Huh?

[hyperdulia again]

Married Priests and Church Law

10/25/2002

by Father Delmar S. Smolinski, JCL, SWL

CANONICAL REFLECTION ON PASTORAL EMERGENCY AND THE USE OF MARRIED PRIESTS IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

PASTORAL EMERGENCY

A state of emergency occurs in the Church when there is a threat against the continuation or the essential activities of the Church. At this time in the history of the Catholic Church, a shortage and unavailability of celibate priests has caused emergency situations regarding the Christian faithful's constitutive (Baptismal) "right to be assisted by their Pastors from the spiritual riches of the Church, especially by the word of God and the Sacraments" (Can. 213). A reversal of this shortage of celibate priests and its consequent emergency situations is quite unlikely for the future. In fact, most studies and prognoses of the vocational picture for the celibate priesthood (including those sponsored by the U.S. National Conference of Catholic Bishops) indicate that the crisis will only grow worse in the years ahead, resulting in increasingly fewer opportunities for Christ's faithful to celebrate the Sacraments, as well as fewer and older celibate priests to serve increasingly larger numbers of the faithful. The merging or closing of parishes generally is not an acceptable answer to the crisis from the viewpoint of local faith communities. Accordingly, such pastoral emergencies call for the emergency kinds of sacramental administration that are permitted by the Code of Canon Law, such as In cases of "danger of death" (Can. 976 and Can. 883:3), "necessity or genuine spiritual advantage" (Can. 844:2), "reasonable cause" (Can. 1003:2), "grave inconvenience" (Can. 1116 and Can. 1323:4), and "just reason" (Can. 1335). Perhaps unknown to some, the Christian faithful do not need further permission to act in order to fulfill their pastoral needs in emergencies. Empowerment to act lies within the emergency Canons themselves, which flow from what must always be the supreme law of the Church: the salvation of souls (Can. 1752).

PERTINENT CANONS

Can. 292, which is concerned with restricting the right of a priest to exercise the power of orders (i.e. to administer the sacraments) is a merely ecclesiastical law (a man-made disciplinary law) of the Roman Catholic Church. Can.1037, which requires the obligation of celibacy for priests, likewise is a merely ecclesiastical law. Such laws are of human origin and can be altered or eliminated by human initiative in view of the changing pastoral circumstances of Christ's faithful. Can. 213 which expresses the right of the faithful to receive assistance from the sacred Pastors out of the spiritual goods of the Church, especially the word of God and the Sacraments, is of divine origin through Baptism in Jesus. Such a law is constitutive (essential) for the baptized and cannot be altered or eliminated by human initiative. It likewise is correct to say that fulfillment of such a law must not be neglected by those who serve as Pastors in the Church. Under the circumstances caused by a shortage of celibate priests, Can. 213 has priority over Cans. 292 and 1037. This is the reasoning and logic behind other canons which deal with the needs of Christ's faithful in emergency situations, such as Can. 976 which allows a priest without faculties to hear confessions in danger of death, even with an approved priest present, or Can. 883:3 which allows any priest to administer Confirmation likewise in danger of death, or Can. 1003:2 which allows any priest to administer the Anointing of the Sick for a reasonable cause, or Can. 1116 which calls for the presence of another priest or deacon in a Marriage celebrated before witnesses only, when the presence of or access to an authorized minister is impossible without grave inconvenience. This is the reasoning and logic likewise behind Can. 844:2 which allows reception of Penance, Eucharist, and Anointing of the Sick from any validly ordained minister (not just those of the Orthodox Church, as some would interpret), whenever necessity requires or spiritual advantage suggests it. This is the reasoning and logic also behind Can. 1335 which allows Sacramental ministry even by a censured/suspended priest who may have married without formal ecclesiastical permission, whenever the faithful make such requests out of necessity or for any just cause. Finally, this is the reasoning and logic behind Can. 1323:4 whereby a person cannot be penalized when he/she has violated a merely ecclesiastical law or precept, who acted out of necessity or serious inconvenience in regard to matters that are not intrinsically evil or harmful to souls. Regarding Can. 843:1 which is about sacred ministers not being able to refuse the Sacraments to the faithful, it seems reasonable and logical that asking for the Sacraments from a validly ordained, married Roman Catholic priest, out of spiritual need, when no celibate priest is available, is a request that is as opportune/appropriate as can be. After all, the Sacraments are the Christ-instituted, sine qua non means for accomplishing the sanctification of humankind now (Can. 840), not in the afterlife. Some, from their canonical perspective, feel obliged to defend the status quo with a more restrictive and less generous interpretation of the above canons on pastoral needs in emergency situations. The problematic consequence of such a defense, however, is a failure to fulfill the demands of Can. 213 regarding the constitutive right of Christ's faithful to the spiritual goods of the Church, especially the word of God and the Sacraments. From the laity's perspective, it is like offering your car to a friend to get to the store for groceries, while simultaneously withholding the ignition key. Whether the authors of the 1983 Code of Canon Law realized the full implications of their product or not, utilization of the canons therein by the Christian faithful via married priests is certainly in keeping with Can. 1752 which states that the supreme law in the Church must always be the salvation of souls. Sometimes, perhaps especially in pastorally transitional times, we have to reply along with Peter and the Apostles: "Obedience to God (fulfillment of need for Sacraments) comes before obedience to men (singular method of ministry that is no longer effective) (Acts 5:29). We ought also to keep in mind this statement of Canon Law Professor Ladislas Orsy, SJ, of the Catholic University of America, when he addressed the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome in 1992: (Theologians) "must intuit and determine the values that the community needs to sustain its life and growth . . .The ecclesial vocation of canon lawyers is to be trustees of the values necessary for the life of the community, and to be administrators of the process by which the community can appropriate them." The sensus fidelium, the actual, Spirit-led, pastoral experience of local Christian communities of faith is a true locus theologicus-canonicus, a genuine and indispensable source of learning theology and producing appropriate canon law.

