RSS
News From Ireland


Home Page > News > News From Ireland > Irish bishop is said to favor women priests

Irish bishop is said to favor women priests

By
PATRICK O'BRIEN,
IrishCentral.com Staff Writer
Published Saturday, October 9, 2010, 9:27 AM
Updated Saturday, October 9, 2010, 9:31 AM

print this article Print
email this articleE-mail
comment on article 25 Comments
 

Bishop William Lee


Irish bishop WiIliam Lee of Waterford has said he is not opposed to women priests.

Lee made the comments during a meeting with a local pastoral council according to the Munster Express newspaper.

His position is bound to be controversial in an Irish church that has always opposed such comments from ordinary priests. The comments are surprising from Lee who is not considered a liberal figure in the church and has rarely courted controversy.

Lee was speaking at a meeting which was primarily concerned with the sex abuse scandal and to listen to local parish recommendations. He spoke about the new church policy called “Safeguarding our Children” which has been put in effect in every parish in Ireland.

The Bishop was criticized from the floor by parishioners who felt the crisis had been very poorly handled. Some said that  leading hierarchy were “more concerned with protecting the institution than caring for those hurt by abuse.”

“People feel nobody is listening and maybe that partly explains the absence of so many young people from Mass and other church ceremonies," said one.
 

​
print this article Print
email this articleE-mail


25 Comments

See all comments

seanomelbourne | Oct 13, 2010, 07:27 PM EDT
Carroll09 hope you are keeping healthy. If the Celtic church was in communion with Rome why did the pope send Hebry11 of England to "romanize" the Celtic Church. At present I'm reading all 81 canons of the council of Elvira and will report back to you on the inconsistencies contained therein,I particularly find canon 8 interesting.

Report abuse

jacersagain | Oct 12, 2010, 07:24 PM EDT
Re allan500 (12.18pm Oct 11) and seano's posts – Ireland is (as are billions in other countries) still very much Catholic and very much still believing, if doubtful and confused sometimes. Most of the people of Ireland can be fickle, changing whims as easily as at election time. The worst leaders of this whimsicality are people in the media who publish articles attacking the Church without any idea of why it teaches what it does teach in fulfilment of Christ’s message and mission. The Church knows this well and knows that the message of Christ is being twisted and attacked by secularist press. Mark this in your diary: 12 Oct 2010, Pope Benedict announced the establishment of a new agency to combat "De-Christianisation" by the lies of secularist propaganda. Check it out online under "New Evangelisation". The agency’s mission is to tackle misunderstandings of Christ’s teachings sadly, innocently and flippantly propagated by posters like you and others. Attacks on the sacred will always have soldiers of Christ ready to defend – defend His teachings, His messages recorded in the New Testament and His Tradition - for another 2000 yrs and longer, even if we make a mess of it on occasions. It’s no laughing matter. We all will be dead before then and will see the Truth in Its majesty on Judgement Day. I just hope we can all accept the Truth of Christ in our lifetime. The Truth of Christ is much nicer to surrender to and live with than to twist it or make fun of it, or worse to utterly reject it. It's that Sacred, you see, even if you don't.

Report abuse

Carroll09 | Oct 12, 2010, 07:09 PM EDT
...Even in the Western World where there seems to be a problem, it is not with vocations - it is with saying "yes" to one's vocation. The vocation of marriage is also similarly suffering, because the world does not encourage commitment - it encourages us to keep our options open. The second problem with suggesting that we return to the "Celtic Church", if one holds the belief that it was actually not affiliated with Rome at all, is that it encourages religious indifferentism...the idea that it doesn't matter which ecclesial community you choose, as long as it concurs vaguely with one's pre-held beliefs. That is to say, choosing an ecclesial community which teaches what one wants to hear, whether it is actually the authentic teaching of Christ and the Apostles or not. However, it is a dangerous position to hold, that the next community is as good as the last - it is really like saying that a circle can be a square. It simply doesn't make sense.

