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PAGE 2 GEORGIA BULLETIN THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1963
CONVERT PRIEST ASSERTS
Council Should Liberalize Celibacy Rule in Clergy Shortage
Following is one of a series
of articles by experts on ques
tions up for consideration when
the Second Vatican Council re
convenes next September8. The
author was received into the
Catholic Church in 1955 after
serving for 16 years in the
Anglican ministry in England.
Unmarried, he was ordained a
Catholic priest after four years
at the Beda College in Rome.
Since 1959 he has worked at
the Catholic Inquiry Forum in
Montreal, also lecturing on ecu
menical subjects at Montreal’s
Loyola College and at the Uni
versity of Ottawa.
BY FATHER WALTON
HANNAH
(N.C.W.C. News Service)
MARIETTA
DAILY JOURNAL
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A new look at the recruit
ment and training of priests
will certainly be on the agenda
of the ecumenical council at
some stage.
The shortage of vocations in
some countries is already
acute. To some extent this can
be made good by making great
er use of the lay apostolate;
far too many priests are bogged
down in administrative jobs that
the laity could well take off
their shoulders, and there is a
crying need for intensively
trained lay men and women
as instructors and catechists.
There are untapped resour
ces of late or delayed voca
tions from men in adult life
who could still give many years
to an active priesthood were
there more special seminaries
for their training, and more
bishops who would encourage
them. The experience of the
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Beda College in Rome has amply
proved this point.
THERE IS also the problem
of the convert Protestant minis
ter. A small category numeri
cally, perhaps, yet they have
their own special experiences
and insights of great value to
the Church. St. Paul, brought
up in the strictest sect of the
Jews, a pharisee of the Phari
sees, made full use of his in
timate knowledge and under
standing of the Law and Pro
phets to expound the i r fulf ilm ent
in Christ. So too the priestly
convert from the Protestant
ministry can, perhaps uniquely,
see the Catholic religion as the
fullness of God's revelation in
the perspective of the incom-1
plete truths held by our sepa
rated brethren.
Not all convert Protestant
ministers discover a vocation
to the Catholic priesthood, even
if they happen to be unmarried.
Not all are suitable; just occa
sionally a restless misfit in a
Protestant ministry will be
come a Catholic for less than
adequate reasons. But in far too
many cases a married clergy
man finds the Faith, accepts it
with heroic sacrifice, and then
finds that an active life of full
time service to God abruptly
ends.
HE FINDS himself trying to
adjust in middle life to some un
familiar secular profession. If
he has teaching ability he is
lucky, but not all Protestant
ministers (or Catholic priests
either, for that matter) have
abilities in that profession.
They miss their ministry tra
gically, and surely the Catholic
Church is missing something
too. There is wastefulness here.
But what is the answer?
A courageous trail was blaz
ed by Pope Pius XII in allow
ing four German Lutheran min
isters to become Catholic
priests and, by special indult,
to retrain their wives. A few
similar ordinations have fol
lowed, Including one in Den
mark. Fairly recently, a mar
ried Lutheran seminarian be
came a Catholic, and was or
dained to the priesthood. From
the canonical point of view there
is no reason why this policy
could not be extended to other
countries,
Celibacy of course is an ec
clesiastical discipline, and is
not part of the divine law.
Priests of the Eastern Rites
may be married before their or
dination. There is no tradition
in the Catholic or Orthodox
Churches of priests marrying
after ordination. "The only body
claiming valid orders which al-
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Lpws their priests to marry is
the Anglican Communion, and
their claim to valid orders has
of course been repudiated by the
Catholic Church.
BUT EVEN among Catholics
of Eastern Rites there is a cer
tain pressure to impose celi
bacy, particularly in the New
World where through emigra
tion and escape through the Iron
Curtain, East and West meet in
parallel parishes. Even in
Europe It is becoming difficult,
if not impossible, for a married
man to be ordained in the By
zantine Rite, and convert mar
ried Orthodox priests some
times meet with every discour
agement in continuing to exer
cise their priesthood as Catho
lics.
There are at least four mo
tives behind this, and all of
them have a bearing upon the
problem of the married Pro
testant convert minister.
First, there is the whole
force of Christian tradition and
teaching from earliest times
that the perfect chastity of celi
bacy is the higher and more
angelic state In itself, apart
from all practical considera
tions. Dedicated virginity, sac-
rifically undertaken by the
priest from supernatural mo
tives, is therefore required for
ordination to major orders. The
Orthodox accept this ideal for
the episcopate. The Latin
Church of the West in early
centuries imposed it also on
the diaconate and priesthood,
and rather later on the subdia-
conate also.