DEVELOPING PASTORAL LAW

Pope Paul Vl, on November 20, 1965, in an address to the Pontifical Commission for the revision of the Code of Canon Law stated that Canon Law must be accommodated to the new manner of thinking (novus habitue mentis) in accord with Vatican II, which stresses very much pastoral ministry. Canon Law must, therefore, consider the new needs of the people of God. The celibate priest shortage has created new needs among the Christian faithful - married priests are being asked by the Christian faithful to respond to their new needs. The preface of the Latin Edition of the 1983 Code of Canon Law states that "To foster the pastoral care of souls as much as possible, the new law, besides the virtue of Justice, is to take cognizance of charity, temperance, humanness. And moderation, whereby equity is to be pursued not only in the application of the laws by pastors of souls but also in the legislation itself. Hence unduly rigid norms are to be set aside and rather, recourse is to be taken to exhortations and persuasions where there is no need of a strict observance of the law on account of the public good and general ecclesiastical discipline." Jesus' word to John was, "Anyone who is not against us is with us." (Mark 9:39). These principles and directives of Pope Paul Vl and the Code Preface are precisely what a growing number of married priests (Worldwide there are over 100,000 married priests, over 20,000 in the USA alone.) are following and implementing in their response to the pastoral-Sacramental needs of Christ's faithful. This contemporary experience of Christ's faithful is of no small significance, because throughout the history of the Catholic Church practice leads to custom and custom leads to law-a living law both generated and received by the faithful to realistically meet their spiritual needs. The signs of the times call for listening with open mind and heart to Bishop Lawrence Burke, SJ, of Nassau, Bahamas, who delivered a pertinent message to the 1990 World Synod of Bishops in Rome on the formation of priests: "Although it is easier to achieve unity through uniformity, the challenge facing the Church today is to achieve unity through legitimate diversity. The temptation to centralize and control must be avoided. We should learn from the history of the Church. The role of bishop and priest developed as the needs of the people of God changed. There have been different theologies and different models of priesthood throughout the centuries. At one time the emphasis may have been juridical, at another time it may have been cultic, at still another time it has been monastic or pastoral. Clearly, diversity and adaptation have been staple features in the history of the priesthood. Priesthood exists to serve the Church, not the other way around. We cannot be complacent with static notions of the priesthood while thousands of Catholics throughout the world are in need of evangelization and the sacraments. The Church should not just lament the incursion of the sects, but must herself take some responsibility for that incursion. Have not our fixed notions of the priesthood and of who should qualify as priests contributed to this undesirable situation? People are spiritually hungry, and where the Church fails to provide leaders and sustenance for the flock, the flock will seek nourishment wherever it finds it...."

