Hi Folks, I lurk quietly in the background these days, just clicking on anything relating to Mc Kennas or Prendivilles (various spellings) from Tralee. The thoughtful comments regarding Married Priests caught my eye and prompted the spirit within me to wake up and have a quick rant and rave. There is a little bit of a theological dilemma which needs to be addressed here. As Pat Delaney points out, the married Anglican priests who joined the Roman branch and became ordained RC priests did so because the Anglican Church started to ordain women priests. They jumped ship and came to us because we don't ordain women. They felt that it was a safe bet they would live out their lives as priests in the Roman branch without the threat of women being presented for ordination. In order to accommodate this highly valued mass conversion, the Catholic Church waived its rule regarding a celibate priesthood - but only for the Anglican converts. Fathers Tom, Dick and Harry were told in no uncertain terms that they were to remain celibate.The richness and intimacy of a married priesthood was only there for the clergy who were so conservative in their own church they couldn't face working with women on equal terms. In the face of a huge shortage of priests, the Catholic Church firmly declares that celibacy is a must and women priests are not on the agenda. What's the theological dilemma? The Cahtolic Hierarchy ditches the traditional teaching on celibacy (for the few) in order to win the public relations prize of high profile Anglican conversions. By ordaining them, the hierarchy re-inforce the message that the converts have come home to the safe haven of a men-only clergy. Pat Delaney makes the point that many of these married priests do a wonderful job. Of course they do. In other branches of the Christian faith, women priests do a wonderful job. Many ordinary Catholics share my frustration that ours is a celibate priesthood and that women are refused ordination. In case it hasn't occured to anyone here, there will be married priests in the mainstream Catholic Church and there will be women priests saying Mass. It's just going to take a little longer than it should because the Church is doing what it does best - smothering and dampening the work of the Holy Spirit, protecting its own powerbase and burying its hierarchial head in the sand. There you are now. All sorted. All I need to do is stay alive for the next two hundred years... Be good Pat Mc Kenna ----- Original Message ---- From: Pat Delaney <pat.delaney@virgin.net> To: irl-kerry@rootsweb.com Sent: Thursday, 12 July, 2007 9:19:01 PM Subject: [IRL-KERRY] Married Priests Having read various comments on this subject I feel I am qualified to add to the debate as our Parish Priest is married with four sons. ___________________________________________________________ Yahoo! Mail is the world's favourite email. Don't settle for less, sign up for your free account today http://uk.rd.yahoo.com/evt=44106/*http://uk.docs.yahoo.com/mail/winter07.html

Very interesting facts and analysis, Pat. Nan On Jul 12, 2007, at 5:56 PM, Pat McKenna wrote: > Hi Folks, > > I lurk quietly in the background these days, just clicking on > anything relating to Mc Kennas or Prendivilles (various spellings) > from Tralee. > > The thoughtful comments regarding Married Priests caught my eye and > prompted the spirit within me to wake up and have a quick rant and > rave. > > There is a little bit of a theological dilemma which needs to be > addressed here. As Pat Delaney points out, the married Anglican > priests who joined the Roman branch and became ordained RC priests > did so because the Anglican Church started to ordain women priests. > They jumped ship and came to us because we don't ordain women. They > felt that it was a safe bet they would live out their lives as > priests in the Roman branch without the threat of women being > presented for ordination. > > In order to accommodate this highly valued mass conversion, the > Catholic Church waived its rule regarding a celibate priesthood - > but only for the Anglican converts. Fathers Tom, Dick and Harry > were told in no uncertain terms that they were to remain > celibate.The richness and intimacy of a married priesthood was only > there for the clergy who were so conservative in their own church > they couldn't face working with women on equal terms. In the face > of a huge shortage of priests, the Catholic Church firmly declares > that celibacy is a must and women priests are not on the agenda. > > What's the theological dilemma? The Cahtolic Hierarchy ditches the > traditional teaching on celibacy (for the few) in order to win the > public relations prize of high profile Anglican conversions. By > ordaining them, the hierarchy re-inforce the message that the > converts have come home to the safe haven of a men-only clergy. > > Pat Delaney makes the point that many of these married priests do a > wonderful job. Of course they do. In other branches of the > Christian faith, women priests do a wonderful job. Many ordinary > Catholics share my frustration that ours is a celibate priesthood > and that women are refused ordination. In case it hasn't occured to > anyone here, there will be married priests in the mainstream > Catholic Church and there will be women priests saying Mass. It's > just going to take a little longer than it should because the > Church is doing what it does best - smothering and dampening the > work of the Holy Spirit, protecting its own powerbase and burying > its hierarchial head in the sand. > > There you are now. All sorted. All I need to do is stay alive for > the next two hundred years... > > Be good > > Pat Mc Kenna > > ----- Original Message ---- > From: Pat Delaney <pat.delaney@virgin.net> > To: irl-kerry@rootsweb.com > Sent: Thursday, 12 July, 2007 9:19:01 PM > Subject: [IRL-KERRY] Married Priests > > > Having read various comments on this subject I feel I am qualified > to add to the debate as our Parish Priest is married with four sons. > > > ___________________________________________________________ > Yahoo! Mail is the world's favourite email. Don't settle for less, > sign up for > your free account today http://uk.rd.yahoo.com/evt=44106/*http:// > uk.docs.yahoo.com/mail/winter07.html > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to IRL-KERRY- > request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message