Mark Shea was on the Huffington Post today,\u00a0discussing\u00a0the whole priestly\u00a0celibacy\u00a0topic<\/a>. \u00a0Mark didn\u2019t get much of a chance to talk, and was clearly outnumbered by those who think it\u2019s time to put the whole priestly\u00a0celibacy\u00a0issue to rest. \u00a0I don\u2019t have time to go into much, but here are a couple of ideas of mine when it comes to this.<\/p>\n First, as I\u2019ve said, I think the clergy convert movement has turned a corner, and we won\u2019t be seeing broad ordinations of married former protestant clergy like we did. \u00a0At least that\u2019s what I\u2019ve been told. \u00a0I didn\u2019t say much, but a couple years ago, after being approached by several individuals suggesting I consider the diaconate, I went to our parish pastor to\u00a0discuss\u00a0the possibilities. \u00a0After a while, it was floated that I consider going all the way into the priesthood. \u00a0To be honest, I never really thought about that, and hadn\u2019t really considered it. \u00a0But who was I to say no? \u00a0After almost two years of discussions it just came back to me, on the eve of our pastor leaving for another parish, that the married priest ship has sailed. \u00a0At least in our diocese. <\/p>\n In fact, on a side note, I\u2019ve been told that the attitude toward clergy converts is such that not mentioning that I was a clergy convert could go a long way toward\u00a0increasing\u00a0my possibilities in our diocese. \u00a0I had already been told this before, but now it came from on high. \u00a0But that\u2019s a different issue. \u00a0Right now, the answer is what piqued my curiosity. \u00a0Basically, from the high seat itself, I was informed that there is a Canon Law limit of 2 married priests per diocese, we have 2, that\u2019s that. \u00a0Don\u2019t even think about it. <\/p>\n That\u2019s the first thing with the priest shortage. \u00a0I\u2019ve noticed that even now, the Church turns people away. \u00a0Whether\u00a0because\u00a0of class size, availability of resources, demands for\u00a0apparently\u00a0a far from perfect screening process, an arbitrarily decided upon number, whatever \u2013 the Church does its thing and\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0that. \u00a0Better to shut down parishes and close ministries than consider moving the number to 3, or possibly letting 4 more into the class this year. \u00a0The Church does its thing. \u00a0Reason \u00a0#1. \u00a0The Church simply does its thing and isn\u2019t going to\u00a0change, demographics or stats be damned.<\/p>\n Reason #2 is that the Church has lost some of its zing. \u00a0It\u2019s trying to adapt to a rapidly changing anti-Christian world while standing firm in a 2000 year old tradition. \u00a0And so you have a Church that seems to say, on one hand, that it\u2019s better that a million babies be murdered than a single person tell a white lie to save them. \u00a0And on the other hand, is willing to embrace the latest hippest that all the cool post-Christian progressive Westerners embrace, as I said yesterday<\/a>.<\/p>\n That sort of \u2018everything because sometimes it\u2019s near darn close to what is almost always for the most part nearly true based on the clear\u00a0teachings\u00a0of the ancient Church\u00a0until\u00a0yesterday\u00a0but need to be understood without coming full near to saying up to the down of something\u2019 approach to\u00a0crystal\u00a0clear teaching has left a Church where a whole lot of people are on record not believing. \u00a0Period. \u00a0Half of Catholics don\u2019t believe in the Real Presence<\/a>. \u00a0Most accept the use of birth control<\/a>. \u00a0Most American Catholics support abortion rights<\/a>. \u00a0Most Catholic scholarship is far closer to the mainline liberal\u00a0scholarship\u00a0of\u00a0Protestantism\u00a0than traditional understandings of biblical studies (see above). \u00a0Catholics are quite frankly all over the map, some to the extreme left, others to the extreme right, and others calling down a pox on both extremes while simultaneously, and not too\u00a0subtlety\u00a0 forging their own fiscal version of what the Church really should have said.<\/p>\n In my seven years, I\u2019ve met three priests whose homilies call it like it is. \u00a0So many times, I hear priests talk in ways I can\u2019t pin down, even though I\u00a0know\u00a0the context. \u00a0I\u2019ve not heard one priest say that homosexual relations are sinful. \u00a0Not one. \u00a0Abortion? \u00a0Yeah. \u00a0That\u2019s the one issue the\u00a0Church\u00a0will take a bullet for. \u00a0But unlike Patton, the Church seems to have forgotten\u00a0what\u00a0many\u00a0Protestants\u00a0are now forgetting, but both traditions (and Patton) once knew: you don\u2019t just get a bunch of guys together, hand them guns, then say storm the bunker. \u00a0You train them. \u00a0You discipline them. \u00a0You teach them it\u2019s the little things that are as important as the big things, because those who are faithful with little things will typically end up being faithful with bigger things (Luke 16). \u00a0Any coach worth his salt will say the same thing. \u00a0You learn the fundamentals. \u00a0The basics. \u00a0The little disciplines. \u00a0Then, and only then, are you ready to take on the powers of hell.