A group of prominent Catholic politicians in Germany have written a letter to the German Bishops calling for an end to celibacy requirements for priests. The unusual action was precipitated by a severe shortage of priests in the country.
The contents of the letter were reported in theGerman press:
The German bishops estimate that two-thirds of all Catholic parishes in the country will not have their own priest by 2020. As in other countries, bishops have been merging parishes to have the dwindling clergy minister to ever larger areas.
Pope Benedict has firmly ruled out any reform of priestly celibacy, despite calls from some bishops -- especially in German-speaking countries -- to consider a change.
The politicians [...} argue that upholding celibacy is not as pressing as "the need of many priest-less parishes that are no longer able to celebrate Mass each Sunday".
"A reform of the Church (parish) structure alone cannot be the response to the priest shortage," writes the group including Bundestag speaker Norbert Lammert and Education Minister Annette Schavan from Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party.
Of course, the politicians backed away from a solution that would easily solve the shortage and lead to a renewal of the Church: ordaining women as priests. Instead, they look to men whose families are complete:.
The politicians said the Church should ordain "proven men," pious married Catholics whose wives are beyond child-bearing age. If the Vatican continues rejecting this option, they said, the German Church should "consider a regional exception".
It is interesting that the letter refers to an essay by none other than Josef Ratzinger, long before he became Pope Benedict XVI, to support the end of priestly celibacy. In a 1970 book "Glaube und Zukunft" ( "Faith and the Future") Ratzinger envisioned a much smaller, but purer, Church of the future that would be run by volunteers - presumably including married ones:
As a small community, she will demand much more from the initiative of each of her members and she will certainly also acknowledge new forms of ministry and will raise up to the priesthood proven Christians who have other jobs. In many smaller communities, respectively in social groups with some affinity, the normal care of souls will take place in this way ....
But that was long ago, when the young theologian dared to think outside the doctrinal box. I don't expect today's letter to have any effect at all in the Vatican. And the German parishes will continue to disappear.