Structures of Christian priesthood
Subtitle: a study of home, marriage, and celibacy in the pastoral service of the church.
By: Translated by Rosemary Sheed.
Edition: [1st American ed.]
Publisher: Macmillan
Published: 1968
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng; fre
Number of pages: 112
Subjects: Catholic Church -- Clergy.; Celibacy -- Catholic Church.
Description: In earliest Christianity, the author shows, the kind of life led by a priest was governed by the needs of his ministry. In later centuries he gradually became siphoned off into the highly professional, celibate class we know today. The author argues that this procees, though both natural and explicable, was in fact alien to the true traditions of the early Churches. More importantly, it now effectively inhibits the proper exercise of the Christian priesthood, despite the enormous gains it has brought in the past. In the second part of the book, the author argues that, whatever the advantages this alien withdrawal may once have carried with it, it can only represent a threat to the Church's survival now. If the Christian ministry is to cope with present-day demands, we must recover the earlier tradition which allowed the forms of a ministry to be determined by the demands made on it.
Notes: Bibliographical footnotes.
Translation of Mariage et célibat dans le service pastoral de l'Eglise.