France: To resolve the vocations crisis

In a book of interviews which came out last December, Mgr. Roland Minnerath, the archbishop of Dijon, recalled that celibacy was “a question of discipline.” But “if it proves one day that this tradition runs the risk of depriving communities of their priests, to the point of their disappearance, why not change it?” he said. (Aux Bourguignons qui croient au ciel et à ceux qui n’y croient pas, interviews with Bernard Lecompte)

 According to Le Figaro of December 28, the number of new priests has dropped from 566 to 90 between 1966 and 2004. If Benedict XVI has described priestly celibacy as a “precious gift, “a sign of the undivided love towards God and neighbor” at the close of the Synod, Mgr. Minnerath – “special secretary” of the Synod – does not exclude a development of the situation. However, “it is not a question of passing from one discipline to another, from celibacy to marriage,” he pointed out. “The gift of celibacy remains entire and magnificent. It would be an exception, in order that communities may survive, to allow the ordination of married men who have brought up a family and who are financially self sufficient.”