Catholic Information Service for Africa (Nairobi)
26 June 2009
The former Catholic archbishop of Lusaka, Zambia, Emmanuel Milingo on Tuesday consecrated a bishop and ordained seven deacons to his Married Priests Now! movement in a private ceremony in Nairobi.
It was not clear why the ceremony was held secretly, although some reports indicate efforts were made to stop Archbishop Milingo from entering Kenya.
He consecrated Fr Daniel Kasomo as a bishop to head the movement's activities in the country. The new bishop said the movement will cater for priests who have married but still want to continue serving as priests. Bishop Kasomo has been living with his wife Maryanne for 20 years.
The Catholic Church here has not commented on the latest developments, though the bishops had issued a pastoral statement in defense of celibacy on June 16. Married priests, they said, had automatically excommunicated themselves. They urged the more than 10 million Catholics to shun them.
Addressing the press after the ceremony held at Sasamotor Centre in Karen, Archbishop Milingo who was accompanied by his Korean wife, Maria Sung called on the Catholic Church to treat women fairly and stop punishing its few priests who fail to follow the celibacy rule.
He said the church should accept priests who marry. "They are punished and never forgiven. Whenever they go to look for employment, they are told they are not worthy," he said, referring to excommunicated priests who he said are never allowed anywhere near the church.
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Clerical celibacy in Catholic Church Clerical celibacy is the discipline by which, in some of the particular Churches that constitute the Catholic Church, only unmarried men are, as a rule, to be ordained to the priesthood. The same discipline holds in some other Churches for ordination to the episcopate.
Chief of the Catholic particular Churches that follow this discipline is the Latin Rite, but, among the Eastern Catholic Churches, at least the Ethiopic Catholic Church applies it also.In this context, "celibacy" retains its original meaning of "unmarried", and does not refer to the continence or abstinence from sexual intercourse that… [Read Full Text]
This is the most preposterous act that Milingo is doing. Unfortunately i know some of the former priests and deacons. Kasomo did his doctorate while i did my licenciate degree.Makau was my classmate and Kinyanjui did not even finish his studies in theology. As a priest, i believe the way to go is to debate the issues centered on celibacy from the merits of the married clergy in the Eastern rite or the Anglican church and not out of the failures of the celibate priests. One thing for sure is that Kasomo and Njogu have told us in… [Read Full Text]