Archbishop Milingo’s Press Statement in Response to the Vatican Censure

September 27, 2006 at Imani Temple, Washington DC
We cordially thank the Holy Father for his gracious and caring concern about us and Our College of Bishops and the Prelature for Married Priests Now! It is our intention to be faithful to the Church and to honor and respect the Holy Father. We thank him for his brotherly love and we hope to return the same to him.
We do have a grave concern about the lives of our married priests who have been dismissed from service in the church because they have married. And we wish to speak about that injustice.
The purpose of the Married Priests Now! Personal Prelature is to support the priests who have married and to loudly clamor for their return to full ministry in the Church. We have only one goal and purpose and that is the restoration of the Married Priesthood to the Western Roman Catholic Church. To support married priests I, Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo, a married Roman Catholic bishop, last July held at a Press Conference in the Press Club of Washington, D.C. to point out the growing crisis in the priesthood. The average age of priests is approximately 74 years of age and the average age of male and female religious is 68 years of age. In twenty years, there will be few priests left. Who is going to provide the sacraments and the Eucharist to the people? Churches are closing at the rate of almost fifty a year in the larger cities in the United States. There is a desperate need for priests now and in the future, but we have almost 25,000 married priests in the US and almost 150,000 world wide who are not being called to service because of a the Medieval church imposed regulation that priests be celibate. The sexual abuse accusations against celibate priests in the United States speaks loudly that something is wrong. And what is wrong is the enforcement of a promise of celibacy on secular clergy. Secular clergy should be married so that they can model what a good family is in the church community and so they can relate to the families they serve. We also pointed out the brutal and unacceptable treatment the Church has imposed on those priests who fell in love and married. That same week a second press conference was held at Imani Temple to accommodate the interest of the international press. Earlier this month we held a convocation with 120 married priests and their wives.
Married Priests Now! is drawing attention to the great need for priests due to the present shortage of priests which is creating a crisis in the Roman Catholic Church. Over 150,000 married priests stand waiting and willing to serve the needs of the church. These men are already trained and experienced in theology and ministry and have many years experience as married men. These are men who have loved their wives, and raised families. They ought to be called back to ministry immediately. The very life of the church is at stake. Without priests, there is no Mass or Eucharist. The Eucharist is the center of the Catholic-Christian experience and faith. No Eucharist, no church.
The church has always had married priests. It was the norm of the church for twelve centuries to have married priests and in the early centuries married bishops and popes. Thirty nine popes were married. In our own day, the Eastern Rites of the Roman Catholic Church have married priests. In the United States, in the last thirty years because of what is known as the Pastoral Provision, there are about 70 married priests who transferred from Anglican and Lutheran churches. The Married Priesthood is already here. We are calling for an extension of this Pastoral Provision for our own married priests.
We celebrate the Married Priests of the Roman Catholic Church. Up to this time the priests who married were punished, penalized and shunned by the Roman Catholic hierarchy. We want the laity to join us and to courageously to call upon the Vatican to remove these unjust penalties and to stop the unchristian retaliation towards married priests. We call on the Holy Father to recall in dignity and honor the priests who have married. Marriage is a sacrament and is a higher calling than celibacy. This is a matter of discernment for the whole Church and the laity must be involved in seeing the need for married priests. We honor and celebrate the Married Priests of the Roman Catholic Church and we will work closely with the Holy Father, the Vatican offices, and other married priest organizations to once again make a married priesthood a normal part of the Church. We celebrate the Married Priesthood. All of our voices need to be one chorus of celebration for the priests who have chosen to find love and marry. They are better priests because of it.
Now we turn our attention to the charges made by the Vatican about the consecration of our four married bishops. When I, as a Roman Catholic Bishop, decided to consecrate four bishops, I meditated and went back to the roots of the apostolic times and reviewed what the apostles had done. They set up spiritual leaders in the church communities by praying and laying hands on them. They did not look for mandates but for the needs of the communities. I have done the same thing. I consecrated these four married men as Roman Catholic bishops in valid apostolic succession. The power and authority of a bishop comes from the very power and authority of his own sacramental consecration. I was consecrated by Pope Paul VI and, equipped with that sacramental power from him, I consecrated four married men in valid apostolic succession. These men are validly ordained Roman Catholic Bishops today and remain so in spite of Rome’s posture of denial of recognition.
The canon cited in the excommunication says I acted without a papal mandate. There have been many times before in Church history when mandates were not required and the current priest shortage calls for emergency action to bring attention and remedy to the problem. The Gospel calls us to do what is right. This may appear to the canon lawyer to be an illicit consecration, but in terms of the Gospel of Jesus Christ it is the right thing to do. These bishops are both valid and licit.
We do not accept this excommunication and lovingly return it to His Holiness, our beloved Pope Benedict XVI, to reconsider it and withdraw it and join us in recalling married priests to service once again. We call upon the bishops of dioceses to bring back the married priests because they have long been needed to do the work of the Church. Lay people need to write to the bishops and to the newspapers to tell them to return married priests to ministry.
We are and continue to be dedicated to the unity of the Church. We are calling back those who have been disowned by the Church and providing them with healing and acceptance. This is great ministry and we act out of care for the Church and for its survival. We will continue with our mission and we ask the laity and the married priests to join us.

