Myth #1: Future Ordinariate Priests Must Be Celibate
Dec 11th
Posted by Christian Campbell in General
As promised, this is the first in a series of articles intended to counter the most egregious misrepresentations of the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus.
Since the Reformation, the Anglican Church has both accepted married candidates for Holy Orders and permitted clerics to marry. It is important to distinguish between the two disciplines. Both the Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches in communion with the Holy See permit married men to be promoted to the priestly dignity (though bishops East and West must be celibate). Since the time of the Early Church, however, no Catholic body has allowed clerics to marry once in orders. The Anglican discipline was, on this wise, innovative and a significant departure from tradition. Nonetheless, this custom of a married priesthood is now integral to the Anglican identity and its abandonment would certainly have serious ramifications in our ecclesial life...
The Roman Catholic Church — that is the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church — requires that all candidates for Holy Orders be celibate and clerics are not allowed to marry. It has been contended that Anglicanorum Coetibus, while generously making provision for the reception of married ministers from the Anglican tradition, requires all future seminarians and candidates for Holy Orders to be celibate. This assertion is not true...
Read Christian's full exposition at The Anglo-Catholic.
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