The end of a journey

Just to say thank you to everybody for participating on this blog. My journey has come to end. Good luck to everybody in his personal, private life.

May God Bless you all!

Theology/Pastoral Studies: Online courses

There is the classical example of a half filled or half empty glass. How do you view it? Half full or half empty?

It’s the same with the situation of the world today. Do you see it as something negative or as something positive? I don’t mean sickness itself but rather pointing to our lifestyle these last weeks. It’s incredible because although the internet has been present in our life for quite a time, yet it seems that most people are realising that we can do lots of actions online! There has been a proliferation of online courses, tips, dancing, home made recipes etc…Our life is heavily relying on the internet whether we like it or not! Some people have gone one step further as they have predicted that our life is never going back to ‘normal’. Whether this statement is true or not, yet we are truly grasping the power of the internet, at least for the time being.

Last time we criticised that the Roman Catholic church as it simply uses the internet to transmit the live celebration of the mass. We urged the church to go beyond just celebrating the sacraments and start using the method and language used by the online community.

What about us? We’ve been publishing the blog for a long time now [not less than 22 years now]. We can’t be full time on this blog as it won’t pay our bills plus other necessities! But what about our readers? Today I’m just publishing lots of links to do an online course about theology and/or Pastoral Studies. If you want to participate in the parish, you can’t do it if you’re not qualified! Hence let’s make the best use of the time inside our houses by attending any course which might help us in running the parish!

Please remember that most parishes don’t have enough people to manage their daily needs. There are a lot of posts to be filled. In fact most of the parishes are closing down because there aren’t enough people to take responsibility. We can’t simply criticise and do nothing. That’s not Christian at all! Let’s start….

I’m supplying some links but you can find others too. Happy browsing!

Please keep safe by following a healthy lifestyle and a by having a good dose of vitamin C.

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffsb&q=online+theological+courses&ia=web

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffsb&q=online+pastoral+courses&ia=web

The online aspect of the Church

I never ever remember schools closed for such a long period! Teachers were teaching one day, the next day, schools were closed. Most of them felt at a loss. How can one teach online? It has become the dilemma of many teachers as they struggle to face a new and unfamiliar situation. They struggle to conquer the world of IT [online] to communicate with their students. The main sin was, that schools – including teachers, students and parents – were never prepared for such a particular situation!

What about the church? How do we expect people to come to church? Maybe they have never had a visit from a member of the parish! They struggle to belief in a God. Most probably they hear all sorts of stories ‘against’ the church. Maybe they don’t feel the need for a god. Now to cap it all, there’s the coronavirus which has transformed practically all countries into a lock-down.

Obviously it all points down to our preparation or training. Churches like schools, have barely touched the online world! The only practical point was to celebrate the mass in an empty church and to transmit it to the internet. Well, seeing such a bare and empty church won’t be a good advertisement at all! Are we happy with that? We shouldn’t. In some churches, the Cardinal/Archbishop/bishop practically took over. Indirectly it has brought forward the old idea that the church is the priest/bishop or clergy!

As they say in English: every cloud has a silver lining. For the worldwide visitor to this blog it means that every negative situation has the potential to result in or produce something positive or beneficial. (A silver lining in a cloud is an indication that the sun is behind it.)

The internet world is NOT a church. We can’t simply produce the sacraments and pour them into whoever happens to be online! We can’t simply dump into people all the documents of the church! IF we need to push forward the mass and other sacraments mentality, people need to be trained in what are the sacraments, why do we need them etc…

Besides, the internet world, like TV, uses a complete different format such as that of hot discussions! Discussion does not mean to convert the other into your beliefs or opinion! I do remember one of my university lecturers who used to make us write down not our opinion, but that of our adversary!! One had to write down the opinion which obviously one didn’t subscribe to! Yet this was the first step to get to know the other. It had already moved mountains in the dialogue method. Secondly, we had to find at least one positive point in his/her/their opinion! Thirdly, we had to device a common point from where to start discussing! Lastly, one had to retract something in order to reach a compromise!

Another missing methodology is that of contemporary Christian life. Many people would like to see how ordinary people are living their faith today. The Facebook or Big Brother mentality shows people’s obsession today in seeing something ‘live’. From another point of view, the urge to share shows people’s needs to adhere to a community. The church can work along these lines too if we tender and care in creating the community mentality in our parishes.

Recently I have just watched a film about Saint John XXIII (who occupied the chair of Peter from 1958 to 1963). It moves one to tears in his ability of reading the signs of the times.

