Ordain Married Catholic Men to Save the Inner City Catholic Church

By

Sherman N. Miller

 3/7/2007

As a Roman Catholic, each time I hear of another inner city Catholic school closure or a parish teetering on closing, I feel uneasiness. What is gut-wrenching is that the communities surrounding many of these churches may not be empty yet the church leadership has not figured out how to save these inner city souls. Hence, the clock is ticking on the demise of the inner city Catholic Church as elderly ethnic parishioners die out.

            The above scenario suggests that sooner or later archdioceses will pull priests out of these dying parishes to cover the huge priest shortage the Catholic Church is facing worldwide. You get a feel for the priest shortage in a FutureChurch.org article, “The priest shortage at a glance.” “. . . Our priest population is aging, so that by the year 2005, U.S. priests will be older with almost half being 55 or above and only one in eight under 35. To compound the crisis, the total number of U.S. Catholics is expected to increase by 65% in the same period.

“Currently 27% of U.S. parishes do not have a resident priest according to the 2000 study done by the US Bishops. An estimated 58,000 parishes and 112,000 mission stations worldwide are without a priest according to the 1997 Vatican Statistical Yearbook.”

            This church closure issue is on the forefront at Christ Our King Church in Wilmington, DE where the local parish priest had to reassure the parishioners that our church was not slated for closure. Therefore, I looked for an opportunity to chat with Bishop Michael A. Saltarelli of the Diocese of Wilmington, DE to understand what the church is doing or is not doing to solve the priest shortage crisis.  I first called his attention to the pedophilia crisis that is causing some US dioceses to teeter on bankruptcy trying to cover millions of dollars in law suits over some unholy actions of some pedophilic priests. He argued that the church has been open in trying to solve this problem. I got the impression Bishop Saltarelli felt the worst of this pedophilia crisis was behind the church.

            I shared Bishop Saltarelli’s comment with a conservative Catholic Pennsylvanian who is known for his strong beliefs in church doctrine. This Pennsylvania Catholic feels that the Catholic Church leadership may not have fully comprehended the extent of the damage that this pedophilia crisis has done to the church’s ability to get things done. He saw it as unforgivable that some American Catholic Bishops hid these bad priests’ sins for years while allowing innocent children to be abused.    

            I asked Bishop Saltarelli why the Catholic Church was not ordaining the married deacons that they now have handling many of the duties of the church. The deacons I know are college graduate men. Bishop Saltarelli shared that ordination had to be sanctioned by the Pope. On the other hand, Bishop Saltarelli shared that married Anglican priests who wish to convert to Catholicism could become priests.

This allowing converts to become priests but discriminating against Catholic married men, I argued, was tantamount to a double standard. I saw this double standard as an insult to the dignity of Catholic married men who have a religious calling to serve as priests.

            I then suggested that perhaps I could switch faiths to become an Anglican priest and rejoin the Catholic Church as a married priest. Bishop Saltarelli said my motives would be questioned.

What may take you aback is the Catholic Church leadership is well aware that married male priests may help to solve the priest shortage problem, but they are sitting on their hands waiting for the Pope to grant the permission to do what makes common sense. Professor David C. Steinmetz of the Duke University’s Divinity School offers some history on married priests in an October 18, 2005 news article, “Married priests for the Catholic Church?” “. . . Priests in Eastern Rite Catholic churches may also marry prior to ordination. Roughly half of the Catholic priests of the Maronite church of Lebanon elect to marry.

“Eastern Rite Catholics like the Maronites and Melkites are following rules that would be familiar to any Greek Orthodox Christian. Priests may marry prior to ordination, but not after. If their spouse should die, they may not remarry. Furthermore, bishops are chosen from the ranks of celibate clergy.”

            I didn’t chat with Bishop Saltarelli on the ordination of women. I am a very strong proponent of female priests. This female priest issue almost got the airing it needed, but it fell short by 0.33 percentage points in a 1998 Montreal archdiocesan synod as reported in an article, “Recent Facts and Public Statements by Catholic Leadership About the Priest Shortage and the Need to Open Ordination” located at www.FutureChurch.org .

“A Montreal archdiocesan synod held in November of 1998 supported many resolutions promoting church reform. Of the 600 elected delegates, 74% favored ordaining married men, 73.3% supported women deacons, and 91% supported openness to divorced and remarried Catholics. Garnering 66.33% of the votes instead of the 66.66% needed for adoption, were ordaining women and permitting married priests to return to full ministry, a very close vote indeed.”

            What is vexing is married men got defrocked from the priesthood after more than 1000 years of dedication in the early church. Steinmetz writes, “Priests in Anglo-Saxon England were allowed to marry, though the practice was stopped after the Norman invasion of 1066. The Norman ban on clerical marriage was reinforced in 1139, when the Second Lateran Council declared priestly marriage invalid throughout the entire Catholic Church.” Clearly today’s priest shortage suggests this married priest defrocking decision needs to be rescinded.

Does the present recalcitrant stance against ordaining married Catholic men suggest that the Church leadership is willing to spend millions of dollars cleaning up yesteryear’s sins of so-called celibate pedophiliac priests, yet see no value in allowing Catholic married men an opportunity to bring real world family life thinking into the priesthood?