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PDF versionVatican denies studying new rules for priests who father kids
by John L Allen Jr on Aug. 03, 2009
By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
The Vatican has denied an Italian report that it recently convened meetings to study the situation created by priests who violate their vows of celibacy by having relationships with women and fathering children.
The Italian daily La Stampa reported on Sunday, August 2, that the Congregation for Clergy was considering a new set of rules for such cases, which the newspaper described as "very widespread" in developing nations as well as some European countries, "such as Austria". (The reference to Austria likely had in mind the case of Fr. Joseph Friedl, a popular pastor who recently acknowledged living with a woman for more than 25 years.)
Ac
cording to the La Stampa report, the rules under consideration would create a "guarantee of social rights" for the women and children involved, including the right of any offspring to be included among the priest's legitimate heirs; would distinguish sharply between the priest's personal property and ecclesiastical holdings, which could not be inherited; and in at least some cases, would permit the priest to continue exercising ministry.
The La Stampa article indicated that part of the motivation for the Vatican review was fear of large legal settlements against the church, similar to those spawned by the sexual abuse crisis in the United States.
This morning, however, the Vatican spokesperson, Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi, issued what he described as an "oral" rather than a "formal" denial of the La Stampa report, describing it as "without foundation."
Lombardi's denial was distributed to journalists via e-mail mid-morning on Monday.
Recent months have witnessed a number of high-profile cases that spotlighted tensions over priestly celibacy in the Catholic church. In May 2009, for example, Archbishop Paulin Pomodimo of Bangui, the lone archdiocese in the Central African Republic, resigned after a Vatican investigation confirmed reports that several of his priests had been living in what amounted to common law marriages with women and the children they had fathered.
I would take Fr Lombardi S.J.
I would take Fr Lombardi S.J. at his word on this issue...
Should we not take under
Should we not take under consideration, as apparently does our fine reporter here, the subtlety that the denial was only oral (although e-mail) rather than a formal denial?
Is this new or old news? In
Is this new or old news? In any event, you will not see one word about this in our monthly Catholic publication. Our bishop Kicanas does not want any of the Tucson diocese Catholics to hear any bad news about bishops,priests or muns. It slows down the healing process he says.
Tomasso, you might want to
Tomasso, you might want to check out your bishop’s recent remarks about telling the truth and healing, in the July 30, 2009 issue of Origins:
“During our Chapter 11, I struggled mightily whether to put out information that was embarrassing, disturbing and potentially harmful for the church. What would people think? Yet openness and transparency were critical. There are no secrets in our cell phone, Internet world of today. Clearly it was best and right to get out the story as it was. That alone could heal.
And on admitting mistakes:
The humblest moments I have experienced as a bishop have been those occasions when I have met abuse victims and apologized for the harm done to them. The church was wrong, and that admission was healing.
It is just beyond plain
It is just beyond plain wrong, they do not even realize they are being watched from up above. Yet they have the nerve to put it mildly to not allow a person to come to communion when their spouse walks out on them, HYPOCRACY!! at its best!!!
As Father Lombardi is known
As Father Lombardi is known for his frequent lies, it is fair to say that the reported stories are true and that those dishonest Vatican officials will all go to hell for lying.
Yeah, God doesn't deserve a
Yeah, God doesn't deserve a full life commitment. He is just not worth it, he is certainly not more important than a family, and certainly not more important than MY family! The only way a man can live is by being a father, with his woman and the woman with her man, taking care of the children. That's the way it's meant to be by nature. Giving your life entirely to God and not live divided between the matters of MY family and the matters of God? Preposterous! Family is the only way to live. Married priests NOW!
If it is being denied today
If it is being denied today by the Vatican you can safely bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow the new rules will be out. Where there is smoke there is fire especially from the "human" administration of the chuch.
If the Church hasn't
If the Church hasn't publicized its policies about dealing with legitimately married (eg, former Episcopalian & Eastern Rites) priests & their families to trickle down to lay & clerical Catholics in general terms at least, then it is no wonder that there is so much confusion & sorrow when hidden relationships are revealed.
A rough analogy is that the State has well known laws about prosecuting medical practice done by imposters & tries to ensure that only competant & trained personnel give medical care.
But it also promotes emergency first aid & CPR training for non-medical volunteers & shields their actions by Good Samaritain laws...
Any one whose life has been saved by these amateurs is sure glad that they were prepared & willing to share their efforts, no matter what their status, gender or even age...
