(1888PressRelease)
February 08, 2007 - The Liberal Rite has indicated its public support for the Married Priests Now! Prelature led by Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo.
Archbishop Milingo believes that the Roman Catholic Church must restore married priests to their original place in the Church alongside those who are voluntarily celibate, and that the requirement of celibacy for all priests must be ended.
Jesus Christ ordained married men, including St Peter, and through its first centuries, the Church had married deacons, priests, bishops and popes. St Paul wrote to St Timothy that a bishop may be married only once. The practice of celibacy was imposed by the Church so that the children of clergymen could not inherit Church property.
Archbishop Milingo has ordained and consecrated a number of married men, some of whose background is in Independent Catholicism.
Co-Presiding Bishop John Kersey of The Liberal Rite says, “Archbishop Milingo has taken a courageous stand by publically supporting the cause of married priests. At a time when vocations are fewer in numbers, it is right that the many married men who feel that they are called to the Roman Catholic priesthood should have the opportunity to serve their Church. This is a cause for our generation and an opportunity to right a serious wrong.”
The website of Married Priests Now! is at http://www.marriedpriestsnow.org/
