| ||||||||
| Priesthood
Renewed: the Personal Journey of a Married Priest by Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo | |||||||
|
While those who attended the Married Priests Now! Convocation in New Jersey from Dec. 8, 2006, to the 10th had received copies of this inspired book, mine was hand-delivered yesterday by Archbishop Peter P. Brennan, a friend since 1978 and the present Vicar General of the MPNP. The thesis of this book is basically a call for the restoration of the married priesthood in the Catholic Church of the West. It proposes that such a move by Benedict XVI would resolve the burning issue of the priests scandal so prevalent both in Ireland and the USA. Evangelicals have for a long time referred to the Roman Catholic Church as Satanist. Indeed, the Archbishop who became famous in his Church as an exorcist is veritably battling Satan. During the Reformation, Pope Leo X is reported to have said that the Church had come a long way on the myth of Christ. Certainly in Renaissance Italy homosexuality was rampant. Both Da Vinci and Michelangelo were practicing homosexuals. Pope Alexander VI was guilty of incest. In many ways rather than take the lead from Luther the Church at this time remained isolated in its humanistic ,neo-pagan garden of delights. Satan at that era took over and has ruled right through the Holocaust of the Jewish People, the family of Jesus Christ and His Apostles. Only Satan could have gagged Pope Pius XII to remain silent and not confront Satan's agent, Adolf Hitler. The entire purpose of +Milingo's book is evangelistic, based on the New Testament and the teachings therein! What the good African prelate is saying is much what the 16th-Century Protestant Reformers taught: get ye back to the Gospel and the New Testament Church. Archbishop Milingo isn't even saying that we have to go beyond Pope Gregory in the Middle Ages. Forget about Church History(which anyhow is a little fuzzy in the book) and return to Apostolic Times! The Archbishop from Zambia comes from a culture and society where celibacy weighs heavy on men in a culture where each family is a tiny village, a micro-society, supporting one another in a poverty stricken, AIDS ridden environment. A wife and children and extended family are necessary to work the land, run the household and care for the sick and elderly family members. This has been the way in Central Africa for ages. Celibacy is a European invention and homosexual imperative totally foreign to the Ancient and Biblical Christian Faith which is of Hebraic origin. This may be the origin of European Anti-Semitism and why nothing was done by Pius XII to address the Holocaust! Before ending this book review and recommending this book to all Christians regardless of denominational loyalty, I would like to say a word, and briefly at that, about Archbishop Milingo's gratitude to Rev. Moon for his support of the Archbishop and his ministries. The Vatican stopped paying the Archbishop's pension and previous to that had forbidden him to engage in his exorcist ministry. He is not an angel yet and must eat. Our own former Primate, Dr. Bertil Persson of Solna, Sweden, had collaborated with Rev. Moon's World Federation for Peace and Family Values. There is no shame in ecumenical solidarity with those who desire Peace. One last thought: I see this issue of married priests also tied in with the revival of the Female Diaconate and recommend Dr. Zagano's study: Holy Saturday, an argument for the restoration of the female diaconate in the Catholic Church (Crossroad Publishing). Again my thanks to Archbishop Brennan for his kindness in bringing this book to my home. His reward was to taste my wife's fantastic bread pudding! Happy New Year to all and a blessed ministry. |
| ||||||
 |  |