Married priest explains it

[Mornac]

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17 August 2011
Married priest: 'Single clergy better placed to serve God'
 
By Joe Wilson
 
A married Roman Catholic priest from Burnley has said he believes the church is correct to prefer single celibate clergy in their parishes.

Father Paul Blackburn is the most recently ordained priest into the Salford Diocese.

He is married with three children.

A former Anglican minister, Father Paul embraced Catholicism after growing dissatisfied with the direction the Church of England was taking on some moral issues.

He said single priests are better placed to serve God by giving their entire life to his ministry.

"Whatever the church decides about the future shape of ministry there will always be a need for celibate priests," Father Paul told BBC Radio Lancashire.

God's will
 
For centuries, the Roman Catholic Church has insisted that its priests be both single and celibate claiming it is God's will. They say it has apostolic authority and back up the argument with biblical references.

Critics, amongst them some practising clergy in the church, say laws of celibacy are a more earthly ruling and did not apply in the early days of the church. Saint Peter, the first pope, was married and so were some subsequent popes and bishops.

The rule of clerical celibacy is a church law and not a doctrine, thus the Pope can alter the ruling at any time. The current pontiff, Pope Benedict XVI, is staunchly in favour of the status quo. However, he can and does allow former married Anglican minsters to become Catholic priests with each case being viewed on an individual basis.

In recent times this was seen as a gift from the Pope and is also now part of the ordinariate as some Anglicans struggle to remain in the Church of England.

Many Catholics believe that a married priest is a more rounded priest whose experiences can help deal with family issues better than his single colleagues.

Father Paul disagrees. "A celibate priest can give so much more," he said. "They can give themselves and everything about them. They can give to the church and to the service of God. I can give what I give but a proportion of my time will always go to my family."

Father Paul Blackburn was born in Burnley where he attended Ivy Bank School. Whilst a parishioner in his early twenties at St. Catherine's in the town he was accepted for training at the prestigious College of the Resurrection in the West Yorkshire village of Mirfield.

He was ordained into the Blackburn Diocese and then moved to the East Midlands to take his ministry to at a city parish in Derby.

'Protecting the belief'

It was there, towards the end of the nineties, that Father Paul began to have worries about the future direction of the Anglican Church.

"I will always be grateful to the Church of England, but I began to have serious doubts about the direction the church was going. It was the ethical dilemmas that worried me, particularly about medical issues like abortion. I felt more and more that the Church of England wasn't protecting the belief that life should be upheld from conception."

"For me personally, I felt the Catholic Church upholds that conviction about all human life however it presents itself to us." he continued.

Father Paul's first role as a Roman Catholic priest was to join the chaplaincy team at Blackburn Royal Infirmary. "I have met some lovely people at the hospital, both staff and patients, and it is a privilege to minister to them," he said.

He is one of two priests ordained into the Salford Diocese this year - the average number of new priests per diocese, and a statistic that worries many Catholics.

Even though the church is struggling to find enough priests to cover its parishes, Father Paul still isn't in favour of relaxing the church rules to accept vocations from priests who wish to marry.

"The world around us is changing and there are less and less people going to mass," he said. "It is almost as if the culture has forgotten that we are a Christian country. Less people are going to church but the people who are there are there because they are committed."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-14558165

[notoc]

Married priest explains it

Explains what, exactly?

[Mornac]

The Church’s reasoning on unmarried priesthood.

[notoc]

The Church’s reasoning on unmarried priesthood.

A married Priest is suggesting that it would be better for his god, his Church and its parishioners if he were not married ... what's his reasoning in remaining a priest?

[Mornac]

A married Priest is suggesting that it would be better for his god, his Church and its parishioners if he were not married ...

--No, a married priest is explaining why it would be better for God’s Church if its priests remained unmarried.

what's his reasoning in remaining a priest?

--He’s a Catholic. Whereas marriage may be a disposable commmodity for the Protestant and secular world, it is an insoluble Sacrament for us. Abandoning his wife and family would be a mortal sin.

[notoc]

--No, a married priest is explaining why it would be better for God’s Church if its priests remained unmarried

But not better than all priests being unmarried ... his 'explanation' is flawed.

--He’s a Catholic. Whereas marriage may be a disposable commmodity for the Protestant and secular world, it is an insoluble Sacrament for us. Abandoning his wife and family would be a mortal sin.

He's a priest and believes that it would be better for his god, his Church and its parishioners if he were not married ... who suggested he 'abandon his wife'?

The message in what you posted is quite simple, Mornac. You can't have your cake and eat it, unless you're a Catholic.

[Mornac]

But not better than all priests being unmarried ... his 'explanation' is flawed.

--No, he just finds himself in the camp of the disadvantaged.

He's a priest and believes that it would be better for his god, his Church and its parishioners if he were not married ...

--Link please?

who is suggested he 'abandon his wife'?

--It was a possible implication so I addressed it. Here’s how it works: The man had a vocation and made a bone fide attempt to fulfill it as a Protestant. When he recognised and embraced the truth, he didn’t abandon his vocation. He fulfilled it even though it meant doing it with a wife and children. Catholics are called to do many things and are expected to do them no matter what difficulties they carry with them.

The message in what you posted is quite simple, Mornac. You can't have your cake and eat it, unless you're a Catholic.

--You didn’t comprehend it (but we’re all getting used to that at this point).

[notoc]

--No, he just finds himself in the camp of the disadvantaged.
--Link please?
--It was a possible implication so I addressed it. Here’s how it works: The man had a vocation and made a bone fide attempt to fulfill it as a Protestant. When he recognised and embraced the truth, he didn’t abandon his vocation. He fulfilled it even though it meant doing it with a wife and children. Catholics are called to do many things and are expected to do them no matter what difficulties they carry with them.
--You didn’t comprehend it (but we’re all getting used to that at this point).

Whatever, Mornac. Twist it any way you like ... you and the priest make no sense and only serve to illustrate one of the many levels of hypocrisy within your Church.

[ivanm]

--No, a married priest is explaining why it would be better for God’s Church if its priests remained unmarried.
--He’s a Catholic. Whereas marriage may be a disposable commmodity for the Protestant and secular world, it is an insoluble Sacrament for us. Abandoning his wife and family would be a mortal sin.

If it did not come from the Lord himself then I don't see that being insoluble.  It is more like bigoted dogma.   If the name of the game is to preach teh Gospel and draw people to Christ then I think a lady preacher can do that better than some gay flaky male. For that matter, I have yet to meet a priest that seemed a little bit flaky to me. They should try females for a change.

[Mornac]

If it did not come from the Lord himself then I don't see that being insoluble.

--I thought you didn’t believe in the Lord ivan. For cryin’ out loud I wish you’d pick a horse and get on it so we’d all know where you stand.

It is more like bigoted dogma.

--No, it’s revealed dogma.

If the name of the game is to preach teh Gospel and draw people to Christ then I think a lady preacher can do that better than some gay flaky male.

--The name of the game is to bring people into Christ’s Church where His Sacraments are available to them. Yes, sometimes a layman is better at that and the Church encourages them to be. Furthermore, it isn’t always the vocation of a priest to convert sinners. Some of them don’t even come in contact with the secular world. I’m sure that there are “gay” priests that do a formidable job of bringing people into the Church, just as there are “straight” priests who are completely inept. I’m guessing that anyone who can be described as “flaky” probably isn’t a good candidate for the job.

For that matter, I have yet to meet a priest that seemed a little bit flaky to me.

--I’ve met quite a few that seemed more than a little flaky to me. You probably just haven’t met as many as I have.

They should try females for a change.

--Who? The flaky priests? What would that do?