Celibacy letter to be subject of national meeting

Last November, approximately 85 priests from the Albany Diocese sent a letter to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, urging them to discuss optional celibacy for priests.

This month, one of the signers will join priests from other dioceses at a national meeting to discuss the issue.

The signatories to the letter represent about 30 percent of Albany diocesan priests.

Attention

Rev. Dominic Ingemie, chair of the Albany Diocese's Priestly Life and Ministry Council, and pastor of St. James Church in Albany, said that after an article about the letter appeared in The Evangelist, he fielded media inquiries from daily newspapers, and was interviewed by local radio and television stations. He also appeared on a radio talk show in New York City and was quoted in a story by the National Catholic Reporter.

While he anticipated "some kind of media response," the coverage ended up being "more than we expected."

He was also contacted by representatives from Voice of the Ordained (VOTO), a New York City-based organization comprised of clergy from the dioceses of Rockville Centre, Brooklyn and New York City. They want to bring together representatives from dioceses where priests have written such letters -- including Milwaukee, Chicago, Albany and New Ulm, Minnesota -- for an April 21-22 discussion on optional celibacy.

One of the topics at the meeting, which Father Ingemie will attend, is the possible development of a larger national forum on optional celibacy.

Eucharist concern

The Albany letter states that the "primary motive for our urging this change is our pastoral concern that the Church's Eucharistic life might continue to flourish."

According to Father Ingemie, the signatories were concerned that a continuing shortage of priests might keep the Eucharist from being available to all Catholics.

"That is a very important pastoral area -- that the Eucharist gets to the community. We're making it very clear that what we're talking about is not doing away with celibacy," Father Ingemie told The Evangelist. "The gift of celibacy will remain in the Church, but ordination would [also] be open to married men. There is a gift of celibacy and a gift of marriage -- and the gift of priesthood could go with both."

Discussion sought

The letter was sent to the bishops in the hopes that it would spur a discussion on optional celibacy nationally and at the Vatican; any change regarding priestly celibacy would have to come from Rome.

He hopes that laypeople in the Albany Diocese continue to discuss questions of optional celibacy because "it is directly related to their life in the Church," he said.

Earlier this week, Father Ingemie spoke about the letter to the local affiliate of Voice of the Faithful (VOTF), a national lay organization.

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