2014-08-03
TABLET letters
Implications of a married priesthood
31 July 2014
In
his ARTICLE advocating a married priesthood, Chris McDonnell (“One man,
two vocations”, 19 July) does not mention that within the Eastern Rite
Churches the concept of episcopal, priestly and diaconal vocation is different
from that within the Roman Catholic Church. Whereas in the Latin West priesthood
is seen as a vocation from God, in the East it is a vocation from the Church.
Hence, the stories of the Fathers are replete with men running off into the
desert to avoid ordination at all costs, at times being dragged back to be
ordained as a priest or, more commonly, a bishop by their congregations. Another
major difference in Eastern ecclesiology is that the deacon, priest and bishop
remain members of the laity. Whist there has been a tendency to clericalism in
some Orthodox Churches, there have always been correcting voices, such as the
late Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh and Paul Evdokimov within the Russian
tradition of the twentieth century. In this way bishops, priests and deacons
have been more accountable to the Church of which they are a part – as opposed
to being the Church to which others belong.
Patrick Hampshire, Camborne,
Cornwall
I agree with Peter Simmons’ letter (26 July) in response to my article in one
respect: that in the matter of vocations the way forward is surely to become the
kind of Church which will attract men to full-time service. But that is as far
as it goes.
To argue that the vocation to marriage and the vocation to priesthood cannot be
fulfilled in one person is to make nonsense of both vocations. If it were true,
then the Church has done us all a great disservice in accepting married men from
the Anglican community for ordination either as individuals or through the
pathway of the ordinariate. Or should we accept that the marriage option is of
greater importance than sharing the Eucharist with the people? What of the years
before the council of the Lateran in 1139? Or the hundreds of years of
experience of priests in the Orthodox Church to the present day? The argument
for the continual support of the discipline of celibacy in the Latin Rite is
based on an unsubstantiated premise.
No, we should ask the laity to take on a greater share of responsibility within
the parish, accept that the loving relationship between a man and woman as
husband and wife in no way impedes either of them expressing their love of God
and that together they help each other live out their vocation. Their service to
the community will be enhanced, not impaired. Please, recognise the real world
we all live in.
Of course there will be problems, but there are problems now. For those who are
married, there are breakdowns in their marriages, for those ordained there are
occasions when their inability to live a celibate life conflicts with their vow
as a priest. But that’s life, none of us is perfect. Let’s just do our best
to live in service of one another, and the good Lord.
Chris McDonnell, Little Haywood,
Staffordshire