Church, Hierarchy, and Churches: Popular Catholic Misconceptions

In January 1991 Archbishop Rembert Weakland, O.S.B., of Milwaukee made headlines when he published the draft of a pastoral letter for his archdiocese. In it he stated his willingness to present to Rome a married male candidate for ordination to the priesthood—when a Catholic community that met certain conditions of faith and vitality was not able to find a celibate priest.

His proposal was carefully circumscribed. As he said later, it was to be "only in extreme necessity and under very rigid conditions." Nevertheless, his raising this issue was apparently too much for the Vatican. When the final draft of his pastoral letter was published on Nov. 7. 1991. the Archbishop disclosed that the Vatican Secretary of State had termed his proposal for priest-short areas and communities "out of place."

Archbishop Weakland is not the only bishop to have raised the issue of celibacy lately. About the time that his pastoral letter was published, two bishops in Germany also brought up the question. Berlin's Cardinal Georg Sterzinsky suggested that the possibility of married priests in the third millennium could not be excluded, Walter Kasper, Bishop of Rottenburg, said in a radio interview that married priests would bring a new dimension of experience to the Catholic clergy. Both bishops "clarified" their statements a day later, explaining that they had not meant to present any views different from the Vatican's official position.

The issue raised by these bishops—the increasingly critical shortage of priests—is only one of many facing the Roman Catholic Church today. These issues need to be discussed openly. Unfortunately, it is too often the case that episcopal efforts to raise these issues are discouraged.