Denver, Colo., Jul 17, 2019 / 05:20 pm (CNA).- Commentators and critics, Catholic and non-Catholic alike, have in recent months called for an end to the discipline of priestly celibacy, especially in the wake of revelations of widespread historical sexual abuse in the United States, and in response to a perceived dearth of priests in some parts of the world.
“We cannot bring about real reform of the Roman Catholic priesthood unless we do away with mandatory celibacy for diocesan priests in the Latin rite,” Washington D.C. priest Peter Daly wrote in a July 15 op-ed for the National Catholic Reporter.
Father Carter Griffin of the Archdiocese of Washington, author of “Why Celibacy? Reclaiming the Fatherhood of the Priest,” told CNA in an interview that celibacy has been intrinsically linked to the Catholic priesthood from the very beginning, when Jesus, who was himself celibate, ordained the apostles as the first priests.
Honoring the Sanctity of Life
Today marks the anniversary of the two most tragic Supreme Court decisions in American history,
Roe v. Wade and
Doe v. Bolton. (Pro-lifers around the nation observe Sanctity of Life Sunday this weekend.) Those decisions sparked a contentious debate between those who would deny legal protection for babies in the womb and those who rightly acknowledge that those babies constitute âlifeâ as understood throughout history and affirmed in our Declaration of Independence. Tragically, that right has been denied to 60 million pre-birth babies sacrificed on the altar of âchoiceâ since 1973.
Though this issue will never be resolved until the yearly number of abortions is zero, there are encouraging prospects to note as we consider the sanctity of human life. And