Report abuse

Carroll09 | Oct 12, 2010, 07:08 PM EDT
For those suggesting that we return to the "Celtic Church", that term implies that it was something independent of Rome, but it was not. There was Celtic Spirituality, yes - but there are different spiritualities in the Church today: Carmelite, Benedictine, Ignatian, and many more besides, not to mention the over 20 Rites (non-Latin rites) which are in full communion with the Holy See. The early Irish Church was not unique in having married priests- but celibacy was certainly practiced from the earliest days of the Church, even among the Apostles, though most of them were probably married. It is important to note that the requirement of celibacy was not the same as the prohibition of married priests- the Council of Elvira in A.D.305/306 decreed that all clerics must practice celibacy, whether married or not: there was not a decree forbidding priests from marrying at that stage. Anyway, as we have said, celibacy is a discipline of the Latin Rite- it is not a dogma and could therefore change. Also, on this subject, vocations to the priesthood worldwide are RISING, not falling...[continued]

Report abuse

jacersagain | Oct 12, 2010, 06:33 PM EDT
allan500 (12.18pm yesterday) – Ireland is (as are many other countries) still very much Catholic and very much still believing, if doubtful and confused sometimes. Most of the people of Ireland can be fickle, changing whims easily as at election time. The worst leaders of this whimsicality are people in the media who publish articles attacking the Church without any idea of why it teaches what it does teach in fulfilment of Christ’s message and mission. The Church knows this well and knows that the message of Christ is being twisted and attacked by secularist press. Mark this in your diary: Today, 12 Oct 2010, Pope Benedict announced the establishment of a new body to combat secularist propaganda. Check it out here http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1004179.htm and elsewhere. The new agency’s mission is to tackle misunderstandings of Christ’s teachings - sadly mostly innocently and flippantly propagated by posters like you. Attacks on the sacred will always have soldiers of Christ ready to defend – defend His teachings, recorded in the New Testament, and His Disciples' Tradition - for another 2000 yrs and longer, even if we make a mess of it an odd time. It’s no laughing matter. We all will be dead before then and will see the Truth in Its majesty on Judgement Day. I just hope we can all accept the Truth of Christ in our lifetime. It’s much nicer to live with it than twist it or make fun of it.

Report abuse

jacersagain | Oct 12, 2010, 05:14 PM EDT
(Cont’d...)Today, despite my previous non-objection to woman priests (based around Mary Magdalene being called the Apostle of the Apostles, a term ascribed to her by A Doctor of the Church, St. Thomas Aquinas, and not by fellow-Christians of her day), I now have to accept that the sanctity of ordained priesthood in Christianity is a not fad to fall foul to passing, fashionable, even, dare I say, feminist or populist demands and that our beloved Pope JPII was right to declare it an unachievable aim for women and others by those who clamour for it. In saying this, I am not being anti-woman; I am just recognising the realities of original Christian beliefs, teachings and acceptances of Tradition. As for priests being allowed to marry – I have no problem with that and can see that man-made rule within our Church being changed in the future.

Report abuse

jacersagain | Oct 12, 2010, 05:10 PM EDT
(Con’t...) I visited Ephesus in Turkey not long ago. I attended Mass in the House of Virgin Mary & Apostle John there and visited John’s tomb nearby over which Pope Paul the 6th celebrated Mass some years back. There are Christians living there today who are descended from those (the villagers of Kirkindje) who were converted and baptised by Virgin Mary and Apostle John, two people directly in contact with Christ when he began His mission for us all. These descendants – from generation to generation - have had priests who celebrate Mass since 2000 yrs ago. They don’t have women priests today, never did since the time of Mary & John. That tells me the Catholic, Coptic and Orthodox Churches must be right in holding that the priesthood is designated only for men by Christ. (More...)

Report abuse

jacersagain | Oct 12, 2010, 05:07 PM EDT
I once saw no problem with women priests until I was reminded of WHY the Church doesn’t have women priests. I once believed that if Mary Magdalene was called the Apostle of the Apostles then why not women of today as priests or even as bishops to priests? That is until I was corrected in that mistaken belief by Carroll09, the learned one from whom I am learning more about my Church’s depth of teachings, the ordinary day-to-day stuff they don’t tell you in schools or from pulpits. As Carroll09 points out, it was there from the beginning of Christ’s Church. (More...)

Report abuse

Searlit | Oct 12, 2010, 01:05 PM EDT
@seanomelbourne, that sounds good to me.

Report abuse

seanomelbourne | Oct 11, 2010, 06:43 PM EDT
Maybe the Irish should return to the christian church of it's roots,the Celtic Church where women and men were equal and their priests could marry. A church ahead of it's time.

Report abuse

allan500 | Oct 11, 2010, 12:18 PM EDT
Oh, great idea, Bishop Lee! Is it any wonder Ireland, once the most Catholic of countries, is now one of the most unbelieving? Bishop Billy and his ilk have done their work well.