CONCLUSION

In view of a shortage and unavailability of celibate clergy, the use of married priests to provide pastoral-Sacramental ministry to Christ's faithful is a measure that is valid, lawful, and appropriate for our time. Perhaps just as important, the return of a married priesthood ministering to the faithful, side by side with a celibate priesthood, in the third millennium of Christianity, is a pastoral development and wholesome balancing whose time has come. St. Paul put it well: "As your co-workers we beg you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For God says, 'In an acceptable time I have heard you, on a day of salvation I have helped you.' Now is the acceptable time! Now is the day of salvation!"(2 Corinthians 6:1-2)

Father Delmar S. Smolinski, JCL, SWL
Canon Law consultant for CITI, Inc.

[cmotherofpirl]

So some priest wants to change Church Law and have a married priesthood?
You can always find one somewhere.

[Good Friday]

[quote name='cmotherofpirl']So some priest wants to change Church Law and have a married priesthood?
You can always find one somewhere.[/quote]
If I understand it correctly, Fr. Smolinski is arguing that Canon Law [b]already[/b] mandates that the Church should do everything in its power, including ordain married men, to provide the sacraments in cases of pastoral emergency; and that a pastoral emergency currently exists worldwide because many Catholics are deprived of the Eucharist due to the worldwide priest shortage.

Of course, the pastoral emergency is only going to get worse according to all statistics. Meanwhile, many Catholics are already being deprived of their baptismal right to receive the assistance of the sacraments, particularly the Eucharist. Rome cannot reconcile its decision to continue a discipline which can be altered (mandatory celibacy) in order to help solve this pastoral emergency with the Code of Canon Law's assertion that Catholics have a baptismal [b]right[/b] to receive the assistance of the sacraments. The question is, which does Rome consider more important: Catholics' baptismal right to the assistance of the sacraments, or the discipline of mandatory celibacy? If it's the latter, then Rome needs to try reading the pope's own encyclical on the Eucharist. The Eucharist is more important than mandatory celibacy -- Canon Law says as much.

[MichaelFilo]

However, in depearting from this discipline, we must take into effect all side-effects. To allow married priests would A) throw of f less educated Catholics and they could only wonder why She is changing. B) Give fodd3er for the world to crack jokes and show that the Church is inconsistent to an uneducated peoples about discipline and faith issues. C) Allowing married priests to serve won't really help the problem, priests are only paid enough to live, they'd need another job to keep the family going. This is usually and 8 hour job, then the priest will spend 8 more hours working as a priest, and never see his family, causing many familial problems, as well as making alot of priests incapable to fully assume their roles as they are split between priest duties and family. The churchw ill be paying for all those people and getting back very little for how much it'll pay. Married priests aren't even a valid idea anymore.

God bless,
Mikey

[JP2Iloveyou]

As a seminarian, I am opposed to a married priesthood. I won't rule it out, because as has been pointed out, it is a discipline, not a doctrine. As you all know, there are many fine priests serving as married men in the eastern Church and a few in the western. However, if I am a priest one day, I want to be able to be a priest, not be a priest part of the day and a husband and father the other part.

[Good Friday]

[quote name='JP2Iloveyou']As a seminarian, I am opposed to a married priesthood. I won't rule it out, because as has been pointed out, it is a discipline, not a doctrine. As you all know, there are many fine priests serving as married men in the eastern Church and a few in the western. However, if I am a priest one day, I want to be able to be a priest, not be a priest part of the day and a husband and father the other part.[/quote]
Meanwhile, as a seminarian, it's okay with you that many Catholics worldwide are going without their baptismal right to the assistance of the sacraments? That's basically what you and anyone else who takes this position is saying -- mandatory celibacy is more important to you than the baptismal right of Catholics to receive the assistance of the sacraments. That seems rather selfish, doesn't it?

[cmotherofpirl]

And just how many Catholics are going without the sacraments?

Instead of telling the Church to change, manybe some prayer and some encouragement for people to answer the call God has already put in thier hearts would be in order.

[Good Friday]

[quote name='cmotherofpirl']And just how many Catholics are going without the sacraments?

