| Rent A Priest South Africa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| CITI,Inc SA | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Welcome to the Home Page of Celibacy Is The Issue, Inc SA and Rent A Priest SA. An Advocacy Based on Ministry Instead of Protest! Please feel free to browse around and investigate what we have to offer you! | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Married Priests Are Everywhere! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Twenty-five thousand Roman Catholic priests have married since the late 1960's; 110 000 throughout the world. Celibacy Is The Issue, Inc., a 501.c3 nonprofit organisation, has spent the past six years locating and recruiting married priests, nudging them back into public ministry for the people who need them. CITI's database now consists of over 2000, covering almost every US state, and many countries. Canon Law says they're still priests and that their sacraments are still valid. They Work In The Parishes Some congregations invite married priests to celebrate Mass when their "circuit rider" priest is not available. Some pastors invite married priests to do weddings, baptisms, funerals, homilies, etc. One parish lists the local married priests in the weekly bulletin for emergencies. They Work Outside The Parishes Married Priests make themselves available to those who have been turned away by the church (48 million Catholics no longer attend Sunday Mass). They do baptisms, first and second marriages, and funerals. They also visit and anoint the sick and make themselves available for in-home Masses, as well as for Bible Study and other discussions. Some congregations from closed churches stay together, with married priests. Early Church Becomes Future Church This is how it was in the early days of the church, and with a 90% decline in seminarians since 1960 (from 41 000 to 4 500), it may also be the way for the new Millenium... Back to the future. Canon Laws ? Canon 290 says, "After it has been validly received, sacred ordination never becomes invalid." Other canons which apply: ? Canon 213: "The Christian faithful have the right to receive assistance from the sacred pastors out of the spiritual goods of the Church, especially the Word of God and the Sacraments." ? Canon 843: "Sacred ministers may not deny the Sacraments to those who opportunely ask for them, are properly disposed and are not prohibited by law from receiving them." ? Canon 844: "Whenever necessity requires or genuine spiritual advantage suggests, and provided that the danger of error or indifferentism is avoided, it is lawful for the faithful for whom it is physically or morally impossible to approach a Catholic minister, to receive the sacraments of penance, Eucharist, and anointing of the sick from non- Catholic ministers in whose churches these sacraments are valid." (If we can lawfully receive sacraments from non-Catholic ministers, priests who married can provide the same, since use of Canon 844 is based on the premise of valid ordination). ? Canon 1752: "�the salvation of souls�is always the supreme law of the Church." A state of emergency occurs in the Church when there is threat against the continuation of essential activities of the Church. A shortage and unavailability of celibate priests has caused emergency situations regarding the Christian faithful's baptismal right to be assisted by their Pastors from the spiritual riches of the church, especially by the Word of God and the sacraments, as noted above in Canon 213. Other examples of emergency sacramental administration that are permitted are "danger of death" (976), "reasonable cause" (1003-2), "grave inconvenience" (1323:4) and "just reason" (1335). The remaining applicable canons include 226, 840, 845:1, 883:3, 897, 898, 899:1,2, 900:1, 911:2, 999:2, 1116, 1169:2 found in The Code of Canon Law, published by the Paulist Press and available in many libraries. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Who We Are | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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CITI was founded in 1992 by a Catholic woman, | Louise Haggett of Framingham, Massachusetts, after being unable to find a priest to visit her sick mother. What began as a single effort has grown to global team work that is over 4000 strong. Who Is On Our Advisory Board Our Advisory Board consists of lay people, celibate priests and married priests; conservatives and liberals; contemplatives and pragmatists, like the Church at large. What Our Strategy Is Because historical changes in the church have taken place through action by grassroots Catholics, CITI's strategy is also action: i.e., ministry. CITI recruits married priests and connects them with Catholics who need priests through a free referral service called Rent A Priest. Who Has Benefitted Married priests have provided sacramental and pastoral care to thousands of Catholics, especially those who have been turned away from the Church. (According to the Centre of Applied Research, 73.3% of Catholics no longer attend the Catholic Church). Married priests are available for baptisms, first and subsequent marriages, anointing the sick, funerals, bible study, in-home Mass, etc. What Some Bishops Say ? "Don't stop what you're doing. God bless you," said one Bishop in front of 350 people. ? "I would appreciate your looking upon me as a 'behind the scenes' advisor�God bless you in your efforts to serve the Church, God's Holy People," wrote another. CITI Services For The Public -Rent A Priest: Free international referral service of married priests through our Rent A Priest website, www.rentapriest.com or write to CITI,Inc PO Box 682, Lanseria, 1748. - God's Yellow Pages: Listing of some available married priest/couples - for retreats, etc. - Come As You Are: Newsletter from Priests - Catholic Resource Centre: books & tapes (USA only as at March 1999) - How To Start A Small Faith Community: packet For Married Priests - Seminars: on practical theology - CITINews quarterly newspaper - Canonical Reflections: Theological counterpart to Rent A Priest brochure - Pastoral Care For Divorced Catholics: Interpretive principles of Canon Law and moral theology applied to the Internal Forum. Rev. Dr. Ed. J. Kalmanek - Ministry Supplies Centre: USA Only as at March 1999 - Transition Packet to assist priests who leave Research Continuing research concerning celibacy and clerical misconduct. CITI,Inc SA is a nonprofit organisation. Provisional Registration No: 006-313/3161. Contact Us! Email: [email protected] Or PO Box 682, Lanseria, 1748, South Africa.
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