A modest proposal

[hedgehog]

What about an American Rite Catholic Church? There are various Eastern Rite Churches in union with Rome that have married priests. Maybe it's time for an American Rite with optional celibacy and female priests.

Plese tell me if you heard this here first. I can't possibly be the only one around with this idea. It may have been a joke at first, but it makes more and more sense to me.

[Spider Jerusalem]

1. That's not an idea that's going to fly, I'm afraid.

The Eastern Rite churches had centuries of established tradition, and never made the switch to celibacy that the Latin Church did following the Second Lateran Council. And as to female ordination, that won't happen, either...the only option, for implementation of what you suggest, is a break from Rome.

[DemBones DemBones]

2. There IS an American Catholic Church, not in communion with Rome.

I think they have married priests but I'm not sure. They probably have a web site. There are other "Catholic" churches that are not in communion with Rome but apparently retain Catholic liturgy and some teachings.

[IronLionZion]

3. You know what, some of my ancestors were married priests

in the Indian Catholic church. I don't know if they are allowed to get married now, but they certainly used to like 100 years ago. :shrug:

Actually, those churches have a lot of different traditions from the western churches while still being allied with Rome, view the Pope as their leader, and have apostolic succession.

Interesting points. I've thought about that too. It would probably encourage more people to consider the priesthood.

[DemBones DemBones]

7. Interesting! I never knew that, but the Catholic Church has been in

India since the early days of Christianity, hasn't it? So, perhaps they just never imposed celibacy on their priesthood when the European church did, not seeing any need for it in their own circumstances.

Was it the apostle Thomas who first went to India? I know I've read about this before but my brain's hard disk got full sometime back in grad school and stuff has been getting deleted ever since.

:shrug:

When did your family come to the US? Most immigration from India seems to have been in recent decades but I'm sure there are exceptions. . . I lived in the Philippines when I was a kid so I know what you mean about different traditions among Catholics in the Eastern world. Although there was a heavy Spanish influence there, Filipino Catholics aren't exactly Hispanic Catholics. (And of course they have Cardinal Sin today!)

[IronLionZion]

9. yup, St. Thomas the Apostle

they even named a mountain after him


My grandparents came here in the 60's but went back for family reasons. My parents came here in the early 80's and I was born here.

[Princess Turandot]

4. Go to adherents.com..

then scroll down a bit til you get to the alpha-index. You will find dozens of religions with words Catholic in them.

We had a Polish National Catholic Church on the same block where our parish, named for a Polish saint, St. Stanislaus Bishop & Martyr, was located. It was a tiny ornate church.

[hedgehog]

5. There are a lot of churches that have split from Rome for

various reasons, but retaine everyhing else. I'm talking about staying in communion with Rome. I think there are MArionist Rite Catholic Churhces in the US that are in union with Rome and thatr have married priests.

[mrgorth]

6. Not an option

It's stay or go.

[DemBones DemBones]

8. I tend to think he's right that it's not an option but

it would be interesting to find out if any new rite could arise today. With the Church's renewed interest in Christian unity, I can see why the Vatican would probably not want more new rites but you never know.

Those of us whose memories go back years before Vatican II even began have certainly seen a lot of changes. I have long expected to see married priests in my lifetime and suspect the Vatican decision to allow married Episcopalian and Lutheran clergy who convert to Catholicism to be married Catholic priests may be a pilot program.

[IronLionZion]

10. What some priests can do is get married before becoming priests

I think they are allowed to keep their families.

[Matilda]

11. Yes, that's true.

In Australia, and in the UK, there are a small number of former
Anglican priests who have converted and are allowed to become
Catholic priests, family and all.

Strange, but the sky hasn't fallen in because the Eucharist is
administered by the hands of a married man.

[DemBones DemBones]

12. But that only works if a man is raised as an Anglican, Episcopalian, or

Lutheran, becomes a priest/ minister in that denomination, marries, and THEN converts to Catholicism. Cradle Catholics are assumed to have known all along that a man must choose between marriage and the priesthood while Protestants are given a free pass for not realizing that God expects celibacy from priests. I think that's a stupid rationale since anyone with any sense of the world around him knows from an early age that Catholic priests can't marry. It's hardly a secret!

If Protestants are allowed to realize later in adulthood that they want to be/ are called to be Catholics and can keep their priestly status, why can't Catholic men who have married realize later in adulthood that they want to be/ are called to be priests? (Or priests realize later in adulthood that they want to / are called to marry? Marriage IS said to be a vocation and both marriage and holy orders are sacraments.)

[Matilda]

13. Yes, it really is splitting hairs,

as my Mum used to say.

That's one of the things that gets me about Vatican theologians -
they often have acute mental powers, and they waste their time
thinking up these ridiculous justifications for untenable rules
instead of using their intellects for the real good of humanity.