It is about time that the new regulations for provisions to have married men ordained as Eastern Catholic priests in countries outside their Church's original territories was more widely known. This is yet again a sign of the Pope's concern for pastoral situations and greater good of the people of God.
This decree was signed on 14 June by Archbishop Sandri and is a cause for great rejoicing for the Eastern Catholic Churches as it finally rights an historically problematic situation. Though the decrees of the Second Vatican Council urged the Eastern Churches to return to and restore their authentic traditions, this has been, as one theologian in Notre Dame University put it, respected in “principle but not in practice”.
The history of those Churches sui iuris in communion with the Roman See has not always been that of a “communion of equal sister Churches” and this is noted in the wider ecumenical context. Celibacy is a vocation, but our ancient tradition, right from the inception of Christianity, does not link this to ministry but allows both forms of living out the Gospel charism. This is a welcome step and will have a positive impact on the wider Church of Christ.
Canon Robin Gibbons, Greek-Catholic Melkite priest, Oxford
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