(foto: P.A. Beltrami)

The Married Priests Now! Convocation has just concluded but not ended. It will be continued with other convocations, newsletters and local gatherings. The focal point of the MPN! convocation were the three Eucharistic Liturgies which called the priests to celebrate the married priesthood. Priests and their wives celebrated their marriages and the priesthood. It was a celebration of love for one another and for the church. For many it was the first time they had celebrated the Eucharist for a long time, and It became an epiphany-event for many as they lifted themselves up in hope and joy to see the current and future church with a restored married priesthood.

The speakers enhanced the convocation with thoughtful and provocative lectures which encouraged the idea of a restored married priesthood. At the opening dinner, Peter Paul Brennan spoke of the need for a married priesthood and set the theme of the conference as a celebration of the married priesthood. Brennan said that the only goal of our Married Priests Now! was the restoration and the recall of married priests to full ministry in the church. He introduced Archbishop Stallings who greeted the assembly and introduced Archbishop Milingo. +Emmanuel Milingo and his wife greeted the participants and told the story of their marriage. Milingo gave an enthusiastic call for the church to recognize its own married priests and for married preists to join together in unity.

On the second day, Dr. Anthony Padovano gave a clear and practical analysis of ministry and the suitable theology of the renewed married priesthood. Dr. Leonard Swidler spoke of the way to restore a married priesthood through a change in the laws because such a change was the only permanent and long lasting method. It must be written into church law.
After lunch, Archbishop Milingo gave a spirited response to the letter of Cardinal Re which threatened him with suspension for continued work with Married Priests Now! Archbishop Milingo said that he is and remains a Roman Catholic archbishop and will always be, but that he will continue to work with married priests because the church has treated them so badly that they need to experience some Christian love and experience. If the institutional church fails to do it, he in good conscience must extend the hand and embrace of love to the married priests. He was followed by Peter Manseau who spoke of the children of married priests from his perspective of growing up in a married priest family which he has written about in his book Vows. Manseau spoke of the sense of loss that is part of the ethos of the family of a married priest and how children experience it. Dr. Sal Trozzo gave few incites into developing communities and future church forms.

In the evening Archbishop Brennan facilitated an open session for priests and their wives to tell their stories and to tell about ministries they have developed. Many of the international married priests told of their ministries and continuing work as married priests. The Independent Catholic Apostolic Church of Brazil which has 5,000 married priests was represented by Bishop Edson Luis Campos da Silva, a former Capuchin priest. He was accompanied by Fr. Marcelo Pires. Pietro Ceroni and Dr. Giuseppe Serrone, with his wife Albana, came from Italy. Other international priests came from Peru, Paraguay, Africa, Mexico, and Canada.

