9/6/2004

by Louise Haggett

Start by Listing Married Priests in Church Bulletins in case of Emergency

In recent weeks, over 160 Wisconsin priests petitioned the U.S. Catholic hierarchy to ordain married men. There is precedent in the Church for a more radical action, however, to bring about change and it can work easily in priestless parishes in Wisconsin and elsewhere where there are priest shortages.

Roman law, the official law of the Roman Catholic, is generally established from a particular custom created by the people in the Church, rather than other way around. This has been the church’s tradition since its beginning. In earlier times, it took a generation—25 to 30 years—before a custom was accepted as law. These days, however, some changes have taken place in the church in a shorter period of time as a result of “by-pass surgery”—keeping the faith while ignoring Vatican rule. In fact, this practice is so common that several Canon Laws (church laws) even provide for it. For instance, Canon 27 reads, “Custom is the best interpreter of laws.”

Some of the changes that have taken place through grassroots pro-active action include:

• Altar Girls—Outlawed in 1994. One year later, female altar servers were approved because most everyone ignored the ruling and used them anyway.
• Midnight Mass—At 10 p.m.. As one married priest explains it, in the village where he celebrated Mass as pastor, people went to bed at 8 p.m.. After one Midnight Mass with no one in attendance, the time was changed. Midnight Mass at 10 p.m. is now common almost everywhere.
• Mass in the Vernacular (local language)—This adjustment was made during the Second Vatican Council (1960s) because several ethnic churches had already changed from the traditional Latin Mass to a language they understood.
• Meatless Fridays—This change is said to have evolved from food rationing during World War II. People ate what they could on Friday. When the war ended, the practice was continued and church laws eventually conformed.
• Women Wearing Hats—There was a time when a woman was not allowed in church without a hat or veil to cover her head. However, the majority of women in European churches ignored the rule in the 1960s. Other countries followed, and eventually so did the institution.
• Fasting Before Communion—There was a time when people received Holy Communion only if they had fasted since midnight. Then, Pope Pius XII allowed the people to drink water after midnight because he discovered that especially children needed that change. Today, one can eat until one hour before Communion and many don’t even comply with that rule.
• Sunday Vigil Mass—It was not always allowed to fulfill the Sunday Mass obligation by attending late Saturday afternoon. However, many people work on Sunday and the Church adjusted its schedule to accommodate church-going Catholics.

These are but a few examples of the institution’s acceptance of common practices that eventually became law.

Married Priests Celebrating Mass—In South America in 1972, the village people who were without a priest began inviting priests who married to celebrate Mass in their local churches on Sundays. Within a year, it became widespread in many South American countries. The bishops are aware that the practice still goes on and simply look the other way. More recent reports indicate that some Mexican villages are doing likewise—the village priest married, he wasn’t replaced as pastor, so the parishioners invite him to celebrate weekly Mass.

Today, 50% of the world’s parishioners are without a resident priest. As of the year 2000, that included 5,300 parishes within the United States, a figure that has probably risen since the clergy abuse revelations in January of 2002. In some parishes, Sunday Mass, which the Catholic parishioners are accustomed (and even obliged) to attending is now a Prayer Service. There is no reason why North Americans can’t do what the South Americans have done, indeed our most southern neighbor, Mexico.

There are 25,000 married Catholic priests in this country, an average of 400 per state. There are also 21 canons in The Code of Canon Law that validate their priesthood and their sacramental and pastoral ministry, as long as the request is made by the public. And no permission is needed from anyone. The U.S. Conference of Bishops confirmed to the Washington Post on August 4, 2003, that the sacraments conferred by priests who married are “valid including Baptism and the celebration of Mass.”

Priests and parishioners can invite the already ordained married priests to serve in their parish whenever there is no priest available and it should be done without permission from anyone. A good place to start is to list the names and phone numbers of married priests who are in the area, in church bulletins in case there is an emergency and there is no priest available. The most likely outcome will be that, if there are no complaints, most of the bishops “will look the other way,” as CITI was told by the late Bishop Raymond Lucker of New Ulm, Minnesota in 1999. If people are serious about wanting weekly or daily Mass and the sacraments especially for the sick, it is up to them to create ‘custom’ in the Church so that it can become law,” according to Louise Haggett, President of CITI Ministries. “And, if priests are serious about wanting optional celibacy, they can do likewise.”

Listings of area married Catholic priests are available through a website, www.rentapriest.com or by calling 1-800-PRIEST 9. The free referral service is provided by CITI Ministries, Inc. (Celibacy Is the Issue), a 501.c3 nonprofit organization dedicated to optional celibacy in the Catholic Church.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change world; indeed it’s the only thing that ever has,” says anthropologist Margaret Mead.