He was the first Pope to reach out to what they have termed [at that time], the enemies of the church. With his message of peace, he found a bridge with all people including atheists. It was no surprise that he managed to stop the world from going into a full blown and disastrous world war!

Finally they found a Pope who did not speak in theological jargon but one who appealed to the common good. He was not imprisoned in his beautiful cathedral but looked forward to understand and dialogue with all kinds of people including the people who were in jail [which was unheard of at that time].

It was no surprise that he was fooled by one of his closest friends as they struggled to keep the power as they were comfortable of playing home by celebrating a liturgy which lacked meaning for the common people! Eventually, his once close friend, asked for pardon to the dying Pope as he finally realized the Pope’s winning way of working in the church!

Are we today as practical as Saint John XXIII? Speaking about this blog, some of our readers are really sensitive when somebody writes in a way which offends their inner beliefs! How many times we discuss the church and its way forward instead of protecting ourselves?! Are we prepared to go to training sessions to improve our faith and to improve our intimacy and knowledge of our Lord? What are we doing on a practical level to improve the church on a local level? Are parishes offering online courses, prayers, discussions, talks etc…??

We started the article by our reference to teachers. As teachers need to be trained in how to handle all the wonderful world of IT. We too need to train the future leaders in the church, which is no joke. It will involve many years of preparation. We need to be IN the internet. We need to talk the way the people talk today. We need to be online more and to be like a bridge over these troubled waters [moments].

As married priests, who have been deprived of a ‘normal’ church, we could give some tips in managing the internet [we have been doing so for more than 22 years now]. In this case too, as we are living a family life. As a result of our daily experience, we can point out what are the common points with today’s world.

Prayer in Online Space

As we are presenting more time at home, it’s very easy to become bored. It’s more easy to forget God. We can be carried away by what’s being reported in the media. We as Christians, we need to feed our soul and mind with the appropriate literature. Let’s not forget to pray. Prayer can move mountains!

We are presenting some links which we hope may benefit all our readers.

The Catholic Mass (all of it written down)

http://catholic-resources.org/ChurchDocs/Mass.htm

The prayers recited by priests, religious and lay persons:

https://breviary.net/hours.htm

Where to find the breviary…

https://www.universalis.com/today.htm

http://www.ibreviary.org/en/tools/ibreviary-web.html

Daily Mass:

http://www.vatican.va/content/liturgy/en.html

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi6JtCVy4XKu4BSG-AE2chg

Holy Masses live online

http://www.catholictv.org/masses/catholictv-mass/masses-live-demand

Documents of the Second Vatican Council [1963-1965] (We do mention it a lot on our blog)

http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/index.htm

Other relevant material:

http://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals.index.html

Stations of the Cross

https://www.catholic.org/prayers/station.php

Listen Live

Mysteries of the Rosary

https://www.catholic.org/prayers/mystery.php

Free courses on the Bible

https://www.catholic.org/bible/

Radio stations

https://streema.com/radios/genre/Catholic

https://tunein.com/radio/Heavens-Road-FM-Catholic-Radio-s185353/

https://tunein.com/radio/Catholic-Talk-c100000603/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_religious_radio_stations

Other links supplied by a reader of our blog. Thanks!

Prayer Resources Creighton University Online Ministries
https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/online.html 

Faith ND – University of Notre Dame – An Outreach of the ND Alumni Association
http://faith.nd.edu/s/1210/faith/start.aspx?gid=609&pgid=61

Pray As You Go
https://pray-as-you-go.org/

Sacred Space
https://www.sacredspace.ie/
 

Families with Children
Loyola Press Faith Family Fun
https://www.loyolapress.com/our-catholic-faith/family/family-faith-and-fun
  

Prayer Groups sponsored by the Archdiocese of Chicago
Prayer groups (intimate size at 15 people per group) will gather weekly for 30-40 minutes to read and reflect on the Word of God, build community and share prayer intentions.
Sign up here by 5 p.m. on Friday, April 3. 


Book Clubs Sponsored by the Archdiocese of Chicago
Book clubs will gather weekly for approximately 60 minutes to read and reflect on faith and values-based books, articles and other resources.
Sign up here by 5 p.m. on Friday, April 3   


Other helpful Resources United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
http://www.usccb.org/about/communications/usccb-president-reflection-and-prayer-during-coronavirus.cfm

Ronald Rolheiser OMI 
https://ronrolheiser.com/en/#.XoIDk4hKjIU

Spiritual Communion Prayer by Pope Francis   My Jesus, I believe that You are present in the Most Holy Sacrament of the altar. I love You above all things, and I desire to receive You into my soul. Since I cannot at this moment receive You sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart … I embrace You as if You were already there and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You.

