Last Updated:Friday - 09/24/2010

WCR Letters to the Editor

Priest clarifies celibacy

A recent letter to the editor said, "Did Jesus choose 12 married men for his 12 Apostles? No he did not. Priests are married to the Church. That is why they cannot be with a spouse" ("Focus on the positives of priests, the Church," WCR Letters, Dec. 12).

Marriage is an interesting image of the relationship between the priest and the Church. From which official Church documents did the author of the letter obtain her statement, "Priests are married to the Church"? Do the ordination rites speak of this?

The Holy Bible says, "When Jesus entered Peter's house, he saw his mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever" (Matthew 8:14). This seems to indicate that St. Peter, who was one of the 12 Apostles, was married.

The early Church seems to have had married clergy. "A bishop must be . . . married only once" (1 Timothy 3:2). "Appoint elders (priests) . . . someone who is blameless, married only once" (Titus 1:6).

Other particular churches in communion with the holy father have married priests and celibate priests. The Ukrainian Catholic Church is one such Church. Over the last years married men who had been clergy in the Anglican and Lutheran ecclesial communities and have become Roman Catholic have been ordained as priests in the Roman Catholic Church. These priests live both the sacraments of Matrimony and Holy Orders.

It is one thing to uphold the long-standing discipline of celibacy for priests and bishops as the norm in the Roman Catholic (Latin) and other particular churches; it is something quite different to say that priests "cannot be with a spouse" because they "are married to the Church."

Rev. Leo Hofmann
Edmonton

Just don't drink, period

To our well-loved youth, Merry Christmas, with peace.

The message "If you drink, don't drive" is too weak. Don't drink! Drinking dulls awareness and smudges integrity. It loosens disordered appetite and passion, and brings out the ugliness of one's worst side.

Respect yourself and others. Muster up courage and character to do right. If you lack the self-control, pray and get help to keep yourself in check and mind where you go. Our faults must be resisted; temptation avoided.

Recognize the love that has been lavished on you. Your life is not yours to squander in self-indulgence. It has been created and redeemed and nourished at a greater price than you know.

That love should grow. Your light should shine. Look to the Lord and fear not. Just do your best, even when it is hard. Make your family happy too.

Frances Charbonneau
Edmonton

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