News (World)
World News
Priest resigns over fathering of child
- Written by: The Tablet
A PARISH priest has made headline news after announcing that he was resigning because his partner was pregnant and he had decided to stand by her and their child, writes Christa Pongratz-Lippitt. Fr Pavol Kubicar, 34, had been parish priest of Notfels in Vorarlberg, western Austria, since 2004. In his farewell address he told his parishioners that he would have liked to remain a priest, but that " under the given circumstances" this was not possible. Priestly celibacy was a "long-standing, proven way of life" for Catholic priests, but not everyone was able to master it, he said. Bishop Elmar Fischer of Feldkirch said that he respected Fr Kubicar's decision but regretted that the parish was losing a "truly committed pastor".
The dean of Feldkirch, Fr Herbert Spieler, who will be taking over Fr Kubicar's parish,
told the Austrian quality daily Die Presse that mandatory celibacy was "altogether
questionable". Celibacy should be made voluntary, he said. "I know this is not possible at the moment, but that is not a good thing. Married men should be allowed to become priests and until that is so I am in favour of "interpreting celibacy mildly".
According to a theologian from Vorarlberg who worked for the bishop for many years, a third of all priests in Austria live with a female partner.
From this week's Tablet
Cardinal backtracks on celibacy comments
- Written by: Robert Mickens
Cardinal Cláudio Hummes OFM, who arrived in Rome on Monday to take up his new post as head of the Congregation for the Clergy, immediately stepped back from comments he made two days before leaving his native Brazil, and said mandatory celibacy for Latin-rite priests was not up for discussion.
Vocations Booming in Mexico
- Written by: The Universe
Mexico is seeing a veritable boom in vocations to the priesthood and religious life, says an official of Aid to the Church in Need.
"There are about 12,000 young men preparing for the priesthood in Mexican major seminaries, while 15,000 active priests are serving the faithful," said Xavier Legorreta, head of Aid to the Church in Need's Latin America I section.
Cardinal moots celibacy rethink
- Written by: Alex Walker
The cardinal who is taking over the Vatican office in charge of priests says the Catholic Church might one day have to review the issue of celibacy.
Cardinal Claudio Hummes told a newspaper in his native Brazil that celibacy was not a prescribed doctrine.
Rather, he said, it was a discipline which priests imposed on themselves.
The statement comes two weeks after the Vatican reaffirmed it would not allow priests to marry. The number of men becoming priests has been falling.
The question many in the church are asking is whether the demand the Vatican makes on its priests - to be chaste and celibate - is forcing young men to ignore the calling.
Priests suffer overwork, isolation and fatigue
- Written by: Philip Crispin
Philip Crispin
Many French priests feel overworked and are asking grave questions about their future role within the Church, a major new study has found, writes Philip Crispin.
"Overwork, isolation, fatigue: a significant group of priests have given voice to their suffering," said François Boursier, a lecturer at the Institut Catholique in Lyons which carried out the research. "But a majority believe that they succeed in striking a good, even very good, balance in their lives, thanks to the importance attached to spirituality and prayer."
Mr Boursier said many priests regretted being snowed under by managerial tasks and were concerned by poverty - a priest's monthly allowance is between £470 and £670.
Some 1,200 priests and Religious took part in the study, the biggest since 1985. Mr Boursier believes the study is representative of the lives of France's 17,473 diocesan priests.