Advent Group (UK) - Support Group for Priests & Religious since 1969
Catholic bishops back limited relaxation of celibacy rule
- Created: 28 November 2019 28 November 2019
The vote came at the end of a Vatican assembly on the Amazon, where there is a severe shortage of priests.
For the proposal to take effect, it must be backed by Pope Francis, who is due to make his position clear soon.
Traditionalists fear a slippery slope to married priests throughout the Church, diluting its unique character.
The vote was taken at a three-week assembly, known as a synod, of some 180 bishops in Rome. It also looked at the role of women in the Church's work, and environmental issues.
The Catholic Church is the oldest institution in the Western world, tracing its history back almost 2,000 years, and counts more than a billion members.
Read more: Catholic bishops back limited relaxation of celibacy rule
Priest told undercover police officer he wanted to abuse boy
- Created: 12 November 2019 12 November 2019
(Sadly it looks like even with all the appropriate psychological screening for entry to the seminary, an individual like Jolley can be accpeted for the priesthood and be permitted to continue year on year to further study. When an individual displays conservative behaviour and a propensitiy for dressing up in clerical garb long before ordination, why does this not set alarm bells ringing for the Seminary staff? Untold damage has been caused by Jolley's evil behaviour and a married priesthood would give the checks and balances required for a healthy lifestyle).
Father Matthew Jolley, from Great Sankey, exchanged a string of vile messages online with a man who he thought was the toddler’s dad.
But in reality, he was talking to a police officer who had set up a fake account on a dating app – and the 32-year-old was arrested after travelling to meet up in order to act out his sick desires.
Read more: Priest told undercover police officer he wanted to abuse boy
Cardinal Turkson says ordination of married men may get further study
- Created: 23 October 2019 23 October 2019
“This issue will probably be made the subject matter of a more detailed study of the issue with view to the Church taking a consistent position, not only in view of the Amazon, but in view of the universal Church,” Turkson told EWTN News Nightly Oct. 22.
Read more: Cardinal Turkson says ordination of married men may get further study
Brazilian Bishop on married Priests
- Created: 09 October 2019 09 October 2019
BBC World Service: Husbands and Priests
- Created: 07 October 2019 07 October 2019
https://adventgroup.s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/audios/HeartAndSoul-20191004-HusbandsAndPriests.mp3
From Europe to Latin America, the Catholic church is woefully short of priests. In the Amazon region of Brazil, the shortage is so dramatic that bishops are getting ready to discuss a radical solution: allowing married men to become priests, after a thousand years of priestly celibacy.
What even most Catholics do not know is that within pockets of the Catholic fold, married priests already exist. In the Eastern Catholic churches, they are very much the norm. During a recent visit to Slovakia, Pope Francis even held these married priests up as a shining example: “The families of priests live a unique mission today.”
Blanche Girouard meets some of those married priests to find out whether and how it could work to open up the Catholic priesthood to married men more widely.
Among them is Fr Augustin Butica, who lives in Romania with his wife Violeta and four children. At one point, the couple and three of their children had to share one room because the church had no house for them to move into; but he has never questioned his dual commitment to his priestly ministry and his family.
Meanwhile in the UK, Fr Jeff Woolnough, a former Anglican priest who has transferred to the Catholic church, is grateful that his wife Julie is there to support him at the worst of times - when he is called to the local hospital in the middle of the night to give an accident victim the last rites.
Presenter/Reporter: Blanche Girouard.
Producer: Kristine Pommert