Some reading material for Priesthood Sunday...

From Bishop Fulton Sheen and others:



• Who Is A Priest? | Fr. Benedict Ashley, O.P.
• The Priest as Man, Husband, and Father | Fr. John Cihak
• St. John Vianney's Pastoral Plan | Fr. John Cihak
• Why Preaching | Peter John Cameron, O.P.
• Priest as Pastor, Servant and Shepherd | Fr. James McCarthy
• The Real Reason for the Vocation Crisis | Rev. Michael P. Orsi

Comments

[Norah]

If Abp Hepworth, Anglican archbishop, is correct and the Holy Father will permit married men to be ordained priests then Pope Benedict XVI may be presiding over the demise of the celibate Latin Rite of the priesthood.

[Rich Leonardi]

The Church teaches that celibacy is a "special gift of God" (can. 277) and has a rich theology that has developed in support of it since apostolic times. That a pastoral provision for Anglicans will lead to "the demise of the celibate Latin Rite of the priesthood" sounds like someone's wishful thinking.

[Thomas]

Norah,

You're aware that we've had married priests for a very long time, no? There's nothing new about provisions for protestant clergy converts or Eastern Rite Catholics. I fail to see how this will lead to the conclusion you've drawn.

[Norah]

That a pastoral provision for Anglicans will lead to "the demise of the celibate Latin Rite of the priesthood" sounds like someone's wishful thinking.

I think I may not have made my meaning clear Rich. I am not speaking of the pastoral provision by which married Anglican ministers could become ordained priests in the Catholic Church I am speaking of the provision which Abp Hepworth mentions that married lay men may be able to become ordained in the Catholic Church under the Anglican Ordinariate.

[Norah]

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26247534-7583,00.html
Christopher Pearson | October 24, 2009

Excerpt from comments by Abp John Hepworth

JH: Bishops in the new Anglican structure will be unmarried. This is out of respect for the tradition of Eastern and Western Christianity. But priests who come from Anglicanism will be able to serve as priests in the new structure, whether married or not, after satisfying certain requirements. The truly radical element is that married men will be able to be ordained priests in the Anglican structure indefinitely into the future.

It is anticipated that Anglican bishops who are married when they joined the new structure will still be able to serve as priestly ordinaries, exercising some of the responsibilities of bishops.

Bishops in all but name?

Abp Hepworth was a Catholic priest who left the priesthood, married, divorced, remarried and became an Anglican.