Twenty one Catholic MPs have sent a petition to the Holy Father requesting that he consider abolishing celibacy for priests in Great Britain.
According to the report in The Daily Telegraph, they have based their plea on the grounds that it seems to work OK for the Ordinariates so, why not?.
I am not so certain that marital harmony in a clerical household does, in fact, work well (although I wish nothing but wedded bliss to those priests who find themselves in that position).
When the phone rings at 3 o'clock in the morning and Rev Hub has to crawl off to administer the Last Rites or, when the Parish Commissariat requests a meeting on the evening of their wedding anniversary, will life still be as harmonious as ever?
Being married is hard enough in its own right, without having the encumbrance of a dog collar round one's neck.
Being a priest must be hard enough in its own right without the encumbrance of a wife round one's neck.
But how thoughtful of our Catholic political representatives that they initiated this petition; they must have devoted some of their precious time normally dedicated to the war in Afghanistan, the economic recession, homelessness, the Health Service, the issues of national security and so on, to meddle in an area that they have absolutely no writ to dabble in.
Who are these people, let's have some names.
Do they represent all the Catholic MPs or are they a splinter group?
What brought about this unseemly interest in married clergy?
Do their non Catholic constituents know about this action?
What has the petition got to do with politics or MPs?
The DT article is HERE
I thought this must be an April Fool's post, but it's April 2...and you seem to be dead serious. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteThe absence of the signature of Catholic role model and M.P. Edward Leigh speaks volumes.
ReplyDeleteThe petition must have the All Fools Day date on it......and why only for GB? If it's good enough here then it must be good everywhere! It's a joke! Get over it.
ReplyDeleteWhat so many of these foolish individuals fail to recognise is that they would not have achieved the status of members of Parliament had they not been placed by their respective political parties as candidates in constituencies where even a dog would have been elected had it had the party label generally favoured in that constituency. Their petition reminds me of an earlier one sent by some of their predecessors requesting an annulment for Henry VIII. Clearly there is nothing like the hot air generated in Parliament to puff a fellow up and make him think that he knows best.
ReplyDelete"Catholic MP" seems to be an oxymoron, in many cases, as we saw in the same-sex marriage debate.
ReplyDeleteYou're absolutely right to ask who these parliamentarians are.
ReplyDeleteWell, for a start, one of them is Patricia Glass MP, perhaps most noted for her fidelity to Catholic doctrine by her abstention from the recent vote on 'same-sex marriage'.
Tells you everything you need to know, really.
I also believe that the following signatories to the petition voted IN FAVOUR of the 'same-sex marriage' Bill:
ReplyDeleteMeg Hillier MP
Chris Ruane MP
Tom Blenkinsop MP
Michael Dugher MP
Thomas Docherty MP