SECONDLY, there are the
many practical and economic
difficulties which arise in fit-
AN ALTAR BOY NAMED "SPECK"
“Do you have any church mice?”
ting married clergy into a pa
rochial framework designedfor
celibacy.
Thirdly, there is the desire
to avoid scandal among the sim
ple faithful of the Latin Rite
who have never heard of mar
ried priests in communion with
the Holy See.
Fourthly, there are the
strongly entrenched forces of
traditionalism and conserva
tism which tend to look upon
the Latin Church and Latin cus
toms as the Catholic norm, and
other traditions as tolerated
deviations which should not be
allowed to affect (one is almost
tempted to write infect) the man
stream of Western Christen
dom.
LET US examine these fac
tors in their application to the
EDUCATOR ASSERTS
Public Attitudes, Not Law
Barring School Tax Aid
CHICAGO -(NC)— Public at
titudes, not public law, stands
in the way of tax support for
U. S. private education, accord
ing to a leading figure in a
nationwide study of Catholic
schools.
The "great obstacle" to tax
support of U. S. private edu
cation "is not the public law
but public unwillingness," de
clares George. N. Shuster.
SHUSTER, assistant to the
president of the University of
Notre Dame, is a member of
the three-man policy and guid
ance committee for a nation
wide study of Catholic grade
and high schools now underway.
The study is being underwritten
by a $350,000 grant from the
Carnegie Corporation of New
York.
Shuster expresses his views
in a signed editorial in the Feb-
urary issue of Extension maga
zine, published here.
Noting publl'c reluctance to
use tax funds for private edu
cation, he says:
"SOME DAY there may be a
different story to tell, but right
now nobody can say when that
day will dawn."
BY NON-CATHOLIC
He adds: "Certain forms of
Federal aid, notably intheform
of loans, would help somewhat,
as would the sharing of local
facilities with public schools.
But it will be wise not to be too
sanguine about the results of
such measures."
Since Federal aid for Catho
lic schools seems remote,
Shuster proposes two steps to
be taken now. "The first,"
he writes, "is to maintain and
if possible improve standards
established in the Catholic
school system by its teaching
Religious. The second is to con
centrate on the overall pro
blem. It is a very sizable pro
blem, indeed, which will re
quire the development of new
methods and undoubtedly a new
organization."
SHUSTER, a former presi
dent of Hunter College, New
York, says the Religious comm
unities which staff the nation's
Catholic schools have made
"heroic efforts" to meet the
challenge. "Today," he writes,
"the Intellectual and profess
ional qualifications of the Reli
gious are quite unbelievably
better than they used to be."
He cautions that if lay teach
ers engaged to teach in Catho
lic schools "do not meet the
same standards, they stand out
like sore thumbs and arouse
Catholic-Protestant
Tide Seen Flowing
parental wrath. The truth is
that it is almost impossible
at present to employ an ade
quate lay staff. The reason
is the cost of living, plus the
general shortage of good teach
ers which plagues die public
schools as well.**
The Catholic schools study,
with which he Is associated,
should throw light on decisions
"which everybody realizes
must be made," Shuster writes.
"These grow out of the charact
er of the Catholic educational
problem and the Catholic edu
cational situation.
"THE PROBLEM is how to
convey to the Church’s people
whoever and wherever they may
be a living awareness of the
meaning oI their Faith in terms
of the individual person, the
family and the social order.
Everybody knows about the pro
blem but not one can tell you
how to solve it.
"We can, however, see the
Catholic educational situation
rather clearly," Shuster con
tinues. "We have a school sys
tem which coordinates relig
ious and secular learning. We
also possess a good deal of
experience in how to deal with
the immense population the sys
tem does not and cannot reach.
There are release - time
arrangements, Sunday schools
and other devices. EVen so,
the sad fact is that a large
portion of the Catholic surface
is hardly scratched at all, part
icularly in urban areas."
married convert clergyman. No
one would wish to dispute the
validity d the first point, or
question the value of perfect
chastity. However, even in the
West there are two standard!
among the priesthood, the dio
cesan, and the monastic or re
gular. To take but one point pf
difference, the latter alone are
vowed to poverty, which is again
a higher Christian ideal. But
the Church realizes In principle
that it is not necessary that
the priestly life as such should
embody all the counsels of per
fection, and that this applies to
celibacy as well as poverty.