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, that\u2019s not the Church today. \u00a0It\u2019s troubles\u2019 roots no doubt\u00a0precede\u00a0Vatican II. \u00a0I would wager they predate Vatican I. \u00a0Truth be told, the difficulties are rooted in Luther\u2019s rather\u00a0successful\u00a0throwing off of the Church\u2019s authority. \u00a0For centuries, that has caused no end of trouble. \u00a0And in the last century, the trouble has been overflowing. \u00a0Vatican\u00a0II was simply an expression of trying to fit the square peg of the historical Catholic faith in the increasingly round hole of post-enlightenment, post-Christian contexts. Because of that, the Church is confused, or at least appears that way to the average Jane and Joe who don\u2019t have multiple advanced doctoral degrees in hermeneutics, historical theology, philosophy, and biblical interpretation. \u00a0Mixed up. \u00a0Not sure. \u00a0I hear Catholics say more things than I ever heard in a dozen different\u00a0Protestant\u00a0denominations.<\/p>\n Catholics, and especially Catholic converts, love to point out that once upon a time there was a Protestant denomination, now look how many! \u00a0Fair enough. \u00a0One of the clear problems with Protestantism was its very origins. \u00a0I\u00a0knew\u00a0that well. \u00a0It\u2019s true. \u00a0But in many ways, there are as many Catholic denominations today, at least mentally and religiously. \u00a0That they all gather together around a table that only half believe to be true is hardly the point. \u00a0Do we really think in such a setting, in such a fragmented and quite frankly confused\u00a0environment\u00a0you\u2019re going to have parents pushing their kids to be\u00a0priests? \u00a0 Do you think you\u2019re\u00a0going\u00a0to have kids grow up and want to be priests? \u00a0Fighting and dying for a cause is one thing. \u00a0Fighting and dying for something that\u2019s not really sure how it wants to say this, is something else.<\/p>\n Naturally some will, and God bless them. Because not all Catholics are like this. \u00a0Many are faithful, finding balance, seeking wisdom in humility, following the Church, questioning\u00a0the Church, but doing so with honesty and restraint with a heart toward obedience. \u00a0But the Church is made up of far more who are not there, for whatever reasons, and their numbers have pushed the\u00a0limit\u00a0I\u2019m afraid. And sometimes, to be brutally honest, I can\u2019t help but believe the aforesaid things I\u2019ve noticed are part of the problem. \u00a0At some point, th One more thing. \u00a0For the most part, I don\u2019t buy the whole concern over priestly\u00a0celibacy\u00a0as anything but the outrage of it\u00a0interfering\u00a0with the mantra of the sexual\u00a0revolution\u00a0 \u00a0After all, the keystone to to our entire post-Freudian sexual ethic is that sex is like\u00a0oxygen\u00a0 \u00a0No, scratch that. \u00a0Food,\u00a0oxygen\u00a0 and water we can live without. \u00a0But not sex. \u00a0Not Sex! \u00a0Everything we teach, believe, or follow just happily points to this idea that man can live on sex alone. \u00a0And\u00a0celibacy\u00a0 of any sort, especially of a traditional Christian sort, is a smack in the face to that little lie. \u00a0It\u2019s Jessie Owens sprinting down before the pride of Nazi Germany in the 36 Olympics, smacking Hitler\u2019s entire Master Race theory square in the jaw. \u00a0That\u2019s why they want\u00a0celibacy\u00a0to just go away. \u00a0It\u2019s a powerful reminder upon just how much of a falsehood is our entire modern sexual ethic. \u00a0So here\u2019s hoping that the\u00a0Church\u00a0can get it\u2019s act together, learn to not always be an Ent about adapting to changes, and yet that it stands firm on its traditions, especially because of the rather nefarious nature of those who are so eager for her to change them.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mark Shea was on the Huffington Post today,\u00a0discussing\u00a0the whole priestly\u00a0celibacy\u00a0topic. \u00a0Mark didn\u2019t get much of a chance to talk, and was clearly outnumbered by those who think it\u2019s time to put the whole priestly\u00a0celibacy\u00a0issue to rest. \u00a0I don\u2019t have time to go into much, but here are a couple of ideas of mine when it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2805,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
\ne Church needs to get its act together, and remember that God takes a dim view of religion that stands by while the flock drifts off into oblivion (Ezekiel 22.26, Hosea 4.6).<\/p>\n