cultural change brough over from Austria-Hungary and continued in the USA. Tact would demand that such direct questions are not asked of the Eparchies. However prayers for the process of the various eastern churches to engage in the process of rediscovering and restoring to honour their traditions, as directed by the Popes and Vatican II and that the process occurs smoothy would be the way to go.

Bob, yes thanks. What I am at a loss is to understand why this is the case. It simply makes no sense to me.