A Good Step of a Local Church

T.K. John SJ

I welcome the agenda of the Synod of Bishops on the Amazon as a good step. Two key words can helpus here. One is diversity and the second is freedom. Catholic Church is universal and particular. The word particular includes racial, religious, ethnic, cultural, professional diversities. Every ethnic group is unique. The Gospel is flexible, and the Word can, and does, incarnate according to the exigency of a particular ethnic group without any compromise. The Amazon Synodal agenda is an example. The particular culture is respected, enriched and the Gospel adjusts. The Gospel has enormous flexibility to adjust and incarnate according to each racial or cultural group. Remember there were seven Churches (Rev.1:4) during Apostolic times. According to each culture Faith takes shape.Rigidity for uniformity at the cost of cultural diversity is not helpful.

Celibacy being linked with priesthood is not a dogmatic but a disciplinary step, and a very old practice. There were problems in Church history. Is it not unnatural? Some observations. Firstly, freedom is there for a candidate to enter or not enter the priesthood. Secondly fair degree of uniformity can help maintain the effectiveness of the presbyterial service. Thirdly it is for the service of the ‘others’ i.e. the community that one freely submits to the requirement and makes a personal sacrifice.Fourthly since celibacy is a sign of Gods special grace, it is a divine testimony to the transcendental dimension of human life.Fifthly, for me, “Love the Lord with all your heart and all your soul…” summing up of the commandments by Jesus explains everything. Finally, the tradition can elicit undivided attention to the pastoral care of the community. Experience as a married priest can be helpful for patoral service. But Taking care of the family and of the community, can be a divided responsibility. Peter was a married man, but he died in Rome, just as Thomas died in India and every Apostle died far, far away from home. Being unencumbered adds to the quality of the ministry.

Not the Time to Make this Type of Changes

P.T. Kuriakose

You have asked two difficult questions but I will try to answer as truthfully as I can although the questions have many theological implications. Let me take up the first question about ordaining older persons with families, as the Orthodox Church in Kerala does. In the Catholic Church also, this has been allowed provided the man concerned is a widower and has no family commitments. It is not very long ago my friend Stanly Thekkekara’s father was ordained a priest and used to say Mass. I have been attended his Mass. In other words, the problem is related to ordaining married laymen with families and concomitant obligations. Here my answer is definitely no

A Catholic Priest has different functions, sacramental, pastoral and social many functions under the two last categories can also be carried out by laymen or specially ordained persons. There is no definite bar that baptism for instance should done by a priest. Even now, a layman or lay woman can do this under special circumstances.

However, when it comes to activities under the first section, primarily celebration of the Eucharist and hearing of Confession to forgive sins, there I see problems. Even the celebration of the Eucharist need not be in the exclusive domain of a priest although the faithful may have serious difficulties to accept a Mass offered by a layman changed priest. But one can try and overcome this resistance over a period of time. When I lived in Malaysia, when our parish priest went for his monthly meeting of priests or whenever he had to be absent, a prayer and bible service, including a homily were carried out by a layman. The only part of the Mass that was left out was the final Eucharistic prayers, as there was no priest. Communion was distributed.

The vocation of a Catholic Priest is the noblest vocation in life and to dilute its preeminence just because of a shortage of priests is not the correct answer. In fact any layman can then say that he is a holy man and has the requisite qualifications to be ordained a priest. Both men and women can then claim that right. If people want the Eucharist to be celebrated, they have to pay the price for it by way of suffering, penance and prayer.

When it comes to Confessions, the initial question will be is an oracular confession a necessary ingredient of Catholic faith and practices. The sense of relief after a confession is to be experienced. The priest too must be spiritually prepared to acknowledge that while forgiving sins he is acting on behalf of Jesus Christ who only can forgive sins. If it is concluded that an oracular confession is not a necessary part of our faith practices, then the situation changes. Even today millions of educated Catholics prefer to go for an oracular confession made to a priest with the absolute certainty that his or her confession will remain an eternal secret. Oracular confession requires, courage, humility and readiness to reform oneself.

Therefore, my conclusion is that while one should not rule out the possibility of changes, this not the time to make this type of changes. As someone who some years ago has travelled in Latin America and dealt with several of its bishops, including the Latin American bishops Conference CELAM , I will say that they must toil to put the Church back on trial rather than meekly close their eyes to some so called priests secretly living with their mistresses and children. The Vatican must appoint younger and theologically better trained bishops as happened in the sixties when a few Latin American bishops proclaimed the correctness of Liberation theology even when Pope Paul VI was initially very sceptical about it but later on accepted its main ingredients in his historic Apostolic Letter Popularum Pregressio. Let us put our faith in the guiding hand of the Holy Spirit in this moment of doubt and uncertainty

When I come to the question of celibacy, I do not feel competent to give a satisfactory answer. Having never been a priest who has experienced the agonies and ecstasies of celibate life, I am not very qualified. I think the best people to answer this will be priests themselves Studying the experiences of non-Catholic Churches will also be absolutely useful Personally, I will always vote for a celibate priest who can give himself entirely to the spiritual and pastoral care of the faithful under his care rather than be worried about his family. Lay people, especially women, will prefer to deal with a celibate priest, especially in the matter of going to confession. These days when the media highlight the escapades of high and lower level clerics, many lay people jump to the conclusion that it is the rule of celibacy that makes them transgressors. I think this is a simplistic view. Why then do millions of married (men and women too) get involved with members of other sex. This subject requires a far more in-depth study undertaken not to justify the present hypothesis, but to discover ways to deal with the issue.