The third day began with a special Eucharistic Celebration of Healing in which the priests and bishops extended raised hands to one another to offer healing from the injuries caused by the institutional brutality of the Church and the hierarchy towards married priests. Archbishop Milingo pointed out that the Eucharist is the heart of the priests ministry and that each priest should keep the blessed sacrament reserved in his family home chapel. He spoke of his own devotion to the Eucharist and of its role in the life of the priests, their families and the church.
The next session was an ecumenical sharing of the ministries of the American Clergy Leadership Conference, the Federation of Peace and the role of marriage and family. The convocation was funded by the American Clergy Leadership Conference and by contributions from other churches. Rev. Michael Jenkins, President of ACLC, Dr. Chang Shik Yang, and Rev. Phillip Schanker who told the story of Maria Sung Milingo's encounter with the Vatican.

The final luncheon featured Archbishop Milingo who gave a farewell comments and thanked all the priests who came to share this special celebration of the married priesthood. Brennan read the MPN response to Cardinal Re's letter, gave a few comments and invited the participants to keep in contact through the website and the E-group. Archbishop Stallings introduced Archbishop Patrick Trujillo who gave a keynote talk on the Future of the Married Priesthood and suggested conference resolutions.
The most significant benefit of this convocation was that married-priests celebrated mass together and experience priestly fellowship with their wives and with the assembled community. The exchange of experiences and the meeting of other priests and bishops brought great hope for a real change in church law and policy. Married priests ought to be recalled. The Pastoral Provision given for Lutheran and Episcopal Church ministers needs to be extended to include the Church's own married priests.

September 13, 2006
Married Priests Now! Convocation
Saddle Brook, New Jersey - September 17 – 19, 2006

The married Roman Catholic Archbishop from Zambia, Emmanuel Milingo, is calling married Catholic priests to join his newly founded Married Priests Now! Movement. He is inviting not only married priests but also married men and women who want to be priests to a Celebration of the Married Priesthood. It will be held at the Holiday Inn Conference Center, in Saddle Brook, New Jersey on September 17-19, 2006. Each day will begin with a Mass concelebrated by 120 married priests. Married priests and their wives are coming from Peru, Brazil, Mexico, Italy and Canada, and from a dozen states. Archbishop Milingo encourages married priests to stand up for their rights and to make sure the American bishops know they are ready to serve in joy and gladness. Married priests who wish to attend can call Dario Ferrabolli at 1-973-332-2730. This special convocation will center on the single issue of having married priests called back to full ministerial service in the church. Speakers for the convocation are: Anthony Padovano, Leonard Swidler, Peter Manseau and Salvatore Trozzo. A married priesthood was the norm in the Roman Catholic Church for the first twelve centuries. St. Peter and thirty-eight other popes were married men. In several instances sons of married popes became pope also. The Eastern Rites of the Roman Catholic Church have always had married priests. So a married priesthood is nothing new but was actually the norm for the church for more than half of its existence. Archbishop Milingo says, “It is time for the Vatican to reinstate married priests into full and active ministry within the church. The Catholic Church is in a state of crisis because of the current priest shortage. Hundreds of parishes are closing each year and the people are going without the Eucharist.” The current average age of Roman Catholic priests is 74 years, and the average age of monks and nuns is 68. The church knows it has a dim future due to the shortage of priests. The Eucharist is the central teaching of Christianity and of the Roman Church. Without priests, there can be no Eucharist. Without the Eucharist, there is no church. Married Priests Now! is working toward the reconciliation of married priests and wants to identify married men who want to be priests, but who have been deterred by the mandatory celibacy issue. Roman Catholic dioceses are now so short of priests that they are appointing laymen and laywomen as canonical pastors of parishes. While this is a laudable and exciting sign of progress in church structure, it highlights the clear fact that there are not enough priests to be appointed as pastors. These elderly priests who are left are often pastors of two or three parishes. The people need more priests. With 25,000 married priests in the United States and approximately 130,000 world wide, there are plenty of already trained and ordained priests available to bring the Eucharist to the people. It is time to recall the married priest and help resolve the all too evident priest shortage. Peter P. Brennan E-mail: DDamdg@aol.com Phone: 516 485 0616

