John Allen Discusses Catholic/Anglican Inititiave on Morning Edition

So, 'theologically' Roman Rite priests would be bigamists if they married, but 'theologically' the new Anglican-Roman priests would NOT be bigamists if they are married???

An articulate, reasoned assessment of the current "fault lines" arising in the 21st century praxis of Roman Catholic clerical celibacy, although Mr. Allen neglected to consider the very real ECONOMIC raisons d'etre for the imposition of the DISCIPLINE of celibacy in the Medieval Western Church, which recent Vatican regimes have been attempting to re-interpret as DOGMA in efforts to muzzle discussions of married men's and women's ordination. For views on the "history of celibacy" from both the LEFT and the RIGHT, see:

http://theotheri.wordpress.com/2008/06/27/the-economics-of-clerical-celi...
http://www.ignatiusinsight.com/features2007/stickler_celibacy_mar07.asp

An even more pragmatic take on the subject is seen in Elizabeth Abbott's A History of Celibacy (Cambridge, 2001) in which she situates specifically RELIGIOUS celibacy into the wider context of Western manifestations of male and female celibacy.

"Theology, ascetic monasticism, practical and property considerations, dominated the push for clerical celibacy, but other factors also surfaced. As the Church consolidated and grew, for instance, it offered daily mass. How could it be administered by officials who, just hours before, had writhed in contorted, lustful and sinful sexual ecstasy with their wives?
In fact this was a routine occurrence, as reality clashed daily with policy. Consider not the highborn clerics with access to fortunes but the lowly priests who constituted the greatest part of the clerical corpus. Material life in the postclassical West was so brutishly difficult that, while it drove some unreligious men into ostensibly celibate monasteries as havens from hunger, it drove some sincere priests to marry as a form of economic survival. Alongside the children they would produce, wives could cultuivate the parish landholdings and in other ways arrange to feed and clothe their priest husbands. More ambitious priests contrived to marry women with dowries, property, or small businesses, even if the latter consumed so much of the couple's time that the business of religion was secondary to the exigencies of commerce." (pages 110-111)
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And once these married Episcopalian priests actually begin arriving bag and baggage, the practical ECONOMICS of sustaining their ministries will once again come to the fore and perhaps even trump more theoretical considerations. The drawing board paradigm of creating "special ordinariates" based on the military chaplain model may prove to be a bit more unwieldy than initially anticipated - not to mention the animosity it is undoubtedly going to generate on both sides of Mr. Allen's "fault lines."

I listened to Mr. Allen this morning on my drive to work. As always he was cogent and succinct. For me he recalls what a reporter should be: Someone who discovers facts, presents them in a coherent manner and in context, and allows the listener to draw his or her own conclusions.

In doing his job well Mr. Allen makes American Catholicism look good - which we can really use some days.

A good example of this was his observation that an Anglican Rite within the church could lead to an influx of married priests. It was quietly explosive and potentially could have been subverted into a number of directions by the interviewer or listener. "The Church Blinked" or other gotcha headlines could have arisen. But once again Mr. Allen immediately provided the essential context: the Church has always been communicant with rites that allow married priests. There is no doctrinal change here, and the situation is still developing.

Wherever one stands one the issue of celibate clergy, I think Mr. Allen served all of his listeners by providing an accurate, (not "Fair and Balanced" but accurate) assessment of the facts to date.

Well done.

Several bloggers have also noted the remarkable timing of Pope Benedict's offer to the Anglicans--that of the feast of St Paul of the Cross, founder of the Passionist Order.

The Catholic Encyclopedias entry on St Paul of the Cross explains how he prayed for over 50 years for the conversion and reconciliation of England, and he encouraged his spiritual sons to do the same.

Perhaps the timing of this offer by the Pope on St Paul of the Cross' feast day was intentional, given Paul's fervent desire for the reconciliation with the Church of England.

I wrote a brief article concerning St Paul of the Cross and his desire for the reunion of the Anglicans. For those interested it can be found here:
http://www.saintpaulofthecross.com/2009/10/rome-vatican-pope-reaches-out...

Glenn D.