For the second time in 2013, a Catholic leader has called for review and revision of the Roman Catholic Church's policy that priests are not allowed to marry.
Fr. Anthony Musaala, a charismatic priest and evangelist in Uganda, wrote to the Archbishop of Kampala and reported his own abuse by priests as a 16-year-old as well as cases of priests who keep secret wives and have abused children of both genders.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-africa-catholic-abuse-20130505,0,4578310.story
For being honest and calling for an end to required celibacy, Musaala was suspended from his ministry as an evangelist traveling through east, central and south Africa.
Scottish Cardinal Keith O'Brien told the BBC last February that he feels priests should be allowed to marry.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/22/alllow-catholic-priests-marry-cardinal
Soon afterward he admitted sexual misconduct and resigned as a cardinal. Pope Benedict had known about O'Brien's misconduct since December, but he was not asked to resign until he spoke out against mandatory celibacy.
In Austria Fr. Helmut Schueller led some 300 priests last year in a "Call for Disobedience" to press the Catholic church toward ordination of women and allowing priests to marry.
http://www.associationofcatholicpriests.ie/2012/12/vatican-punishes-austrian-call-to-disobedience-priest/
For his trouble, he was stripped of the title "Monsignor" and another title but not defrocked.
Also last year Fr. Roy Bourgeois was defrocked and forced out of the Maryknoll Missioners after participating in the ordination of a woman priest and calling for an end to celibacy for priests.
We have turned a corner. The Vatican is like some giant swatting at flies, but eventually its leaders will be forced to return the church to the policy of the first thousand years, when marriage was an option for priests.
When the happens, ordination of women will be not far behind.
Fr. Anthony Musaala, a charismatic priest and evangelist in Uganda, wrote to the Archbishop of Kampala and reported his own abuse by priests as a 16-year-old as well as cases of priests who keep secret wives and have abused children of both genders.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-africa-catholic-abuse-20130505,0,4578310.story
For being honest and calling for an end to required celibacy, Musaala was suspended from his ministry as an evangelist traveling through east, central and south Africa.
Scottish Cardinal Keith O'Brien told the BBC last February that he feels priests should be allowed to marry.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/22/alllow-catholic-priests-marry-cardinal
Soon afterward he admitted sexual misconduct and resigned as a cardinal. Pope Benedict had known about O'Brien's misconduct since December, but he was not asked to resign until he spoke out against mandatory celibacy.
In Austria Fr. Helmut Schueller led some 300 priests last year in a "Call for Disobedience" to press the Catholic church toward ordination of women and allowing priests to marry.
http://www.associationofcatholicpriests.ie/2012/12/vatican-punishes-austrian-call-to-disobedience-priest/
For his trouble, he was stripped of the title "Monsignor" and another title but not defrocked.
Also last year Fr. Roy Bourgeois was defrocked and forced out of the Maryknoll Missioners after participating in the ordination of a woman priest and calling for an end to celibacy for priests.
We have turned a corner. The Vatican is like some giant swatting at flies, but eventually its leaders will be forced to return the church to the policy of the first thousand years, when marriage was an option for priests.
When the happens, ordination of women will be not far behind.
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