Monday, December 11, 2006

I just thought maybe...

Married Men Installed As Priests in N.J.

I read this headline and I thought just maybe Forbes was doing an article on Father Kimel (congratulations to him on his ordination), but I knew it would be about Archbishop Milingo and his company. It's the standard AP wire story. Pretty basic.

In front of a congregation that included nearly two dozen members of the media at the Trinity Reformed Church, Raymond A. Grosswirth of Rochester, N.Y., and Dominic Riccio, of Newark, were installed by Zambian Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo.

Then I saw this at Catholic News Agency this morning. I thought it was rather funny.

Parsippany, NJ, Dec. 08, 2006 (CNA) - Two groups made up of former Catholic priests, who are pushing for a married priesthood in the Roman Catholic Church, have issued warnings to married former priests about a third, similar organization, Married Priests Now, which is headed by the excommunicated Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo.

The recently formed Married Priests Now is holding a convention, from Dec. 7 to 10, at the local Sheraton Hotel. As of Wednesday only 200 people were registered to attend, far less than the 1000 organizers had expected.
[...]

CORPUS and CITI [two married priests associations] cited Milingo’s excommunication after his illicit attempt to ordain three married men as bishops. CORPUS also expressed concern about the new group’s connection with the Unification Church's Rev. Sung Myung Moon, who has called himself the Messiah.

At the big meeting, Archbishop Milingo publicly praised the Reverend Moon for his support, thus proving wrong the archbishop's early assertions that his group is completely independent.

While Archbishop Milingo moving around out there and ordaining people is certainly not good, the only people he's going to get are the extremists. Groups that hold out hope of effecting change in the Church are not going to embrace Milingo's Moonie Marriage Movement.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You see CITI has the funny impression that it is somehow working with the approval of the institutional RC church. What CITI does not realize is that any priest, even CITI priests, who conduct ministry outside the institution are (in some sense) schismatic. One CITI priest in Florida was excommunicated for doing weddings for CITI.

CITI is the same as every other married priest organization but somehow thinks it has a one upmanship, but it doesn't. CITI has always held itself separate and aloof and probably will continue to do so. But it would be nice if we did not have to disagree in public. We are on the same team and working for the same cause.

One of the married men ordained a priest for Married Priests Now! is a CORPUS officer. CORPUS officers were at the Married Priests Now! Convocation and at the ordination to support their member and us. CORPUS may be cautious but they are not blind.

FCM (Federation of Christian Ministries) was also represented at our convocation as friends and co-workers.

We appreciate their support. The Media and probably blogs need to find the conflict to capture the attention of the readers.... so sometimes the media adds to, creates. and makes more juicy what is not really worth noting. And that is what is happening here.

Corpus, FCM, and the other renewal movements have a great future together but we are not in a rush.

Also at the convocation were six bishops from the National Catholic Apostolic Church of Brazil (ICAB). Now that is a connection.
The ICAB has 5,000 married Catholic priests in Brazil and in other So. American countries. ICAB has 50 bishops and is thriving.

The Holy Father is welcome to return Archbishop Milingo's pension to him and then he would not need the generosity of Rev. Moon. No public corporation would get away with the immoral and unjust act of depriving a 76 year old man of his earned pension. Is this the Holy Mother you honor as a Church? Milingo has earned his pension and Pope Ratzinger ought to return it to him. Archbishop Milingo writes frequently to Pope Ratzinger and does not get any answer. Is this how a pope, who has the primary obligation toward reconciliation, should act? I think not.

+Peter Paul Brennan
Married Priests Now! Prelature
http://www.orgsites.com/ny/married-priests-now/

Jacob said...

Thank you for taking the time to comment.