Ordination of married men may get further study says cardinal

Ordination of married men may be subject of further study

Thursday, October 24th, 2019

Ordination of married men will probably be the subject of further post-Amazon synod study.

Cardinal Peter Turkson, who is the Prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development, says the study would aim to ensure “the Church can take a consistent position, not only in view of the Amazon, but in view of the universal Church”.

Several bishops during the Amazon synod proposed ordaining viri probati – a term used to refer to mature, married men – for ministry in remote areas of the Amazon.

Turkson says challenges in the Amazonian region are similar to challenges faced in other parts of the world, including the Congo.

In both regions “accessibility is very difficult and reduced, communication is tough, and if you want to get to places either by road or by river those challenges are there”.

He says in the Congo trained catechists are leaders in their local communities, who preach the Word of God, baptize, bury the dead and serve as extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist.

“But in that case, the guys in the synod here are listening to that and they say that is fine, but they can still can’t celebrate the Eucharist”.

“They are looking for someone who can, you know, anoint the sick, listen to confessions, celebrate the Eucharist with people, and that, of course, requires ordained ministry, for which, the examples in Africa then come short.”

Congolese Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu also sees a close comparison between the Congo River Basin and the Amazon, including several ecological, political, and pastoral problems.

He says the church in the Congo prioritized “inculturation of the Gospel” in response to a perception following the country’s independence that the Church was seen as an outside force in the immediate post-colonial era.

The most evident result of inculturation in the Congo is a “ritual of the Eucharist which is our own,” Besungu says.

“In our country, the Eucharist is a real feast.”

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