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Document Details : Title: The Theological and Ecclesial Meaning of Married Priesthood Subtitle: Some Reflections Author(s): PETRĂ€, Basilio Journal: Marriage, Families & Spirituality Volume: 21 Issue: 1 Date: 2015 Pages: 15-23 DOI: 10.2143/INT.21.1.3087663 Abstract : The author first shows how much the documents of the Church after the Council have put aside the teaching of the Second Vatican Council about married clergy. He then refers to the practice of the Eastern Churches, both orthodox and catholic, and highlights that in the Eastern view the presence of married clergy does not arise out of a practical necessity but rather by a truly divine vocation to priesthood: the Lord himself calls a married man to priesthood and this vocation is confirmed by the judgment of the Church. As generated by a divine vocation, the presence of married clergy has its own theological meaning in the Church and cannot be reduced to a purely canonical discipline. The final part of the paper is devoted to showing that the theological and ecclesial meaning of married clergy has now become much more understandable than in the past, since the theology of the family developed in recent decades manifests clearly the close harmony existing between the theological/ecclesial sense of marital/family ministry and the call of a married man to the priestly ordination. |
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