"If the prelates attending the Vatican's Synod of Bishops for the Amazon ask that Pope Francis allow the ordination of married men to address a lack of Catholic ministers across the nine-nation region, the path for implementing such a proposal is fairly straightforward, say four eminent canon lawyers."
"Among the two main possibilities: Francis could issue new norms allowing bishops in the region to deviate from the church canon requiring clerics to remain celibate, or could invite the bishops to make appeal to the Vatican for special permission on a case-by-case basis."
This article from Crux outlines some of the other hurdles. The one I am going to focus on concerns education and formation.
"The solution being offered up for discussion is ordaining viri probati - proven, or tested, men - to the priesthood. These would be older, married men who would not go through the seminary system. Their education would be like that given to candidates to the permanent diaconate in the United States, involving classes at night or on weekends over a usually three-year period."
There is a fear "...that ordaining viri probati would create a caste system in the priesthood. Less educated, married, and ordained under special circumstances, these priests would be seen as second-class clergy in the Church."
Education and formation of priests is a problem that the Church has faced before. The seminary system was established by the Council of Trent in part to deal with the problem of priests who had insufficient education to successfully carry out their duties. Prior to that, priestly formation seems to have been carried out mainly by apprenticeship, the quality of which would be dependent on one's mentor.
However, the case can be made that the Apostles were not formally educated men, yet they carried out the commission to "make disciples of all nations". Acts of the Apostles details the story of the Holy Spirit "qualifying the called", rather than "calling the qualified".
The plan which has been mentioned more resembles the formation program for the permanent diaconate rather than the apprenticeship model of medieval times.
With Pope Francis being a Jesuit, I can't imagine that he won't give education and formation as much thought as is being devoted to the issue of celibacy.
I don't think we should fear a class system. Any man ordained to the priesthood shares in the same essential reality as any other priest. If the ministry of these viri probati is somewhat more limited or restricted in some way than diocesan or religious order priests who have followed more conventional paths and continue to follow the traditional ways of priestly life - so be it. If the experience with the diaconate is any indication, then most of the viri probati won't care very much about church advancement and ambition anyway; they'll be there to minister to people, and will find fulfillment in that.
ReplyDeleteI'll even predict that some of the more traditionally-formed priests, burdened as pastors with paperwork and administrivia, will envy the viri probati who are able to focus on ministry.
Jim, I think you are right that some priests may envy the viri probati who are able to focus on ministry. None of them became priests for the sake of administrivia (I like that word!) and oftentimes those tasks are a necessary evil rather than part of their job that they enjoy.
DeleteAlong with the "source and summit" description of the Eucharist, Vat II said "(N)o Christian community is built up in which does not grow from and hinge on the celebration of the most holy Eucharist." The problem of the Amazon is that, according to the teachings of the Church, Catholics are not only blocked from the source, but their Christian community is technically impossible.
ReplyDeleteDuh. That is the problem. If canon law makes solving it impossible, then canon law needs to fired. To hear some of the writhing, blubbering opponents of viri probati -- I am talking about you, Cardinal Sarah -- talk, you would think the whole church would be scandalized if a married man confected the Eucharist in the far reaches of Amazona. If so, there must be so many members of the scandalizable church running around the Amazon and seeing such abominations that the problem can be solved simply by putting some of them to work there.
Where it might get knotty, is that women seem to have more authority in the Amazon than they do in Rome, so whether men -- married or unmarried -- would make the best leaders there at least needs to be considered. Quick, bring some smelling salts. Cardinal Sarah is down again!
And what I was leading up to was mentioning that the Eastern Rites ordain married men, and we have married priests who transferred from Anglican and Lutheran persuasions in the West. It's not as if the scandal isn't there already if the canons send you into a swoon.
DeleteThis AP article gives a more creditable idea of what might happen. Its example is of an older man who wanted to be a priest when he was young, but was unable to get the seminary education. Now he is educated, and a catechist, and there is some talk of him becoming a deacon. He is willing to be a priest if he is called. All this sounds very plausible to me. I think he is the type of person that Francis would say "yes, let him be ordained." We wouldn't be making compromises with tradition. Looks like he would have been a celibate priest if he had had access to an education and seminary when young.
ReplyDeleteYes part of the problem is the lack of educational systems both in the public and church sectors. Those educational systems need to be adapted to support indigenous people.
That's an interesting article, Jack. And the following paragraph illustrates that part of the objection to proposals of the Amazonian Synod are political rather than theological:
ReplyDelete"... a member of the Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property, a Catholic group that has been highly critical of the synod and recently published a petition calling on bishops attending the meeting to advocate for the Amazon’s development, instead of letting it become a “green wasteland, populated by tribal ghettoes.”
He argues that the proposal to ordain married men is part of a broader agenda pushed by “Marxists” within the Catholic Church that aims to upend its hierarchical structure and turn it into a horizontal church, where community groups have more influence.
“This isn't new,” Ureta said of the proposal. “Liberation theologians have been pushing for it since the 1970s.”
The bit that describes preserving the rain forest as "a green wasteland, populated by tribal ghettos" is pretty much a dog-whistle. Gotta watch out for that Liberation Theology.
The problem with this issue is that there are many noisy ideologues off in their corners trying to attract the media's attention because the media thrives on controversy. This AP article did cover the usual ideologues. However the specific person it tracked seemed very human and plausible. In fact it would hardly be controversial. Here is a person who can do the job, why not ordain him?
ReplyDeleteSeems very parallel to the situation of married protestant clergy. Why not let them function as Catholic clergy, and not hold it against them that they are married?
Speaking of the education of priests/deacons/viri probati, St. John Vianney flunked Latin. From the 16th through half of the 20th Century, that would have disqualified most celibate males from the priesthood. But St. John had an understanding bishop who let him be ordained and consecrate even if he couldn't conjugate. Good thing, too, because he is the patron saint of, um, ah, priests?
ReplyDeleteNot to mention Solanus Casey ( I think Blessed?) who wasn't good with German or Latin, which his seminary required. But was ordained anyway with the conditions that he couldn't preach or hear confessions. Which doesn't make sense, because his congregants would have been English speakers.
Delete