When the going gets tough... - From Across the Pond

By Darren Collins
Op/Ed

In recent times, since the massive fall in men offering themselves to the priesthood in the West, there have been suggestions made that we should relax the rules on the priesthood. I ask you one question: when the going gets tough, do the Catholics get going?

Do we let women into the priesthood because there are not enough men? No. Why? Women cannot be priests. When we accept this there is no question over whether the Church hierarchy should institutionalise lies, and do great damage to all of the people of God by having people masquerading as priests.

Do we get rid of the rule of celibacy because we have very few men willing to sacrifice this? No. Why? The sacrificial element of the priesthood is something that has only really been kept alive in the Catholic Church (there is some of it in the Orthodox East). It is crucial to the priesthood, and the people of God that they sacrifice a great gift in service of God. Jesus asked the Rich Man to give up all he had; He asks priests to give up one of the greatest gifts a human can receive: the love of a lover.

The question that we should all be asking is something that John Paul the Great said in his time of suffering: Did Christ come down from the Cross? Of course, the problems that Church is facing in regards to the priesthood is nothing like the torture and death of Our Saviour, but the point still stands. The Church is the Body of Christ, and we do not change things that are at the heart of our being because the modern world fails to conform. We must maintain all that we are and keep ourselves as the final bastion of Christ in a world that rejects Him.

The ordained priesthood, the ministerial priesthood, the sacrificial priesthood is a gift of God. A gift given not only to the men who are deemed suitable, but to the whole community of believers. The grace of God is present in the anointed hands of every priest since they have solemnly promised to give up what is natural, and dedicate themselves wholly to God, and that God has chosen to work miracles through these hands in the sacrifice of the Mass.

We cannot forget the recent instruction published by the Congregation for Catholic Education on the position of homosexuals in the priesthood. In many liberals portions of the Church there has been outrage, yet outrage at what? Many of these Catholics would turn the Priesthood into something Protestant, dear I say Anglican, in that a priest is really a Social Worker. That a man, any man, somehow has the right to be a priest is ludicrous, and symptomatic of great problems in society. Being a priest is a gift offered to god, but it is also a service given to the people of God. One cannot be a good priest if one is constantly fighting tremendously powerful inner daemons, because whilst this is happening it is very hard to serve the people of God.

This is not to say that priests never have serious problems, or that no homosexual can be a good priest, far from it. I am saying that the Church is right in putting conditions on the states of mind men must be in if they desire to enter the priesthood. Just as it would be wrong to ordain a sexual maniac, or people with other serious sexual problems, it is wrong to ordain a practising homosexual (of course), and improper to ordain any man who may have serious inner problems until they have shown they can be dealt with. This is not the Church being homophobic, it is our Church showing love to all people, even to denying itself a commodity (if I may be so secular for a moment) which it truly desires, and needs.

We Catholics should stop treating the priesthood like a simple group of pious men, we should stop treating ordination as simply a commissioning to celebrate Mass, we should stop treating the priesthood as the right of any man.

Contact

Darren Collins
https://www.catholic.org , GB
Darren Collins - Student, 0115 9163191

Email

datrex1@hotmail.com

Keywords

priesthood

More Catholic PRWire

Showing 1 - 50 of 4,716

• « Prev
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• Next »

A Recession Antidote
Randy Hain

Monaco & The Vatican: Monaco's Grace Kelly Exhibit to Rome--A Review of Monegasque-Holy See Diplomatic History
Dna. Maria St. Catherine Sharpe, t.o.s.m., T.O.SS.T.

The Why of Jesus' Death: A Pauline Perspective
Jerom Paul

A Royal Betrayal: Catholic Monaco Liberalizes Abortion
Dna. Maria St.Catherine De Grace Sharpe, t.o.s.m., T.O.SS.T.

Embrace every moment as sacred time
Mary Regina Morrell

My Dad
JoMarie Grinkiewicz

Letting go is simple wisdom with divine potential
Mary Regina Morrell

Father Lombardi's Address on Catholic Media
Catholic Online

Pope's Words to Pontifical Latin American College
Catholic Online

Prelate: Genetics Needs a Conscience
Catholic Online

State Aid for Catholic Schools: Help or Hindrance?
Catholic Online

Scorsese Planning Movie on Japanese Martyrs
Catholic Online

2 Nuns Kidnapped in Kenya Set Free
Catholic Online

Holy See-Israel Negotiation Moves Forward
Catholic Online

Franchising to Evangelize
Catholic Online

Catholics Decry Anti-Christianity in Israel
Catholic Online

Pope and Gordon Brown Meet About Development Aid
Catholic Online

Pontiff Backs Latin America's Continental Mission
Catholic Online

Cardinal Warns Against Anti-Catholic Education
Catholic Online

Full Circle
Robert Gieb

Three words to a deeper faith
Paul Sposite

Relections for Lent 2009
chris anthony

Wisdom lies beyond the surface of life
Mary Regina Morrell

World Food Program Director on Lent
Catholic Online

Moral Clarity
DAN SHEA

Pope's Lenten Message for 2009
Catholic Online

A Prayer for Monaco: Remembering the Faith Legacy of Prince Rainier III & Princess Grace and Contemplating the Moral Challenges of Prince Albert II
Dna. Maria St. Catherine Sharpe

Keeping a Lid on Permissiveness
Sally Connolly

Glimpse of Me
Sarah Reinhard

The 3 stages of life
Michele Szekely

Sex and the Married Woman
Cheryl Dickow

A Catholic Woman Returns to the Church
Cheryl Dickow

Modernity & Morality
Dan Shea

Just a Minute
Sarah Reinhard

Catholic identity ... triumphant reemergence!
Hugh McNichol

Edging God Out
Paul Sposite

Burying a St. Joseph Statue
Cheryl Dickow

George Bush Speaks on Papal Visit
Catholic Online

Sometimes moving forward means moving the canoe
Mary Regina Morrell

Action Changes Things: Teaching our Kids about Community Service
Lisa Hendey

Easter... A Way of Life
Paul Spoisite

Papal initiative...peace and harmony!
Hugh McNichol

Proclaim the mysteries of the Resurrection!
Hugh McNichol

Jerusalem Patriarch's Easter Message
Catholic Online

Good Friday Sermon of Father Cantalamessa
Catholic Online

Papal Address at the End of the Way of the Cross
Catholic Online

Cardinal Zen's Meditations for Via Crucis
Catholic Online

Interview With Vatican Aide on Jewish-Catholic Relations
Catholic Online

Pope Benedict XVI On the Easter Triduum
Catholic Online

Holy Saturday...anticipation!
Hugh McNichol

• « Prev
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• Next »