Report abuse

Carroll09 | Oct 11, 2010, 11:22 AM EDT
...So why should the Church move into the modern world and bend Christ's teachings to suit fleeting worldly trends? Is that faithfulness to Christ? No- because Christ does not deal in fleeting trends; He is the same yesterday, today and forever. You are right, however, on the issue of married clergy - it is not a dogma, it is something that could potentially change: the Church has never claimed anything different, though the case for clerical celibacy is very strong. (It is important to realise thought that worldwide, ordinations to the priesthood are increasing every year, and it is evident that where Christ's teaching is presented in its fullness and richness, there is no shortage of vocations, even in the U.S. [Archdiocese of Chicago or Diocese of Lincoln, for example]). The question of female clergy is not a man-made rule: the Church has always taught that it is a teaching which belongs to the deposit of faith (i.e. from the example of Christ, the teaching of the Apostles, the writings of the Early Church Fathers, and the consistent teaching of the Church), and thus cannot change. In saying that the Church has not the authority to confer ordination on women, Pope John Paul II was merely restating the position that the Church has held from the beginning.

Report abuse

Carroll09 | Oct 11, 2010, 11:22 AM EDT
BreezyPat- have you ever heard the saying that Christians should be in the world but not of the world? It comes directly from John 17 when Christ said that His followers do not belong in the world, yet He sent the Apostles into the world to bring Christ's truth to all. Indeed, Christ refused to tell his followers what they wanted to hear - look at John 6, for example: the only reference in Scripture to His followers leaving Him for doctrinal reasons, the promise of the Eucharist. Some wanted Christ to tell them that He was only speaking figuratively- He knew what they were thinking, but only repeated exactly what He had said before, and these followers "no longer walked in His ways". On the other hand, Peter, speaking on behalf of the twelve, affirmed that there would be nowhere for them to go if they ignored Christ's teaching. At the beginning of Pope Benedict's recent visit to Britain, he was asked on the flight if anything could be done to make the Church more attractive for all. He replied: "A church that seeks above all to be attractive is already on the wrong path. Because the Church doesn't work for herself, does not work to increase her numbers, her own power. The Church is at the service of Another. She exists to proclaim Jesus Christ and the great truths, the great forces of love and reconciliation which always come from the presence of Jesus". Later on in his visit, he said that while the Church is called to be inclusive, this inclusivity can never come at the expense of Christian truth...[continued]

Report abuse

djohn1011 | Oct 11, 2010, 10:31 AM EDT
St. Paul took on the early church with regard to their ruling that all male church members be circumcised. He argued that it was an unbearable burden for a larger church. Bishop Lee is making the same argument. Every Bishop knows that the priesthood is threatened to the point of elimination by the lack of male candidates for priesthood. It has reached the time when we have another "Council of Jerusalem" type meeting to reconsider the male only priesthood. We pray for vocations at the Mass - The pews are full of vocations if we look with a different vision.

Report abuse

BreezyPat | Oct 11, 2010, 09:26 AM EDT
In 100 years there will be no Roman catholic Church without women priests and a married priesthood. There is no dogma against either. Its only a man's rule. The Vatican needs to move into the modern world, give Pope Benedict a suit, a tie and a briefcase and some bills to pay. He needs to be a modern man. If they don't change we are doomed as a religion. We have a lot of married clergy in the Church only not in the Roman Rite In Delaware we have married clergy who came in from other denominations. They do a great job. Remember God loves all of his children, not just men . What we need is a Female Catholic Cardinal to straighten out the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith. Bravo Bishop Lee.

Report abuse



IrishCentral logo
"Like" IrishCentral
IrishCentral Mobile QR code


Connect to IrishCentral with your Facebook account

or Sign-Up directly

Already Registered? Sign-In!

Welcome to IrishCentral!
Please provide the following information in order to create your account

Username:
E-Mail Address:
Password:
Confirm Password:
I agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy


Already Registered? Sign-In!
Forgot my password

Welcome to IrishCentral!
All we need is the following information and you will be part of the #1 Irish community in the US

E-Mail Address:
First select a unique username:
Username:
Now choose a password:
Password:
Confirm Password:
I agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy
Thank you!

Just one more step and you will be part of the largest Irish community in America! Tell us a little more about you to start enjoying all the features of IrishCentral.

Additional Information:

First Name:
Last Name:
Date of Birth:
Zip:
Gender: Male  Female 
Country:
Degree of Irishness:
Household Income:
Level of Education:

Subscribe to our newsletters:

The Best of IrishCentral - Daily Newsletter
Special Offers from our sponsors

or
Skip

You can edit your information at any time, just go to "my account" when you're logged in.

Log into IrishCentral with your Facebook account

or sign-in directly

E-Mail:
Password:
 Remember me Forgot my password
Not a member? Register Now!
submit to reddit
print this article Print
email this articleE-mail