Buffalo’s first married priest says he will stop having sex...

[Michie]

I posted on him a few days ago. Now, some more details, from the New York Daily News:

John Cornelius will be ordained a Roman Catholic priest this weekend — and with the blessing of his wife they’re giving up their sex life.

Cornelius, a father of three, will become the first married Roman Catholic priest in New York — and Sharyl, his wife of 33-years, has agreed to the whole celibacy thing.

“We have decided to do that voluntarily,” Cornelius told WGRZ-TV. “I have always had friends that are Roman Catholic priests and I appreciate what they’ve given up to serve God and the priesthood.”

Cornelius, 64, is a former Episcopalian priest who converted three years ago to Catholicism. He said his old church had gotten too liberal for him.

“There was the ordination of the homosexual priest in New England,” he said. “Then it came time for women’s ordination. … It may have been okay for other people, but it was just too much for me.

“I needed someplace where there was order,” he added.
​

Read more.

UPDATE: The paper refers to what Deacon Cornelius is doing as taking a “vow of celibacy.” Uh, no. As a couple readers have pointed out, a married man can’t do that, since celibacy is the unmarried state and he is, unquestionably, married. And there’s nothing in the ordination rite that addresses what he is planning to do. If anything, it appears, the man about to be ordained to the priesthood is making a private promise to his wife—a promise that he’s now made public in the press, and which the press, of course, is not really reporting accurately. (I changed my headline on the original post, btw, to correctly reflect that…)

UPDATE II: The interview where he discusses this and more is below.



UPDATE III: Canon lawyer Ed Peters has some thoughts, too. Read on.






Buffalo’s first married priest says he will stop having sex...

 

[gurneyhalleck1]

weird....

 

[bbbbbbb]

weird....

My thought, precisely.

 

[judechild]

That is, to my knowledge, the normal expectation of all Catholic clerics - whether celibate or married. The Ed Peter's article has some good observations - from a person who's actually qualified in the matter.

The continence of the Catholic cleric is a sign of the constant and universal love of God, and is founded in the idea of priestly fatherhood. All clerics are to be a sign of that constant love first by association with Christ who remained continent throughout His life. Secondly, the continence of the cleric is a sign of the constant love of God through the simple universality of continent love - which he is called to share completely and non-exclusively. The role of the cleric in the Catholic Church in the west has developed in such a way that continence is a part of that role. The only unusual part of this article, then, is that the Deacon thought it necessary to say that he and his wife were going to practice continence at all; it's good, though, because it gives a chance to highlight the role of celibacy in the life of the cleric.

 

[ebia]

That is, to my knowledge, the normal expectation of all Catholic clerics - whether celibate or married. [ /QUOTE]
In the east?

 

[judechild]

I'll correct that; all Catholic clerics in the Western Church, whether celibate or married. That was the intention of my previous post.

 

[bbbbbbb]

I'll correct that; all Catholic clerics in the Western Church, whether celibate or married. That was the intention of my previous post.

I see. It is commendable for married Eastern Catholic priests to engage in marital relations, but condemnable for married Western Catholic priests.

 

[MKJ]

Historically in the Church it has not be uncommon for married couples to become celibate after they have finished having kids - it has even been seen as the ideal for those who can manage it.

 

[MKJ]

I'll correct that; all Catholic clerics in the Western Church, whether celibate or married. That was the intention of my previous post.

Which is kind of weird really. especially because the eastern Christians have a tendency to think that unmarried parish clergy are not a great idea (unless the Eastern Catholics in question have been Latinized.)

 

[judechild]

I see. It is commendable for married Eastern Catholic priests to engage in marital relations, but condemnable for married Western Catholic priests.

'Tis a bit too melodramatic. The crux of the matter is that priestly continence, most often expressed in celibacy, is a result of the Western Church's understand of the role of the priest. That understanding did not develop in the same way in the East. The result is that there are two compatible, but not intertwinable, manifestations of the priesthood. In the West, the continence of the priest has to do with manifesting the love of God for all His children, so that by the continence of the priest, he becomes a kind of physical sign of God's Fatherhood. It's also a sign of the eschatological connection between Christ and the Church; the priest is symbolically married to the Church and reserves himself for her, so that he can be a sign of the eternal marriage of Christ and the Church. The concept of in persona Christi runs very deep in Western theology, and priestly continence is a sign of that understanding.

 

[KatherineS]

I saw a photo of him. Truth be told, if I was his wife, I would give up sex too. He's not much of a looker.

 

[Anhelyna]

/\ /\

Rather an unnecessary comment

 

[Anhelyna]

Perhaps we would do better to stay out of the bedrooms of others

 

[ebia]

Perhaps we would do better to stay out of the bedrooms of others

Generally good advice