As for practical difficulties,
they are indeed many and va
rious. Each rectory is a center
of communal celibate life, the
pastor with his curates, and the
married convert clearly could
not fit into this frame-work at
all. But with a little imagina
tion many other spheres of ac
tivity could be opened to him.
There are teaching positions,
convert centers, hospital and
convent chaplaincies, and many
specialized apostolates. The
younger ones could perhaps be
come service chaplains.
One often hears, as another
objection, "I could never make
my confession to a married
priest" — as if the seal of
confession would somehow be
endangered in domestic intima
cies. But Byzantine Rite Catho
lics, and the Orthodox too, make
the very opposite objection: "I
could never make my confession
to a celibate priest, he wouldn’t
understand my family prob
lems."
NEITHER objection is surely
insuperable, given good will and
understanding. As for econo
mics, even quite small Byzan
tine parishes in America have
no more difficulty than Protes
tants have in maintaining a
family in the presbytery.
The avoidance of scandal and
the force of traditional latiniz
ing conservatism are factors
which require great patience
and much education. The very
fact that in recent years Eas
tern Rite parishes have appear
ed side by side with Latin pa
rishes is slowly making its im
pact. Their vernacular litur
gies naturally attract the at
tention of the liturgical avant-
garde, and there are grounds
for hope that western Catholics
are beginning to realize that
the Latin rite, Counter-Refor
mation devotions, western spi
rituality and ways of thought,
and Latin customs (including
clerical celibacy) are not the
universal norms of the Catholic
Church.
Changes and reforms will
certainly emerge from the pre
sent general council, and this
has attracted so much publicity
that Catholics everywhere are
being conditioned to expect
change-conservative elements
perhaps with some apprehen
sion.
A NEW wind is blowing
through the Church. The in
creased interest in ecumenism
and a more charitable approach
to our separated brethren is
helping us to realize that, al-
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though religious insights, and
that a custom or tradition Is not
necessarily wrong or un-Catho-
lic just because Protestants
happen to follow it. All these
factors are helping to broaden
both our minds and our sympa
thies. Bold experiments have
today a better chance of being
successfully accepted than at
any time since the Council of
Trent. Tomorrow the chances
may be even brighter.
Another suggestion for mak
ing a more valuable use of con
vert clergy is the establishment
of a permanent diaconate which
would be open to married men.
There is plentiful precedent for
this in the early Church, and
among the Orthodox today. Such
a step would in fact restore a
primitive practice in a way
which would go far to meet
the needs of the 20th century.
In the sacramental order, of
course , there has been no
change, and can be no change.
The diaconate is a major order.
But in practice the Church,
treats it almost as a minor or
der, and like the minor orders
it has become a mere stepping-
stone to the priesthood within
the seminary.
WILHELM S chamoni’s
"Married Men as Ordained
Deacons" first appeared in
German in 1953, and two years
later in an English translation.
It has been very widely read
and reviewed. Several bis
hops are known to be interest
ed in the idea, and it may well
be raised at the council. An
order of permanent married
deacons could be of Inestima
ble help in catechizing, preach
ing, baptizing, and assisting
with Holy Communion, thus to
some extent making good the
shortage of priests.
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CINCINNATI (NC) — A Pro
testant observer at the Second
Vatican Council told the United
Church of Christ Assembly here
that "a new tide Is flowing in
the sea between Roman Cathol
ics and Protestants."
Dr. Douglas Horton, former
dean of Harvard University di
vinity school who was an official
observer for the International
Congregational Council at the
council, admitted that "the
theological differences between
us are so great that no ordinary
human vision is sufficient to see
a way to overcome them."
NEVERTHELESS he said
there were three areas in which
the "wall" between Catholics
and Protestants is being "pene
trated." These areas are pray
er, Biblical scholarship and the
human greatness of individual
church leaders, he said.
He cited the "wise and
beloved" Augustin Cardinal
Bea, S. J., head of the Secre
tariat for Promoting Christian
Unity, as one of the "many
magnificent human beings" in
the Catholic Church.
"CONTACTS with such men
do away with border, breed and
birth," Dr. Horton said.
Some 600 ministers and lay
men attended the second annual
midwinter meeting of the United
Church of Christ, formed by the
merger 18 months ago of the
Congregational Christian Chur
ch a;nd the Evangelical and Re
formed Church.
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