Holy Week Resources

https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/3788244/Holy_Week_at_Home%20(1).pdf
Celebrating the Eucharist Missalette for Holy Week
https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/3788244/CE%2052%232__

Palm%20Sunday–Easter%5B1%5D.pdf

An Examen For Life During COVID-19

https://ignatiansolidarity.net/blog/2020/03/14/examen-covid-19/

National Catholic Reporter Feature Series
https://www.ncronline.org/feature-series/coronavirus/stories?tt

The coronavirus and the married priest

I don’t have in mind to become a doctor or else to give medical advice on what to do or how to prevent the coronavirus! Yet as a married priest I can’t help it, in writing about some parallel lines with our basic idea of married priesthood.

Fear. If languages divide us, yet one common language was seen throughout the whole world these last weeks: FEAR. When people are afraid, one is surprised what they might do. The case of the corona beer which clearly has nothing to do with the sickness has been victimised…just because it has the corona name, many people are not buying it any more!!! It’s incredible, yet when fear takes over, common sense goes out!

What did we do as a Catholic Church for so many years? The fear of death and hell has made many people submissive to our teachings. I do know of cases where at the point of death, some people have left all their possessions to the church in the belief that they would have won heaven!! Alas, their children might have gone hungry or became poor in the meantime!

In this context, now I do see why so many people are afraid to share their stories of love with a priest. Fear takes over. Even though we promise to change any details in order to protect their identity. How can we liberate these people from the slavery of fear?

Now I do understand what a friend of mine used to say: fire does not kill many people. Panic does! In fact many people in a fire die because of panic and not of fire in itself! Who hasn’t seen the crowds in the supermarkets where some people came to blows in order to buy basic items? Some psychologists called it the fear of the unknown.

Some people panic when the priest declares himself to be married. They want to stay but their panic takes control and they go to a ‘normal church’ to get married or to get baptised. There isn’t an adult faith. It’s just convenience! They are not born fighters! A married catholic priest is an unknown entity in their religious background! It’s fear of the unknown!

Look how people invaded some supermarkets and bought more than enough portions of basic needs! Some people rightly say that the longest journey in the world is not a geographical destination but rather the I to become WE! The supermarkets gave enough proof that we need to work more on community feeling and understanding. It’s one of the main missing type of work in many parishes! We still find it too difficult to leave behind the factory of sacraments to start community building as a main issue in parish work.

One of the expressions which is has become fashionable is the internet of things. Well, in some countries they have been locked in. It goes without saying that many people have to revert to the internet to spend their time and/or to communicate and/or to buy some necessities. We are experiencing a social experiment where we are practically living just with our family members. All other people are ‘virtual’.

Well, many parishes and priests have been caught on the wrong foot. How many of them can use the internet in order to proclaim the Good News? Although many of them have social media accounts, yet they have never used the internet as a medium for their work! They still relied on churches to meet people. Yet, people, especially the young ones, are practically 24/7 on the internet. Shall the coronavirus scare teach them a lesson to start using the internet more? Can we use it for the married priesthood? This was one of our thoughts at the beginning and it still is. We weren’t allowed space in a ‘normal parish’. We didn’t find it a problem because we already knew that the internet would have gained more popularity. Consequently we would meet more young people online rather than in a ‘normal church’!! One has to note that the internet is not to be used simply as a space for mass or for other lecture type of work!!

Within the virtual world, how can we enhance the sense of community? This is going to be our next challenge. People meet online, easily. Yet it doesn’t turn them into a community. One of them is the exchange of views or ideas. We do need to respect others especially when we do not agree. We can’t call others names! We cannot judge others. We have to see the frail, human face behind the monitor or the written message.

The work of community building is a never ending job. It’s not always full of roses, although even roses have thorns! We need to have more people who believe that as a community we can achieve more and better. One, on his own, cannot achieve much.

Let’s start the ball rolling

It’s time to start. It’s time to move on. It’s time to pass into action. It’s time to show that we mean business. It’s time to be on the offensive.

Why are we writing so? One cannot continue to wait forever! There are people who are asking for more priests. We cannot simply turn our heads in another direction! Communities without priests tend to lose direction. They cannot grow spiritually! They need guidance. They need somebody to show them the way. This is the ultimate reason which pushes us into action. The doctor cannot leave a patient unattended. Jesus himself used the example of the doctor.

