There subtly lays a historic hipocracy in the Catholic Church concerning a priests vow of celibacy; the first pope, St. Peter, was married. Another influential member of the church, once Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo of Zambia, ordained four bishops who were already married without a papal mandate, which warranted an automatic excommunication from the church.
After his departure from official practice, he found the Married Priests Now organization. The group welcomed married priests and assisted each in reintegrating them into the ministry. In response to Milingo's efforts, the Vatican organized a high level conference that would discuss the role of marriage in the priesthood. Emmanuel's extensive work in the cause has brought purpose back into the lives of married priests worldwide, and how does the Vatican reward him? By revoking his Vatican passport, which revoked his diplomatic protection from the Vatican City State.
2 comments:
Religion is a constantly evolving aspect of people's lives. It changes with social movements and as new norms are created. Although I think tradition is very important, perhaps the Catholic church should look at the changes the world is calling for them to make.
-AO
I think Archbishop Emanuel Milingo is a prophet. His intent is to save the Roman Catholic Church. Making celibacy no longer mandatory for a Roman Catholic priest would create more honesty and more dynamism to the priesthood and also to the Church. We should never forget that the Church is the Church of Christ, not of a pope. In practice, in many parts of Asia, Latin America and Africa the priests have already semilegal liaisons. Much is gained if this would become official as in the Orthodox Church, the Methodist and the Anglican Church and as it was in the past in the RC Church.
Post a Comment