I urge everyone to read
I urge everyone to read "Illicit Celibacy and the Deposit of Faith" by Edgar Davie, a Roman Catholic layman and retired father of 7 grown children. It is the best book I've read about the Christian faith, outside of the bible.
Go to www.illicitcelibacy.com for more details.
According to respected church expert, Richard Sipe, the following statistics are telling:
2% of priests have a true gift of celibacy, & would not marry even if allowed.
8% of priests force themselves to remain celibate, throughout their lives.
40% of priests TRY and FAIL, and have periodic sexual "lapses".
50% of priests are sexually active, homosexually or heterosexually, at all times.
It is time to re-address the practice of mandatory celibacy for the diocesan priesthood. It is not dogma or doctrine, it is only a Practice that CAN be changed tomorrow, if the Vatican wants it changed.
1/3 of the priests in Milwaukee asked for celibacy to be re-addressed at the US bishops conference, six years ago. They were ignored, it is time these priests are heard.
All the more reason for the
All the more reason for the case for implementing an appropriate solution to the global clergy abuse crisis as this shows why it is the most compelling issue facing us today.
Why do outlets such as this continue to provide such blatant promotion for a church riddled to the core with sexual problems, human rights abuses, rape and murder, do they wish to feed us the unrealistic expectation that this charade will magically heal itself. An entirely irresponsible and delusional notion together with an action carried out against the children of society in an attempt to uphold an obviously fatally flawed Catholic church when there are appropriate options available.
The September 1 initiative aims to set the global clergy abuse crisis on the political agenda for the first time in our history as a part of the upcoming elections.
September 1 says that after repeated failed attempts to engage either government or religions into a conversation as to how they are intending to identify and rectify the ills such a crisis brings with it has been prompted to undertake initial work without the support of either government or religious bodies.
The group has forged ahead and has implemented what it says is the best available response to the clergy abuse crisis available today. We back that up with a soon to be $20 million US dollars to anyone who can implement an improved response.
The September 1 initiative says it has a growing membership of people from all walks of life joining up simply because they wish to see an end to the abuses and the infringements on everybody's human rights because of it.
Australian convener John Brown said the September 1 initiative is the most responsible and appropriate response we have been able to put together with available resources, we are open to constructive input from any sector of society.
Recently we resolved to commercialize our site through making available premium web space to truly responsible corporates who wish to see an end to what affects so many children on a daily basis. We felt pushed to this end due to the lack of responses from both government and church and to the obvious large scale advertising across the spectrum of church and religious groups on the Internet. Our group felt that there should be at least one place on the planet even if it is only on the Internet for the moment where different sectors and individuals in our community can publicly show their support for an end to this crisis.
Mr Brown said we are keen to publicly debate Politicians and clergy on their responsibilities to their electorates and to the people in their care so we can remind them of their responsibility towards the children of society and impress upon them the very real need to take this first step in much needed healing, restoration, justice and respect for human rights processes on September 1.
We have undertaken preliminary studies and are currently developing the first ever global survey covering all known and identified aspects of this pox in our society. The design of this survey is quite substantial and it is to this end that we envision a minimum of 90% of income derived from sales would be put to work on developing and deploying this survey.
We are currently investigating a number of open source technologies and have identified several of major interest, our increased income would permit us to employ the full-time development staff this project truly requires.
The aim of the September 1 initiative is simply to bring to the world a definitive and appropriate solution to the current global clergy abuse crisis and can be found online at http://www.september12009.com/s
Sometime ago(years ago in
Sometime ago(years ago in fact) an Australian Franciscan priest requested a rescript in accordance with #canon 1139 with full support from his Minister Provincial of the day. A proposal at the time of a previous Provincial through a delegate to "live together" and remain active in the priesthood, was not a viable option as far as the expectant mother carrying the priests child was concerned. Being a convert to Catholicism this lacked common sense logic and her concept of the sacrement of confession. Consequently she reared their beautiful child with the "father" in the background being aware she was labeled a franciscan whore and their child the" bastard of a sacreligious union". Even to the Baptism register being altered to remove any connection between father and child. With the assistance of the same Provincial writing to Rome for the matter to be finalised experditialy signed by the father and witnessed by the Vicar Provincial of the day the request went unheeded even to his deathbed. Yes all this is recorded and so to is the response.The Congregatio De Culto Divino et Disciplina Sacramentoium states "understanding of the negative decision is requested due to the evident danger of scandal."
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