Instead of telling the Church to change, manybe some prayer and some encouragement for people to answer the call God has already put in thier hearts would be in order.[/quote]
There are married people whom God has called. Should I encourage them, too?

Maybe the reason God won't give you more celibate vocations is because he has already given you more vocations in places you refuse to look. Have you considered that?

[Apotheoun]

Canon law reflects the mind of the legislator, i.e., the Pope, and so it is for him alone to determine if the present circumstances within the Latin rite allow for the ordination of married men as priests.

God bless,
Todd

[Good Friday]

[quote name='Apotheoun']Canon law reflects the mind of the legislator, i.e., the Pope, and so it is for him alone to determine if the present circumstances within the Latin rite allow for the ordination of married men as priests.[/quote]
And Canon Law explicitly says that Catholics have a baptismal right to the assistance of the sacraments. Laypeople can look at that and see that he right is being denied them for reasons that are not sufficient. And if Canon Law were only for the interpretation of the Pope, we wouldn't have canon lawyers and diocesan tribunals.

[Apotheoun]

[quote name='Good Friday' date='Jan 21 2005, 10:06 AM'] [quote name='Apotheoun']Canon law reflects the mind of the legislator, i.e., the Pope, and so it is for him alone to determine if the present circumstances within the Latin rite allow for the ordination of married men as priests.[/quote]
And Canon Law explicitly says that Catholics have a baptismal right to the assistance of the sacraments. Laypeople can look at that and see that he right is being denied them for reasons that are not sufficient. And if Canon Law were only for the interpretation of the Pope, we wouldn't have canon lawyers and diocesan tribunals. [/quote]
The Pope alone, through the Roman Rota and the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts, determines how canon law is applied. Thus, a canonist, no matter how erudite, does not determine if the various criteria indicated in canon law for an emergency situation actually exists. Instead, it is the Pope who determines if the circumstances qualify as an emergency, and he makes this decision based upon his authority as the supreme legislator within the Church.

God bless,
Todd

[Socrates]

I don't think the primary problem here really has anything to do with marriage and celibacy requirements. The Church has required priests to be celibate through most of her history, and throught most of that time there has been no shortage of vocations.

The problem is the state of the Church as a whole.
The problem is that many contemporary Catholics just don't take the Faith very seriously. They pick and choose what beliefs or practices they want to follow. They don't go to mass regularly. They don't receive the Sacrament of Penance. The Faith plays little part in their lives. So of course they are not going to be willing to give their lives to God as priests!

Among solid, orthodox diocese, parishes, etc., vocations are flourishing.

Where there is Faith, there are vocations.
Where there is not Faith, there are not vocations.

[Apotheoun]

[quote name='Socrates' date='Jan 21 2005, 10:19 AM'] I don't think the primary problem here really has anything to do with marriage and celibacy requirements.  The Church has required priests to be celibate through most of her history, and throught most of that time there has been no shortage of vocations.

The problem is the state of the Church as a whole.
The problem is that many contemporary Catholics just don't take the Faith very seriously.  They pick and choose what beliefs or practices they want to follow.  They don't go to mass regularly.  They don't receive the Sacrament of Penance.  The Faith plays little part in their lives.  So of course they are not going to be willing to give their lives to God as priests!

Among solid, orthodox diocese, parishes, etc., vocations are flourishing.

Where there is Faith, there are vocations.
Where there is not Faith, there are not vocations. [/quote]
This is true. I'm an Eastern Catholic and many of the Byzantine Churches have married priests, but even in those particular Churches there is at the present time a shortage of priests. The problem is not centered upon celibacy, rather it is a cultural problem, a problem focused on the unwillingness of many men to make life long commitments. It is the hedonistic materialism of the modern western world that tends to discourage the vocations of men to the priestly and religious life. Thus, what is needed is a true moral reform of society.

God bless,
Todd

[Good Friday]

Oh brother.

[MC Just]

ROTFL.....Liberal Radical Feminists have atempted to destroy the Male Priesthood, the "shortage" was created by them so they can get Female and married priests.They will never get what they want.

