Should priests be allowed to get married?
The issue of ending celibacy for the clergy has long interested Catholics.
The possibility of engaging the public in a discussion of the issue was opened by Pope Francis when he recently requested Brazilian bishops to discuss and vote on ordaining the “viri probati,” known as the “married men of great faith,” to serve parishes in the Amazon, where one priest administers to 10,000 of the faithful.
As reported by www.telegraph.co.uk, the pope formally solicited proposals from the Brazilian bishops after knowing the situation in the Amazon region where a shortage of priests, coupled with pressure from evangelical Christians and animist religions, puts Catholicism to the test.
Pope Francis said that celibacy is “part of the discipline of the Church, rather than dogma, meaning that it can be discussed,” reported “The Telegraph”.
The Vatican imposed celibacy to enable priests to focus on serving the flock.
Yet, Peter, the first pope, was married with children. During the first 1,000 years, the church allowed priests to marry and raise families.
Deviations from the celibacy rule have been the subject of speculations in parishes. Jose Rizal’s classic novels, “Noli Me Tangere” and “El Filibusterismo,” feature the characters of Padre Damaso and Padre Salvi, whose immoral characters, which were based on actual persons, set off social upheavals.
Current social norms urge the church leadership to address the concern of enforced celibacy despite pressure from conservative sectors to maintain the status quo.
Many Catholics are now less tolerant of priests who have partners and families. Ranged against other controversies involving the priesthood, such as pedophilia, sex abuse, and lavish lifestyles, the issue may draw less public opprobrium.
However, as the church takes an advocacy of calling for public transparency from political and other social leaders, it should lead by example in opening dialogues within the church, specially including the laity and the faithful, to discuss the issue of allowing priests to marry.
Many priests who have left the priesthood to start families support the call for optional celibacy. They feel that as husbands and fathers, they can empathize more with the faithful through shared experiences.
Married former priests have many concerns that the church must address, too. The formal dispensation of priesthood vows is a slow process that forces many former priests to live with their partners before the process is completed.
SunStar Cebu columnist and former priest Orlando C. Carvajal wrote in his “Break Point” column on May 31, 2016 that the Philippine Federation of Married Catholic Priests, Inc. (PFMCPI) is a diverse group with some members supporting optional celibacy.
“Others, who think optional celibacy cannot happen in their lifetime, just continue performing the sacraments as married priests to their families and those who ask the same of them. Many others want to be somehow allowed to serve the people of God even if in non-sacramental ways.”
A member of the Association of Married Catholic Priests of Cebu, Inc., Carvajal wrote in the same article that during its 2005 congress, the World Confederation of Federations of Married Catholic Priests “assure(d) the Vatican that it is not a schismatic group but simply wants to contribute from within the Catholic Church to its transformation along the lines of Vatican II.”
With the leadership of Pope Francis, the church should seize the opportunity to ventilate differing perspectives on the celibacy issue, specially as it affects married priests and their families.
“No one can be condemned forever, because that is not the logic of the Gospel! Here I am not speaking only of the divorced and remarried, but of everyone, in whatever situation they find themselves,” said Pope Francis in his treatise, “Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love),” on April 2016.