MARRIED MEN ORDAINED TO THE PRIESTHOOD?

Pope Francis, once again, has raised the prospect of some married men becoming priests.

Seems as though I got it wrong in thinking the issue would be addressed at the 2018 Synod on Youth and Vocations (though I still hold out some hope that the matter will be considered even then).

In the Amazon region of Brazil where there is an acute shortage of priests, the Pope has reportedly requested a debate to allow married men become priests.  The Pope’s decision was in response to a request made by Cardinal Claudio Hummes, the President of  the Episcopal Commission for the Amazon.

Cardinal Hummes had reportedly asked that the Pope ordain viri probati (married men of great faith) who would minister to people in the remote region of the Amazon, where evangelical Christians and pagan sects are displacing Catholics.  Cardinal Hummes’ request has also been supported by Monsignor Erwin Krautler, the secretary of the Episcopal Commission.

Pope Francis told Germany‘s Die Zeit newspaper: “We must consider if viri probati is a possibility. Then we must determine what tasks they can perform, for example, in remote communities.

There are approximately 10,000 Catholics for every 1 priest in the Amazon.

That’s the story, now for some personal observation and comment.

Several factors must be clarified before such a dramatic turn of events will have any significant impact upon the Universal Church.

At the outset, it should be clear and certain to almost every observer of contemporary Catholicism that this proposal will go nowhere should the Holy Father not survive or still be in the Papal Office by the time of the 2019 Synod at which it will be debated and discussed.  

The sad reality is the fact that the Church ordained married men for more than half of its history.  Now, the very idea of returning to the ancient practice is abhorrent to so many in positions of ecclesial authority.  How strange!

That having been said, if the debate does occur and the issue is seriously considered, the real game changer is whether or not the Holy Father will leave discretionary judgment to local conferences of Bishops to decide whether or not viri probati will be ordained to the Priesthood or whether such request will require the individual and specific approval of the Holy See.

One can easily imagine how a Roman Curial Congregation (Clergy or Bishops) could easily choke off any real attempt to allow married men to be ordained.

On the contrary, one can equally imagine how swiftly such an adaptation might be accepted and put into practice by local and regional Episcopal Conferences.

Second, make no mistake, once viri probati are allowed to be ordained wherever (the Amazon or Africa), the floodgates will be opened for married men to be ordained in any part of the world.

I remember how the “permanent Diaconate” was revived.  It was supposed to be the panacea for the shortage of Priests in the remote areas where the Church exists.  In a few short years, however, the vast majority of married permanent Deacons resided in the United States, hardly a remote spot on the face of the globe.  

With usual American speed and efficiency, the institution of the Permanent Diaconate was up and running and flush with candidates who were eventually ordained and providing limited service to parishes throughout the country.

One has every reason to suspect that, once viri probati are ordained for service in the Amazon or Africa or wherever, and especially if local Episcopal Conferences will have final say over the issue, the United States will in short order have a plethora of married Priests serving in American parishes.

Third, what the Bishops may or may not know (and are unwilling to even publicly consider) is the reality, the fact really, that once viri probati are admitted to the Priesthood, there will be an almost immediate outcry for the ordination of women of proven virtue to be ordained Priests.

Respectfully yielding to the present prohibitions against such a practice, I have always failed to understand the theology underlying what the Church has taught regarding the essential invalidating factor which being a woman constitutes for Priestly ordination.

The Thomistic understanding of personhood (persona) is not gender based but rather a metaphysical, ontological definition of the human person’s ability as a Priest to act in the personhood of Christ Himself (in persona Christi).  For Thomas Aquinas, personhood did not reside nor was it defined by one's reproductive organs.  Thus, philosophically and theologically speaking, women are no less human persons than men, though they may have been both considered and treated as such by the Church for centuries.

While the theological case for the ordination of women could be rather easily made even on the basis of the Thomistic understanding of personhood, Church officials have argued that, if Christ would have wanted women to serve as Priests, He would have ordained His Mother (?) or at least Mary Magdelene (?).  

What?

To have even attempted such a radical reinterpretation of the role and place of women in the ancient Mideast would have been more radical than Christ’s claim that He was indeed “the Son of God”.  Roman Law and ancient Mideast custom (still excruciating practiced by Islam) considered women to be the “chattel” (property) of men with no recognition or rights before the state or community.  

It would have been both inconceivable and impossible for women to exercise any public and official ministry in such an historical and cultural context.

Dogmatic and doctrinal teachings of the Church have been allowed to develop and advance over the course of the centuries, all except in this one specific area, that is, the personhood of women.  

One can only imagine what the Vatican would be today had women been admitted to the Priesthood during the past two millenia. 

One can only imagine the cacophony of chaos and controversy which will erupt should the issue of the ordination of women be proposed or considered.

In any case, it is long past time that the Church grows up and rethinks the narrow prescriptions it has placed upon the Order of Priesthood and acted responsibly in making the Sacraments generously available to the People of God.