[spathariossa]

[quote name='Apotheoun' date='Jan 21 2005, 12:26 PM'] This is true. I'm an Eastern Catholic and many of the Byzantine Churches have married priests, but even in those particular Churches there is at the present time a shortage of priests. The problem is not centered upon celibacy, rather it is a cultural problem, a problem focused on the unwillingness of many men to make life long commitments. It is the hedonistic materialism of the modern western world that tends to discourage the vocations of men to the priestly and religious life. Thus, what is needed is a true moral reform of society.

God bless,
Todd [/quote]
I agree. I'd be a priest but I kinda messed that whole thing up.

[Good Friday]

[quote name='MC Just']ROTFL.....Liberal Radical Feminists have atempted to destroy the Male Priesthood, the "shortage" was created by them so they can get Female and married priests.They will never get what they want.[/quote]
I don't even know why I'm responding to you, but . . .

The priest shortage was not created by anyone, it is a reality; just ask the people who celebrate Sunday Services in the Absence of a Priest, which resembles a Good Friday service and is not a Mass, and deprives them of their baptismal right to the assistance of the sacraments. Even the Church acknowledges that there is a priest shortage -- why do you think the bishops and the pope are so hyper about praying for vocations?

[hyperdulia again]

Many things are responsible for the priest shortage, but I fear that we might ecome "Protestant by default" to quote the Asian bishops. A Church of the Word, but not of the Sacraments...that's scary.

[Good Friday]

[quote name='hyperdulia again']Many things are responsible for the priest shortage, but I fear that we might ecome "Protestant by default" to quote the Asian bishops. A Church of the Word, but not of the Sacraments...that's scary.[/quote]
I agree with you that the reasons for the priest shortage are manifold. I think that celibacy is certainly an issue; I also think that the culture of clericalism, which sets priests so apart from the faithful, has made the priesthood look unappealing to Catholics who have a sense of mission among the people instead of apart from them; I think that the sexual abuse scandal has eroded the image of the priesthood in the eyes of young men; and I do think that our culture of selfishness in this country and in Western Europe have contributed to it, but the culture of selfishness is not just a result of "liberalism" -- conservatives contribute to it, as well, by variously advocating an incorrect use of the death penalty, unjust war, torture (which is intrinsically evil), unfettered capitalism, etc. These are all selfish and contribute to our culture of selfishness. Liberals play their part, too, but we are not solely to blame.

I also recognize that the ordination of married men will not be a cure all, and that it will bring its own problems which will need to be solved. One of them, which was brought up on this thread, is that we will have to figure out how these men's families are going to be provided for. That is a difficult question, and I don't have any easy answers to it. What I do know is that there is an increasing number of parishes worldwide, both in the developing world and in the developed world, which are celebrating Sunday Services in the Absence of a Priest instead of Sunday Eucharist. Most think that people are not legitimately concerned about this and that it is just a front for trying to change Church discipline; in my case, at least, that isn't true. My genuine concern is that the Church will cease to be sacramental when the Sacrament of Sacraments is replaced with Sunday Services in the Absence of a Priest, which do not celebrate the Eucharist and are not sacramental in nature. How can the local Church continue to be a sacramental Church without the Eucharist, if "the Church draws her life from the Eucharist" ([i]Ecclesia de Eucharistia[/i], #1)?

I still think that the best way to solve the priest shortage is to pray for more vocations. But I think that it's a bad idea at this stage in the shortage for us to totally ignore, without even discussing it, the vocations which may be available to the Church among married men. As I asked before: How can we be sure that God has not already given us the vocations that we've been asking for, and that we're not just failing to look in the right places?

I know that many Catholics don't favor married priests; that's why I think we should have a discussion of it instead of just leaping into it. But ignoring, minimizing or even belittling the priest shortage throughout the world isn't going to solve anything, and it only presents a Church that is in denial and can't come to grips with reality in its own state of affairs. This priest shortage is affecting many Catholics throughout the world (no, I don't have a statistic handy on how many, but it's a lot), and the fact is that they are being deprived of their baptismal right to the assistance of the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, and that this will eventually lead to a greater loss of our sacramental faith among Catholics. There is already a lack of belief in the Real Presence among Catholics; this will only worsen if Catholics rarely experience the Real Presence.

[hyperdulia again]

I'm actually in favor of married priests, if it gets one priest to one church that would have had to do without Sacramental Grace, I think it's worth whatever pronlems it causes.