Because the West rightly rejected the Quinisext Council and instead of tolerating and eventually embracing married clergy, the West reinforced celibacy. There also is a problem in that no restrictions on marital intercourse are in the law, at least for priests, according to Canon 277. I embrace Ordinariate/former Anglicans as an exception. So, see my answer to (2) for (1).

Just For Fun: Should Viri Probati Be Ordained In The West?

Is the discussion just for fun?
Or are you suggesting ordination, just for fun?

Sorry. Working without references in front of me. I was under the impression that priests, in that canon or elsewhere, are exempted. Anyways, Ed Peters is right on both the law and the history, the latter even if he’s wrong about the law, though I don’t think he is.

Simplex priests are a great idea, actually.

Matthew, that seems reasonable. I'm not sure I'm convinced that matters of discipline must be held to the same standard as dogmatic teaching or liturgy. But I don't know.

The class difference between celibate and married priests is an interesting point. I can't see how a priest simplex could work now, since the homily is de facto mandatory in most places.

Haha, let's go with the former, Adam. Ordination for kicks seems a bit much.

Is Frances Quisling advocating women's ordination? I usually hear it the other way, that seminaries attract emasculated men who don't mind celibacy or something? Problematic in thinking, but there are definitely emasculate men in and out of the priesthood. But how much of the perception is based on arbitrary notions of masculinity, such as not being sensitive or artistic, or even spiritual? There's also the idea that if you're interested in theology or spirituality as a guy, you /must/ be supposed to be a priest, because girls are normally more spiritual. So if you're a guy and spiritual, it's a waste to not be a priest. Thus I, along with many like minded friends were often pressured to become priests. Not that encouragement isn't good, but pressure isn't. Also, the way young adults are taught to discern is pretty problematic. Sorry for text wall. Thanks for your responses.

I am not so sure it is merely discipline...

I think that we place too much emphasis on the homily. We would have better preachers if the liturgy was more robustly celebrated…

Some former Anglicans are still joining a diocese,e.g. Fr. Farrow of Arundel and Brighton. The norms for marriage in the case of former Anglicans after ordination are the same as for all priests.

I thought that Pope Benedict specifically limited married men to those coming directly from Anglicanism and ministry as Anglican priests and not those raised as Catholics, e.g. the children of the same.

Vilyanor -
I have heard nothing like what would be a positive answer to your question. Like the orthodox, it is needful to be married before becoming a priest, which isn't to suggest that one can 'hurry up and get married' and then get to be a priest - I'm sure that such a situation would not be viewed friendlily.

If you learn of anything to the contrary it would be news to me. Perhaps I'll ask Fr Hough, our cathedral rector, this Sunday.

_____________________________________________

As I read Stulte's offering just above, particularly the nos. 3 and 4, dealing with knowledge and understanding, will to fulfill, and no grave impediments - is there, as in marriage, a manner of 'nullifying' what wasn't a true sacrament to begin with due to improper intent, willful obstruction, improper comprehension, and so forth? I've never heard that there is, but it just crossed my mind whilst reading the above. Of course, priests may be defrocked for a variety of reasons, which, oddly, do not include paedophilia or other forms of gravely depraved immoratlity and so on. As we know, the Donatist controversy's results provide a rather large and comfortable fig leaf - comfortable for some priests, that is!

I know of a man who felt called to the priesthood, but instead went to work to support his widowed mother and younger siblings, married and raised a family. After reaching retiring age he trained for, and was ordained to, the permanent diaconate(sic). Shortly thereafter, his wife died and his parish priest successfully petitioned the bishop for him to be further trained and ordained priest. I have the impression that the exception was made partly because the diocese had evidence that his vocation had been discerned while he was a teenager. If his wife had died earlier he could have gone directly to the priesthood, and if she were still alive he would still be a deacon, but would his wife's life or death really have made a significant difference to his capacity for his ministry?

Certainly finding money for an adequately paid career and married life would be a problem, but the example I gave was of someone who has a pension and possessions and grown family already. It is quite common in the Church of England for such people to become non-stipendiary ministers on retirement. The training requirement for Catholics is, I think, greater than for Anglicans, and we would not get a great number of years of service from such people, but I think we could afford that. Incidentally the first Mass I served, 65 years ago, was for a recently ordained priest who had entered a monastery after a long and successful career as as a surgeon.

...(putting theological matters aside)...

...which, let us hope, is unthinkable.

I think we should first heal the rift with the Orthodox churches, and then the matter of female ministry can be properly discussed by an Ecumenical Council.

Saint John Paul II said that this matter is closed.

Exactly: it’s a theological matter that’s been put aside rather forcefully.

In the eastern churches, married men may be ordained as priests and are never eligible to become bishops. A single man who is ordained may never marry and could become a bishop. However, there is another distinction. Married clergy are similar to western diocesan priests. The bishops are monastics. Is having married priests any kind of problem? Not that I have noticed.

is money necessarily that big of an issue?

This forum has had Plenty of posts over the years from musicians
who express no small worry about making ends meet,
and the matter grows in importance as your solo life becomes a married one,
and begins to include children.

If you are talking about married ordained clergy,
how does the matter disappear?

Or are you implying different financial treatment?

What is the parish getting for the money?

Ontological comments to /dev/null please.

One of the things to remember about this topic is that, when married men were ordained deacons and priests in the Latin Church in the past (and in the East until after their Council in Trullo), they were required to live a Josephite marriage going forward. Unless I'm quite mistaken, this could be done again without compromising Tradition.
Pragmatically speaking, in parishes with 1 or no priests, moving a family into a rectory might not be that challenging.

In the west, for any practical purposes, there are no minor orders. I haven't seen any desire to reestablish them from Rome. The marriage thing is discipline, not doctrine, and a pope could change requirements for the west at will.

He could, and I think I remember something from JP II indicating as much. It is tradition in the west, but that is a low barrier to overcome if a pope decides to make those changes.

NO.

Well, that's that!
And no beating about the bush, either!

MJO, I've been decribed as a bull in a china closet (although, in all fairness, I think that's being too hard on the bull!) :-)

I think there's reports of Francis saying that it would have to come form the Bishops' conferences, which is good. At the very least, let's not take the ultramontane approach.

Well, historically, the one of the reasons was that married parish priests were leaving church property to their sons as an inheritance.

I spent a number of hours a few years ago looking through the register of papal correspondance with the British/Irish church in the middle ages. Every so often I found a dispensation for somebody wanting to be ordained despite illegitimacy, nearly half these dispensations included the condition that they should not inherit their father's benefice .

I was thinking more of France, but a similar situation existed throughout Europe.