The next assembly of the Synod of Bishops must take up the issue of mandatory priestly celibacy. Now is the time. Following the death of a good man, Bishop Edward Daly — who went to the Lord on August 8, 2016 –, there was an appreciation of his life published on the website of the Read more
My wife and I, we have four children, all younger than 7. Ours is not a quiet house. A house of screaming and a house of endless snot, it’s also a house of love, grown and multiplied every few years. In a house of little sleep, my hobby these days is simply to sit down; Read more
Celibacy is not an obstacle to increasing priestly vocations. According to Bishop Wellington de Queiroz Vieira of Cristalandia and a member of the current Amazon synod the real issue is a lack of holiness. de Queiroz says combating priest shortages in the Amazon region by ordaining mature married men does not address a greater problem. Read more
Married priests could be a possibility if prelates ask Pope Francis to allow it, German Cardinal Walter Kasper says. Kasper, who is considered one of Francis’s close theological advisers, says such a change could be made during this year’s Synod of Bishops on the Amazon set for this October, if the prelates were to ask Read more
Celibacy in the priesthood is once again up for discussion. The diminished number of candidates for ordination and the abuse crisis have prodded the discussion, which seems mainly focused on the elimination of celibacy as a mandatory discipline for priests in the Western church. But a more foundational concern, in my estimation, needs our reflection Read more
Church volunteers who are members of the German Catholic women’s movement Maria 2.0 have launched a week-long strike. They are holding rites without priests outside churches and suspending voluntary church work and ministries in 50 parishes in protest over the male-only priesthood, celibacy and the church’s slow response to sex scandals. Masses and committees will Read more
Sexual immaturity and poor formation are to blame for the sex abuse crisis the Church is facing, says a Canadian nun with a doctorate in clinical sexology. The crisis does not mean “the end of faith” but rather “the end of a lack of formation and the end of deviance,” and a call to return Read more
Cardinal Reinhard Marx says the Catholic Church in Germany is embarking on a “binding synodal process” to tackle three key issues that arose from the clerical abuse crisis. These include priestly celibacy, the Church’s teaching on sexual morality and a reduction of clerical power. Marx, who is the president of the German bishops’ conference, says Read more
The Vatican’s rules for priests who father children will not be made public. Alessandro Gisotti, a Vatican spokesman, says a 2017 document synthesised a decade’s worth of procedures and that its “fundamental principle” was the “protection of the child”. The document is for internal use only. Gisotti explains the rules say a priest who fathered Read more
On Holy Saturday, The New York Times published an article by Nicholas Kristof with the provocative title “God and Her (Female) Clergy”. The article focuses on the increasing numbers of women entering the clergy, particularly in Christian denominations, claiming a “right” they had previously been denied. More than that, the article claimed that a further Read more