Obviously there would be some Catholics who would question our authority if we are doing this according to the canon law. Well, when there is an emergency, nobody would ask for papers. We give what we can to help the injured person. Christ himself broke the law when He spoke with public sinners, women and other persons who were ‘outside’ the community for religious reasons. He cured people on a Saturday etc…..He never broke the law to His advantage but to help others. He felt ok with his conscience! The law is there to serve humanity and not vice versa! Besides we are ordained priests forever. One cannot simple delete or postpone our priesthood. Our mass is valid as that of the Pope because we all received the same Holy Spirit in ordination!

Let’s unite behind our married priests in order to promote our cause. Let’s not waste our time in useless fighting! Let’s concentrate on what keeps us as one movement: married priesthood. Let’s not be so weak so as to leave this community just because of some odd comment. We need to be fighters because when we present our ideas, not all the Catholic community would agree with us. We have to face tough time as we have just recently seen with the present Pope. We lost the fight but not the battle! Time is in our favour as more and more people will join our cause and do their part to convince other Catholics of our mission.

In the meantime, if we can, how about attending mass of a married priest? Here is a link for priests in the US. In Europe one can find this list.

An open letter to Pope Francis

A long time ago, soldiers used to put their ears to the ground to listen for any noises. Normally they would know if a group of troops were approaching their land. Nowadays we expect all leaders to listen to what’s going on in the world. They have several modern ways to ‘listen to the ground’.

It’s an open secret that most people are in favour of married priests. There is no need of any proof because any survey in any part of the world will swing to one direction: married priests now!

Yet for some unknown reason you chose to go against the grain! How are the people allowed to feel now? They were sure that you had listened to their cries, yet, you chose differently! Why? Is this a listening church?! It’s surely NOT! Do you believe that God can speak through his people?

On our website we have hundreds of stories of priests falling in love with other significant ones. Besides there are many more stories who did not give us permission to publish their story. They are coming from all parts of the world. If you truly believe in the beauty of celibacy, have you ever listened to the bad side of it: ie forced celibacy on priests? Recently we had the story of two priests who forced their women to have an abortion in order to hide their sexual adventures! We weren’t allowed to publish their story. In a way you’re going to encourage similar stories even though each person has to carry his/her personal responsibility!

Another consequence of your decision is that once again we are re-enforcing the notion that sex and women are bad, or wrong or dirty! Indirectly we’re going back again to the idea that celibacy is superior to marriage. It’s useless to publish countless documents where you write that marriage is so important in the eyes of God. Well, your action speaks louder!

Another false opinion running around is that a married priest will not have enough time to serve his people. Well, could you please publish the working timetable of celibate priests? Most churches in Western Europe are empty. They rarely visit homes. So where are they working after celebrating mass?

You have emphasized the importance of the Eucharist for any community in the world. Truly it is the right spiritual nourishment for our spiritual growth. What answers are you going to give now that most communities don’t have resident celibate priests? Please, with all due respect, be aware that you’re putting a lot of responsibility on your shoulders. Many people will be leaving the church without the proper spiritual nourishment!

Some Catholic interpreters are saying that the pressure of the so called ‘traditionalists’ has taken its toll on you. Well, be aware that they are never going to be your supporters! But now you lost a great majority of others who were seeing you as a ‘different’ pope. You cannot imagine the disappointment, delusion and spiritual emptiness that they are feeling with your decision!

It has reaffirmed our personal decision of many years ago when we felt the decision to leave the official priesthood because of several matters which were against our conscience. Yes, a priest does not leave simply, because he cannot tame his sexual impulses! He leaves because there are several incongruences in the Catholic church – the latest being the prohibition of married people from priesthood, although people coming from the Anglican religion can stay married and enjoy married life!

Another contradiction is that we’re going against the bible which has ample proof that most of the apostles were married. Are we going to filter the bible? Are we going to pick and select what’s more suitable from the bible?

Your Holiness you come from the beautiful continent of Latin America where base level community is way of life in the church. You truly understand that the spiritual community intertwines with their daily needs. Imagine if a priest is married and has children. What a beautiful position that would be to connect with many other married people in the church. He won’t preach with words but would rather be a living testimony to the whole community. Alas we are being deprived of such testimony…We have so many priests who are happy to make our stone churches richer but our living church is poor.

We are afraid that history is going to repeat itself! Pope Paul VI was seen in a very bad light after going against the commission who were in favour of contraceptives. It has made him appear in a different light altogether. You are a strong defender of immigrants and the poor people. Well, all that will go down the drain. History will only remember that you said ‘no’ to married priests!

