Funny thing how the Vatican which for decades closed its eyes to the sexual abuse of children has promptly taken action against a group of priests who want to marry and, as a result, are forming a new church. The Church hierarchy even wants the government to shut the breakaway group down. It surely shows the Vatican's misplaced priorities. Particularly, in light of the fact that the celibacy requirement for priest did not exist during the first thousand plus years of the Church's existence and only came about as a way to retain more Church assets rather than lose them to the pesky families of married priests. I wish the break away sect well and perhaps others will be encouraged by their actions to likewise defy the Vatican which thinks it alone owns the Catholic faith. Here are some highlights from the Washington Post:*
KAMPALA, Uganda -- Twenty renegade Catholic priests who are either married or want to marry have broken from the mainstream Roman Catholic Church here and formed a new church where celibacy is not required, members said.
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The Ugandan government said Thursday it was investigating the breakaway Catholic Apostolic National Church in Uganda and would ban it if found to be illegal. Vatican officials said the priests were now considered "outside" the Catholic Church and would likely be excommunicated.
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The creation of the splinter church underscored the increasingly vexing problem of enforcing celibacy for Roman Catholic priests in Africa, which has the world's fastest-growing Catholic population but where there have been several cases of priests living openly with women and fathering children.
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Earlier this year, the Vatican summoned African bishops to Rome for a three-week meeting on problems of the church in Africa, and celibacy was a key topic of discussion. The Vatican, however, has remained firm that priests must not marry, although there are exceptions for priests of the Eastern rite and for converts from Anglicanism.
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Archbishop Cyprian Kizito Lwanga, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Kampala, called on the government not to allow such renegade religious groups to operate, saying they might cause confusion among Ugandans. "I call upon government to avoid registering such new churches," he said. "They can bring about religious conflicts."
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Cause confusion? I think not - just expose the hypocrisy of Rome. The fact that the celibacy requirement does not apply to eastern rite Catholics or to Anglican converts in and of itself shows the intellectual dishonesty of the Vatican. If the rule is "God ordained," then there would be no exceptions.
KAMPALA, Uganda -- Twenty renegade Catholic priests who are either married or want to marry have broken from the mainstream Roman Catholic Church here and formed a new church where celibacy is not required, members said.
*
The Ugandan government said Thursday it was investigating the breakaway Catholic Apostolic National Church in Uganda and would ban it if found to be illegal. Vatican officials said the priests were now considered "outside" the Catholic Church and would likely be excommunicated.
*
The creation of the splinter church underscored the increasingly vexing problem of enforcing celibacy for Roman Catholic priests in Africa, which has the world's fastest-growing Catholic population but where there have been several cases of priests living openly with women and fathering children.
*
Earlier this year, the Vatican summoned African bishops to Rome for a three-week meeting on problems of the church in Africa, and celibacy was a key topic of discussion. The Vatican, however, has remained firm that priests must not marry, although there are exceptions for priests of the Eastern rite and for converts from Anglicanism.
*
Archbishop Cyprian Kizito Lwanga, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Kampala, called on the government not to allow such renegade religious groups to operate, saying they might cause confusion among Ugandans. "I call upon government to avoid registering such new churches," he said. "They can bring about religious conflicts."
*
Cause confusion? I think not - just expose the hypocrisy of Rome. The fact that the celibacy requirement does not apply to eastern rite Catholics or to Anglican converts in and of itself shows the intellectual dishonesty of the Vatican. If the rule is "God ordained," then there would be no exceptions.
2 comments:
Your interpretation of Rome's view on celibacy is not quite accurate. Yes, the Eastern Rite is in full communion with Rome and allows married priests (not bishops) and yes married Anglican priests have been re-ordained as Roman Catholic priests (they may not re-marry if their wives die). So what? Rome does not maintain that celibacy is a requirement for the priesthood in all cases. The practice of celibacy could be easily lifted if the Church wished to do so. The Church just doesn't want to do so - now. Pope Benedict is strongly committed to celibacy in the Roman Rite however that may change at some point in the future. There is no hypocrisy in Rome's position toward the Eastern Rite or in allowing the re-ordination of married ex-Anglicans. Celibacy is not a dogma; it is a disciplinary rule. I should remind you that Anglican priests who choose not to marry are supposed to be living celibate lives. Celibacy among high church Anglican/Episcopal clergy has long been a custom and is obviously a necessity in Anglican religious congregations (monasteries, for example).
One of the most common things that you hear from the self proclaimed "orthodox" Catholic faithful, whenever anybody disagrees with them, is that dissenters are welcome to join or start another church because they cannot remain Catholic and hold their present views.
Here are a group of Catholics who are doing just that, starting their own church. What is the first reaction of the Catholic Church in this country where they exercise substantial political power? Call for the new church to be outlawed. This is the same government that they did not intervene with to not pass laws criminalizing homosexuality.
The Catholic Church is not worth saving. They are vile scum.
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