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Maronite Catholic Church in US to ordain its 1st married priest in nearly a century
Deacon Wissam Akiki, right -- with his wife Manal Kassab and daughter Perla -- will be ordained as a priest this week at St. Raymond's Maronite Cathedral in St. Louis. (Photo: Courtesy of St. Raymond's Maronite Cathedral)
Article by: JIM SALTER , Associated Press
Updated: February 27, 2014 - 2:30 PM
ST. LOUIS When Deacon Wissam Akiki is ordained as a Maronite Catholic priest Thursday night in St. Louis, he's expected to have hundreds of supporters there for him, including his wife and daughter.
For the first time in nearly a century, the Maronite Catholic Church in the United States is ordaining a married priest in a ceremony at the ornate St. Raymond's Maronite Cathedral near downtown St. Louis.
Akiki was in retreat before Thursday's ceremony and unavailable for an interview.
Eastern Catholic churches in the Middle East and Europe ordain married men. However, the Vatican banned the practice in America in the 1920s after Latin-rite bishops complained it was confusing for parishioners. But Pope John Paul II called for greater acceptance of Eastern Catholic traditions. And over the years, popes have made exceptions on a case-by-case basis for married men to become Eastern Catholic priests in America.
http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/247603691.html
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Maronite Catholic Church in US to ordain its 1st married priest in nearly a century (Original Post)
rug
Feb 2014
OP
IrishAyes
(6,151 posts)1. Good for them.
Fortinbras Armstrong
(4,473 posts)2. "it was confusing for parishioners"
One thing that has always annoyed me about the hierarchy has been their bleating "it is confusing for the laity". This, for example, was one of the arguments used in Inter Insigniores, the Vatican's position paper on the ordination of women. The author says that the laity would find it "difficult" to see the image of Christ in a woman. Apparently, they believe that he laity is stupid.
rug
(82,333 posts)3. The fact that the hierarchy was Irish, and these churches Lebanese, didn't help.
These same ethnic tensions sparked the formation of the Polish National Catholic Church thirty years earlier.
http://www.pncc.org/