Archbishop Milingo is inviting married priests and their spouses to a convention of married Catholic priests, He and his wife would like to meet married preists and their wives and invite them to join Married Priests Now! Discussions and speakers will focus on marriage and the priesthood. Hotel, room and meals will be without expense to participants. Travel is not included. Details to follow. For an invitation call 1 973-332-2730 or email: dvferrabolli@verizon.net If you have an alb and a stole bring them; if not, come anyway. Speakers and discussions will focus on marriage and the priesthood."
Do date to submit your and your spouse applications is September 12, 2006
In the words of Archbishop Milingo:
“We are going to share the gifts of our Resurrection with the whole church. We are married priests with a difference. Jesus has told us, “Wake up now and watch with me. Let us go to meet the enemy.” Ours will be holiness acquired from the purification of our souls as we underwent the agonies which took different forms. The Blessed Virgin Mary is in the forefront leading us back to Jesus, the High Priest. Together with her, we rejoice for our double parenthood, human and spiritual, the new symbols of victory of the married priesthood.”

Jesus Christ is priest, prophet, and king. Through their ordination and its concomitant ontological change, priests are so formed to Christ that it becomes theirs to act as "other Christs" in the triple office of sanctifying (munus sanctificandi), teaching (munus docendi), and governing (munus regendi). It is through their ordination that priests "are configured to Christ in such a way that they are able to act in the person of Christ the head" (Lumen gentium, n. 28 and Presbyterorum ordinis, nn. 2 and 13). The principal realization of action in persona Christi is the confection of the Holy Eucharist. For it is to the Eucharist that "the other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate are bound up and directed" (PO, n. 5 and cf. St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae, III, q. 73, art. 3). It is from the sacrificial altar that the sacramental leadership of the priesthood flows, and it is at the altar that sacramental leadership is manifested. That same sacramental leadership extends itself to fashion the role of the priest in the life of the Church. It is the priest, as a sharer in Christ’s priesthood, who is not only able to offer the Sacrifice of the Mass, but is also able to extend the healing mercy of God in the Sacraments of Penance and Extreme Unction (Matt 16:18-19 and Jas 5:14-15). It is the priest, as a sharer in Christ’s prophetic mission, who is able to speak in the name of Christ and His Church by preaching and teaching (PO, n. 5). And it is the priest, as a sharer in Christ’s kingship, who may exercise governance so that only a priest may be the pastor of souls or hold the episcopal office (PO, nn. 6 and 7). The indelible spiritual character of ordination enables and facilitates the priest’s responsibility in the sacramental mission of the Church. In fact, the indelible mark on the souls of priests is a unique sign and symbol of Christ’s continued presence in His Church. As expressed so beautifully in the Letter to the Hebrews, Jesus Christ is the high priest whose singular sacrifice on Calvary effected the salvation of all men once and for all insofar as He offered up Himself (7:26-28). This once-and-for-all sacrifice is re-presented in each and every Mass celebrated by the priests of the Church. Since the Eucharist is "the source and summit of the Christian life" (LG, n. 11), the sacramental leadership of the priest is immediately apparent as he utters the words of consecration and distributes the sacred species to the mystici corporis Christi. "For priests, as ministers of sacred things, are first and foremost ministers of the Sacrifice of the Mass: the role is utterly irreplaceable, because without the priest there can be no eucharistic offering" (Pastores dabo vobis, n. 48). This utterly irreplaceable role of the priest is the foundation of his part in Christ’s plan for the salvation of the world through the Church. At once, the priest’s role is not only holy but central. It finds its origin and its end in the sacraments, and it finds itself at the epicenter of the divine eucharistic mystery. The priest, then, by virtue of his ordination is a sacramental leader in the Church, an alter Christus, whose sacred duty it is "to proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes" (1 Cor 11:26). (fonte: clerus.org - The Sacramental Leadership of the Priest - Prof. Michael F. Hull, New York)