www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology Clerical celibacy in the U.S.?

This question may have been asked on this forum before. So please forgive a naive inquiry from a newbie:

Do any Eastern Catholic churches in the U.S. ordain married men?

I know that in past decades, this was a very thorny issue, and this led to some Eastern Catholics in the U.S. joining the Orthodox churches.

Has the situation changed in recent decades? Or does the ban ordaining on married men remain in place in U.S. Eastern Catholic churches?

LOL - asked before? That question? Here? Surely, you jest

In all seriousness, there was an extremely recent thread on the subject. I'll see if I can find it and post the link to it, rather than start from scratch.

The short answer in the meantime is yes.

Bishop John of Parma of the Ruthenians has done so a couple of times in recent years, as memory serves. I believe that there are a few married Ruthenian priests who have come over from the Old Country as well.

The Melkites have sent married men back to the Old Country to be ordained and return here and have brought married priests here, but Bishop Nicholas has suggested that ordaining married men in this country is a priority for him.

Bishop John Michael of the Romanians has done so, I believe.

The Ukrainians have brought married priests to this country, but I don't know that they have ordained any here as yet.

Many years,

Neil

Groups of Byzantine Catholics have indeed left the Catholic Church and re-united with Orthodoxy in at least 2 waves I can think of: during the late 1800s and early 1900s under the leadership of St. (Fr.) Alexis Toth and then again in the late 1920s-early 1930s, which led to the formation of ACROD.

The issue of clerical celibacy being imposed by Rome on EC clerics was but the tip of the iceberg. For years RC hierarchy had been treating ECs like dirt in many ways and finally they had enough of broken Roman promises and lies and abandoned ship and went over to the Orthodox.

Lately the relations between RC hierarchs and EC hierarchs have improved but there's still a long way to go. Bl. Pope John Paul 2 did what he could to educate the RC hierarchy about us.

Every Eparchy in the US has ordained married men to the presbyterate in the last decade. The last time I actually calculated it several years ago, my Eparchy of St. Nicholas had 2/3 married parochial clergy.

Deacon Randy,

Thanks for the clarification.

Many years,

Neil