From Anderson Cooper 360 Blog: The Call to Ministry Should Not Include Celibacy by Joe and Joan Koechler (VOTF) (comments mine)
Our first thoughts are congratulations to Father Cutié. (Dissidents love it when someone apostatizes, especially when they can use it as a club to bash the Church - just wait and see.) We are sure he thought long and hard in coming to his decision. (But not nearly as long and hard about breaking his vow of celibacy) He can now be married and remain in ministry.
In the history of the Church, the celibacy requirement for priests is “relatively” recent – only in the last thousand years! (Umm, 1000 years is recent?!? You kidding me?) The early Church, as shown in the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, evidences a married leadership (including Peter). (IIRC, Peter was the only apostle definitively known as having been married. However, some theologians believe that when he was following Christ, he was probably widowed - when Christ healed his mother-in-law, and she began to wait on them, some say that indicated Peter's wife was no longer living, because if she had been, his wife would have been serving them, and not the m-i-l.) (And note, there is no reference to “priests” in the New Testament.) (James 5:14 "He should summon the presbyters of the church..." Last time I checked, one is more than none.)
The Bishop of Miami noted that celibacy does have a role. It allows for total dedication of life to ministry. (That's a simplification of the gift of celibacy, and I doubt that was all the bishop mentioned.) However, try to tell anyone with a career that marriage prevents dedication to that career. (Ummm....being a priest is NOT a career - it's a vocation. Being married is a vocation, too, and in order to support a family, one or both of the spouses has to work. This is a strawman argument.) The reasons for celibacy are probably more nuanced. At the time the formal rule of celibacy was declared there were issues of property inheritance and gross abuses related to sexuality. (But wait! I thought there were gross abuses related to sexuality because of celibacy! That's what VOTF has been saying since the sexual abuse crisis started. So which is it? How can it be both?) And there had been a long theological theme going back to St. Augustine equating sexual relationships with baser instincts and evil inclinations, but needed for procreation. (I'm not as familiar with Augustine as I would like to be, but I know to never assume that VOTF-types correctly apply Augustine's words, or any Church teaching, or any historical data. They nuance that stuff all the time.)
Our conviction today is that the Catholic Church needs to recognize that the call to ministry is not restricted to a celibate clergy. (Where has the Church said that? The call to priesthood is restricted to celibacy, but not the call to the permanent diaconate. Furthermore, I contend that the word 'ministry' has been abused and misused so much that it's authentic meaning is probably irrecoverable. Another strawman argument.) And we need to recognize that the call to ministry comes from our communities as in the early Church where ministers were appointed by the local community with the subsequent blessing of the local Church leaders. Our tradition confirms this: our Eastern Rite churches have married clergy. The current practice of accepting Anglican and Episcopal priests into Catholicism with their wives and families moves us in the direction of a married clergy. The practice of most religions shows the value of a married clergy. (Statistically, denominations with married clergy are not seeing a rise in ordinations. That's because of the contraceptive mentality in the West more than anything else, IMHO.) Frankly, sometimes we believe that the current rule is meant to place marriage in a secondary role as a church sacrament, no matter what documents exist that extol the sacramental nature of marriage. (Nice - state a biased loaded opinion, and because Church documents and teachings don't support the stupid opinion, trash the integrity of the documents and statements. Losers.) (If you want confirmation that marriage has a second class status in our church, look at office of married deacon re-established after the Second Vatican Council – if a deacon’s wife dies he may not remarry!) (Wait! You forgot to mention that divorced people who don't get an annulment can't get married again, or if they do, they can't receive the Eucharist! Isn't the Church just...just oppressive? Wah wah wah...what devious muckrakers. When a man becomes a permanent deacon, he agrees to the rule that he cannot remarry if his wife dies. The Church isn't forcing men to become deacons against their will! The biased narrow-minded views dissidents have regarding Church teaching are never more evident when they publish an opinion or open their mouths.)
Lastly, our Church now is in need of ministers. Churches are closing not just for lack of financial resources, but also for lack of ministers. At least half my class that was ordained in 1968 has left active ministry, some to move to Episcopal churches as married priests. (1968 - right around the time Humanae Vitae was issued, and shortly after Vatican II - there's a connection there somewhere, I'm sure. And how many men were in your class? Why not provide a number?) There is no reason that a married clergy cannot meet the Catholic churches needs. (Yes, there is a reason - because the Catholic Church has decreed it so.)
- an ex-priest and ex-nun, who are married to each other, congratulate a Catholic priest who is "following his conscience" (they forgot to mention that - it's usually #1 in the dissent rant countdown) by leaving the Bride of Christ so that he can have a bride of his own. Check.
- this same ex-priest and ex-nun don't have the courage to leave the Church themselves, but would rather trash the Church and propagate distortions and lies about Church teaching. Check.
- no mention of personal sin (scandal, fornication, etc) and the need for repentance. Check.
- distortion of Scripture, early Church fathers and Church teaching to support typical strawmen arguments. Check.
- Whining and gnashing of teeth over "oppressive Church hierarchy". Check.
Soon after this scandal was reported, Fr. Cutié had stated that he did not want to become the poster child for priestly celibacy. Well, his becoming Episcopalian shows how dishonest he was in that declaration, and Voice of the Faithless is ecstatic to carry his water. I wonder if they'll get invited to the wedding.
