Grimm view of the Vatican

GREETINGS, all! Lucky for me and luckier for all of you, Fr. Bill Grimm did a far better article on this subject than I could have done (given that I, unlike Bill, also have a life outside of writing.) That being said, do yourselves a favor and click on the link below:

"Viewpoint: Humpty Dumpty in the Vatican"
http://www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=15250

Why don't you take a moment to check it out?

Thanks,
Independent Catholic News

Pax Nobiscom

WE WELCOME to Maryknoll this weekend a unique group who will be on retreat till Sunday. "Pax Nobiscum" ("Peace be with us") is a support group for former Korean priests from the tri-State area and their wives. Five couples will be here along with their spiritual director.

Their presence reminds us of the awkward limbo many of our former members are in regarding ministry and mandatory celibacy. This awkwardness has been exacerbated by the Vatican's bold overtures to entice disgruntled Anglicans to jump ship en masse, including priests (and seminarians!)—with their wives—and set up a so-called "Anglican rite" within the Roman communion.

The situation is complex is that it is not simply a matter of re-examining and perhaps relaxing the discipline of mandatory celibacy in the Roman Church, but rather of the other ancient tradition of allowing married men into Holy Orders but forbidding ordained men to marry. (Something akin to those metal spikes in the exit lane of certain parking lots. "Warning! Backing up may cause severe tire damage!" Ontologically speaking, "backing up" to marriage after having attained a higher form of existence may indeed blow out some ecclesiastical tires. But I digress...)

In both the Anglican and Orthodox churches, married men may be ordained deacons and priests. In the Orthodox church, only celibate priests may become bishops. Rome has made it clear that should married Anglican bishops return to Rome, they must forgo their episcopal rank. (I presume they do not have the option or inclination to forgo their wives. Then again, wearing a miter can be quite habit forming. But I digress again...)

It is highly unlikely the Vatican would also overturn this tradition (of Holy Orders after marriage but not the other way around) because it is, indeed, very old but also it would then alienate the Orthodox and thus set back attempts at ecumenism and unity with our Eastern schismatics.

In short, our own men who left and "attempted marriage" (in canon law jargon)—and our guests in Pax Nobiscum will still not be welcomed back to active ministry as long as they remain in their attempted married state.

Tensions can only rise among our all-too-few seminarians struggling with a decision to embrace either a lifelong commitment to celibacy or a flesh-and-blood spouse.

On a related note, Father Marty Lowery has invited the Connecticut Korean Catholic community to Maryknoll tomorrow to celebrate an 11:00 Mass. Koreans tend to be somewhat more conservative regarding church issues. I'm not sure the "Pax Nobiscum" group was aware of this coming together of different elements of the Korean church at Maryknoll when they made arrangements to meet here. Some of the formers may even be from that community. Talk about awkward. Doubtful they can be kept apart at lunch tomorrow. "Peace be with us" indeed.

Of Brooklyn priests & Anglicans

WELCOME to sixteen priests (ordained within the last five years) here for a two-day retreat as part of their on-going priestly formation program. The buzz at our table centered around yesterday's Vatican bombshell streamlining the way for Anglicans to join the Roman Catholic church.

While this has been in the works for some time, apparently the suddenness of the pronouncement took our Episcopalian brethren by surprise. An added wrinkle was including Episcopalian seminarians in the mix, although their priests would require ordination into the Roman rite. One Brooklyn priest here heard as many as 300,000 Episcopalians are prepared to jump ship. How many of ours have gone over to them was not discussed, although a few years ago NCR published a figure that suggested for every one of them that comes to us, ten Catholics go over to them.

The unspoken elephant in the room (See? I can keep my mouth shut) is why these people are leaving the Anglican communion: dissatisfaction with their church's position on women priests, openly gay priests, and blessing same-sex unions.

There would no doubt also be an influx of married clergy from the Episcopalians which, IMO, would put incredible internal pressure on the Vatican to rethink and relax mandatory disciple for our guys. If not, we face the anomaly of our guys in formation struggling with celibacy and being advised to leave, join the Anglicans, marry, get ordained, then come back. But I guess stranger things have happened in Holy Mother Church.