A Hungarian priest asked Pope Francis to abolish celibacy
He wrote in a letter sent to the pope that celibacy is an unwholesome form of life. Péter Cseh shared his message on his Facebook page; is long and full with strong statements. Details below.
According to 24.hu, the priest wrote that being alone is a defect that results in thousands of further defects. These are having a secret mistress, an addiction, snobbery and egocentrism.
Mr Cseh is a priest of the diocese of Pécs and has been serving as a parochial governer since August 5, 2020, in Szabadszentkirály. He cleared in his post that a lonely a priest, for example,
could physically meet or talk to almost nobody during the coronavirus epidemic.
Because of the loneliness, he cannot honestly recommend this mission to young people. He added that the collapse in the diocese in the last ten years was not because of the weakness of the Bible or the gospels but because the life of the priests is unwholesome.
He said that, in at least five years, every cleric in the dioceses should choose one from the following five options:
- he joins a cleric community consisting at least of three clerics
- he joins a monk community or other communities that welcome clerics
- he asks for a dispensation from the celibacy, gets married and continues to serve as a priest
- if he does not want to be a priest he can go into a non-active status. During that he cannot serve as a priest, does not receive any income or accommodation from the church but reserves his clerical position. Furthermore, with the authorisation of a pastor, he can occasionally serve as a priest. Finally, if he wants to change his status, he can do that any time by choosing from the three possibilities mentioned above.
- he can ask for laicisation, which means that he loses his clerical state but receives that automatically if he says that he would not like to be part of any communities.
Hvg.hu says that this is not the first time that Mr Cseh writes something provocative. For example, once he was asking about Árpád Habony, a controversial advisor of the PM of Hungary, and, in 2016, he wanted to support migration quotas, as well. Because of that the church started an investigation against him but found nothing, so they replaced him into his parish in March 2017.
Source: 24.hu, hvg.hu
For the record, I agree that priests should be allowed to marry and have children. Makes them better persons and priests.. But he can easily solve the problem by becoming a Lutheran priest…
I really do not think that such an important issue, important for the Church, can be faced with a post on facebook… It is a very complex question and the priest’s approach to it appears to me, a bit superficial.
In the gloaming years of my life, my Bible has been near me, wherever, the journeys of my life have taken me.
Years past I participated in a retreat at Worth Abbey, an English Benedictine monastery, who follow the rule of St. Benedict.
I was one of (7) seven males who participated attended this retreat.
One afternoon session was titled : The Bible – What does it Do for You ?
This session was facilitated by the Abbot of the monastery.
Each participant was asked to verbally answer the question poised.
We all gave our explanations which was accompanied by questions from the Abbot for further expansion or elaboration, on our points of opinions and views.
This process took approximately 90 minutes.
The Abbot thanked all for there contribution, and listening to him, in his assistance and guidance, to our presentation material.
The Abbot then asked us the question : what did we think, the Bible did for Him ?
We all answered relatively short in our reply’s to his question, which he acknowledged, with a gentle smile and facial movement expression of agreement.
Listening to all our responses to his question, he thanked us and said -Gentlemen, my answer is simple, covered in (3) three words, what the Bible does for me – It Feeds Me.
Roman Catholic by Faith, but in all my reading, and discussions, with Cardinals, Bishops and down the line of the Catholic ladder, there is still no conviction in me, reading and studying the Bible, that clearly states mans need to practice celibacy, in taking Holy Orders or Ordination into the Priesthood.
The key has certainly been put away, possible thrown away, in the Vatican City, to relax or change, modify, the Holy Roman Catholic Church, there position on Celibacy.
The practice of my Faith, is in line with the famous American actor Gregory Peck, when asked the question, what religion did he practice.
He replied – ” I am a Roman Catholic. Not a fanatic, but I practice enough to keep the franchise. I don’t always agree with the Pope.”
Stay Well – All and don’t be to Celebrant, as we need the birth rate in Hungary to keep growing.