ROME - Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, Major Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, has urged those considering allowing priests in the Latin rite to marry in order to help solve a crippling shortage, to proceed with caution, saying marriage has not curbed shortages in his own rite.
With five blooming seminaries in Ukraine alone, “thanks be to God we do not lack vocations,” Shevchuk said, but noted that despite the fact that priests in his church - the largest of the 23 sui iuris eastern churches in full communion with Rome - have the ability to marry, the high numbers don’t appear for Greek Catholics in other countries.
“The same church with the same way of living the priestly vocation in other countries around the world does not enjoy this quantity of vocations,” he said, noting that numbers in the United States and Canada, among others, are few.
AMDG
7 comments:
This excerpt (and the article itself) gives the wrong impression that priests can marry. This is what His Beatitude actually said:
"Shevchuk said there can be other complicating factors with married priests, explaining that in the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, ***a priest must be married before his ordination***, and if his spouse dies, he is ***unable to remarry***.
The priesthood, he said, is “a profound call by the Lord to be his priest. All the rest must be submissive to this central call.”
Offering an example, he recalled how one young man was ordained a priest, and just two months later his wife was killed in a traffic accident, meaning the man had to live the rest of his priestly life in celibacy."
My pastor is a Ukrainian Greek Catholic married priest who has two parishes, makes sick calls every day, and somehow finds the time to do his gardening.
If (God forbid!!!) Pani should pass away, that's when celibacy kicks in, because Christ has one Spouse, and that is the Church. Ephesians 5.
May God grant His Beatitude Sviatoslav, my pastor and his wife, and all our Ukrainian Greek Catholic clergy, seminarians and religious many blessed years!
Margaret
P.S. Tancred, is it possible to fix that excerpt?
@ Margaret: Sviatoslav's title is "Major Archbisop" not "Patriarch", rightfully so stated in the article. His title is "Your Excellency", not "Beatitude".
I’ve heard him described as Patriarch.
The problem is not candidates for the priesthood. The problem is the decadence of the world in general. You do not get good priests from a cesspool.----In fact, you have to understand the motivation of the "current occupant". When he derides "clericalism and rigidity", he is putting his Marxist thoughts into action. The true goal of his little communities acting as part of a bigger community is for each little group to select their own minister. In the minds of the radical left, priests are obsolete.---Gnosticism means that man makes his own rules and is now likened to God. Disbelief in the Real Presence is only the tip of the iceberg. Christ Himself now is viewed by many as just another prophet and an equal to such as Mohammed. We now have our own modern day prophet who is running the show. He is making new rules which include the reformation of the definition of morality.
Sviatoslav was declared "Patriarch" by his own schismatic leftist/natio alist clergy. It was not recognized by Rome. Rome was always aware of the Ukrainian Catholics to unite Catholics and Orthodox into their own national Church. This is why Sviatoslav said "I want to be Patriarch of all Ukrainians". His idea of being part of nation-building includes a national unity which includes one Church for the ukraine. Sviatoslav is as secular as can be. He wants to enter into politics not for the Catholic Church, but for his Ukrainian political ends:a Ukraine: an artificial pro-liberal western construct, run by a red-neck/hillbilly people. A segment of the Rus population never used to a civilized self-rule.
I've heard him described under both titles. :-)
Margaret
@ Constantine: Whether he is called Major Archbishop or Patriarch, the title is still "His Beatitude".
Only RC bishops are called "Your Excellency".
Just wondering: Did you ever meet His Beatitude? I have, and if you ever met him in person, you'd feel differently too.
Margaret
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