According to the teaching of the church and recently affirmed by your Holiness (https://religionnews.com/2013/09/11/pope-francis-tells-atheists-to-obey-their-conscience/), we go for a different road where we feel we are being called to serve the people of God as married priests, as priesthood is forever and indelible.

According to the law of the church, no priest shall deny any service to lay people who come in good spirit! We are living in an emergency era in the Catholic Church of today. Many people need more priests not simply to fulfill their Sunday obligation but for more services, help, counselling, teaching etc…Nobody would wait for the Pope’s permission when one sees another Catholic in an emergency!Emergency is not simply at the point of death but rather the bigger flock with no shepherd, according to biblical information!

One final note: although we are not vociferous like the so called ‘traditionalists’. Please don’t take it as just an opinion of just one website. Here are some articles which clearly shows that other people are on the same bus!

https://www.futurechurchnews.org/article/pope-francis-with-all-respect-you-should-have-done-more

https://news.yahoo.com/pope-francis-sides-traditionalists-priest-celibacy-040755784.html

https://www.catholicchurchreform.org/216/

https://www.ncronline.org/news/vatican/disappointment-outrage-over-papal-document-amazon?clickSource=email

https://international.la-croix.com/news/deciding-not-to-decide-for-now/11818

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-51474009

https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Correction—Pope-Francis–In-With-All-Due-Respect–You-Should-Have-Done-More.html?soid=1101674625527&aid=sN1e7mviJPw

https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2020/01/lebanon-married-priests.html

Going alongside the big wave

One of the things which effects our society is that without knowing it we are living as if in separate compartments! How many times we notice people eating at a restaurant, yet they talk very little, all glued to their mobile phones? Others on a train, bus etc… all searching on their mobile phone. What’s happening to our society? In this change of humanity it’s going to be extra difficult to explain to people about any subject. We do remember nostalgically the times when we used to have arguments on a bus or any other public place. Yet, most of us are silent, reading on our mobile phones. Most probably we are just updating ourselves about the latest gossip or non-significant news!

As always, more than crying or reminiscing about the past, we have to live today. How can we turn the internet in our favour? In this sense, we are not without hope. This blog has started being unnoticed for the first few years. Where are we now? We have hundreds of followers without spending one dime in publicity! It’s the quest for information which has brought so many followers. Every women falling in love or meeting the priest who shows more than just some interest, are going to start thinking and looking for other people having similar experience/s. Although the internet was promoted for free views, there are very few spaces on the internet which openly discuss love with a priest!

Our aim is not simply to attract women having relationships with priests, but rather the general public. First of all we need the help of all our readers! Everybody nowadays has at least one social account! If one shares our thoughts on social media, we would be making our presence felt. Today we can do publicity without asking big companies to do this job. Personally we don’t like big companies not only because we have to fork out a hefty sum of money but rather because we don’t like large crowds. We need the right people instead. In other words, we need people who are not brainwashed. Experience have taught us that it’s useless to spend time arguing with some people especially in the Catholic Church.

One big asset is the big link people feel about married priests. He is married too. He has kids. He faces the same challenges! The people already feel that this change should be made possible in the church. So what are we afraid of?

Besides another great asset is the consequence of married priests. Just looking at past history in theology we see that most of the time we have discussed issues which were so important for non-married priests, yet they had little relevance in the life of the married people which always formed the biggest group in the church! The married priest does not need any conference or wake up call to investigate the family today. He is facing such challenges on a daily basis!

As we would be conducting dialogue on the internet, we expect the repetition of old ideas. Can the priest have a family and minister to the people? Well it has become a joke lately. If one just looks at churches in the Western part of the world, one cannot ignore the fact that most churches are empty. So why are we continuing this lie of a priest who has a lot of work to do??!! It’s an open secret that the sacrament of reconciliation has practically disappeared for most people! Mass has lost its attraction to so many people. In fact it’s not uncommon to hear people saying that they skip mass regularly. There are many other experiences which prove that the so called traditional work in the church is getting less and less.

The married priest movement has the power to present the teaching of the church [including some significant changes] from the point of view of a married person who is trying to teach his own sons and/or daughters who are growing up and challenging every sign of law, obedience and tradition!

In any case we are firmly convinced that nobody can stop the big wave. We can postpone it for some time, but one day it will take over. Married priesthood is a must for the Catholic Church today.

The role of lack of agreement

In the Western World we are having less children. It’s not rare to find couples with just one child. Without entering the arena of why and what is happening, most children are being deprived of fights, discussing with their peers and being exposed to different thoughts in their own family.

In the Catholic Church we were used to hear ‘the truth’. It was only a one answer approach to practically all questions! The person who used to have a different opinion was regarded as ‘heretical’ which in the middle ages meant being kept aside in all spheres of life! So having problems with the Catholic Church meant total isolation from all social activities besides being branded as ‘bad’.

Although in the 2^nd Vatican council (1963-1965), the Catholic Church tried to open up to other religions, yet we are still baffled if the bishops don’t all show the one, same opinion!

We were all taken aback by the retired Pope Benedict’s comments (maybe somebody else inserted them and used the retired Pope for her/his agenda!!) about celibacy.

In any case, even if it wasn’t Pope Benedict, we are sure that somebody else would have the same opinion regarding celibacy.

Are we a church of dialogue or one of imposition? Do we leave space for different opinions? When we discuss: do we expect the others to bow their heads and say ‘Amen’?!

In 2020 we should enter any discussion with an open heart and open mind. Practically, we don’t have all the truth after all. God can use others to show us aspects or hidden truths in our own religion. Other opinions might have at least a ray of truth! What is God telling us when we meet a different opinion? The 2^nd Vatican Council was a pastoral council which focused mainly on the practical approach of baptised people to other people. Are we truly changed by the council? Please remember that in the council all bishops took part together with the Pope. Theologically it has a lot of weight when studying the documents of any council which took place in the church.

Faith is a journey after all. Like the parable of the workers, who started work at different times (who at 6.00am and who at 6.00pm!), they were all paid the same amount!! This is how God sees things after all. If we’ve been longer in the Catholic Church, it doesn’t equate with being better than others!

On the other hand, although we admit that some people are not prepared to handle a married priest in their midst, it doesn’t mean that we relish our opinion or thoughts. It’s up to us to come with practical ways and means to show how the initial church used to have married priests and they managed to conduct the church to better ways!

One final point: Apostles Peter and Paul too had some deep and different explanations regarding our religion! [compare Acts 15:7–11 with Acts 15:19–20] We are different people who experience God in different ways. We were never created to live and act as if we’re photocopies!

May God Bless you all!

The Married Catholic Priest in 2020

After a careful examination of events, with great responsibility, we announce that this year, Pope Francis will let married priests join the rest of priesthood. We will celebrate and be joyful for such event. It shows that notwithstanding the internal pressure of some particular priests and lay people, the Holy Spirit has succeeded in helping the church steer his ship in these troubled waters.

Besides the initial joy and celebrations. What will actually happen? In the Amazon, the people who are already a big asset in the church will continue to do so but now in a new responsibility: that of priesthood! One must note that these people are not coming to church just to be ordained as married priests but that their work is being recognised and given sacramental power.

Other people in other parts of the world will surely comment and feel the practical impact of such a brave and intelligent move by Pope Francis. Most probably they too would ask for married priests. This all depends in the coming days when the document written by Pope Francis will be published. Will it take into consideration other areas of the world? Will it allow freedom of thought in the church? Will it allow the ordination of married men in other parts of the world or will it be just for the Amazon? Truly, is it just the Amazon which needs married priests? What about the rich Western culture of the world besides other areas?

In today’s world we truly believe that the space for big, triumphant churches has no place. Hence the need for more priests to create small living communities. The small communities will need the presence of a priest which is vital for the church. These should not be simply for liturgical purposes but rather as a community, reflect on daily needs of their community in the light of the word of God. The best example is that of Latin American base-level communities. This will be the greatest change in the church!! In the western culture the priest has been tied too much to the liturgical movement. He rarely ventures in the other areas of priesthood. Hopefully, the fact that the priest is married will open his eyes to new realities!

In this sense we hope that married priests will bring about a new reflection in the church. A married priest will press for discussions about married life; about teens and their growing up in today’s world; about relationships; about doing 1001 jobs at the same time; about praying with lots of noises and distractions…

On the other hand, how will other priests react? Will they accept the married ones to work alongside? That we wouldn’t know.

What about the wives of priests? Do they need special instructions how to cope with their husband’s work? We think so. This in order to avoid useless waste of time and energy, or worse, unequal distribution of work. There should be a good timetable in order to balance the duties outside the family with those on the inside. This would be a good example for today’s families.

Let’s pray so that the changes taking place in the church will help the spiritual outcome for all!