NEW YORK (NY)
CBS News
Oct. 29, 2019
By David Morgan
At a recent regional synod of Catholic bishops from nine Amazonian countries called by Pope Francis, the majority of bishops called for the ordination of married men as priests to address the clergy shortage in the region, and also for the Vatican to reopen a debate on ordaining women as deacons.
The historic proposal, which would upend centuries of Roman Catholic tradition, has been criticized by some conservatives and traditionalists. But Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York City, who described the synod as an “anything-goes roundtable and conversation,” said Tuesday that he was glad the issue had been brought up.
Appearing on “CBS This Morning,” Cardinal Dolan said, “I’m glad they talked about it. We act like it’s a big secret, but heck, my barber asks me why priests can’t get married.”
“Would you like there to be a Mrs. Dolan?” asked co-host Gayle King.
“What are you doing tonight?” Dolan replied. “Look, I would love to be married and have kids. But you know what? Pope Paul VI said you shouldn’t be a celibate if you don’t want to be married and have kids. Celibates are different than bachelors; celibates want to be a father and want to be a spouse, and they transfer it to their allegiance to the church, which is their family.
“So, a desire to be a father and a husband is a healthy, normal, beautiful thing. And I’ve got it. But do I regret not being married? Well, I might miss it, but right now, celibacy I find to be extraordinarily rewarding and liberating.”
Catholic bishops from across Amazon propose allowing married priests and female leaders
Dolan, who has just written a new book, “Who Do You Say I Am?: Daily Reflections on the Bible, the Saints, and the Answer That Is Christ” (Crown), was asked about a decline in the percentage of Americans who consider themselves religious.
Co-host Tony Dokoupil asked, “I think indisputably one of the reasons why is people look at these sex abuse scandals that the Catholic Church has been plunged into, and they wonder – and I say this as somebody who has three generations of Catholics in New York, stopped with my generation– I ask you as a journalist, but also as somebody with that lineage, how could this have happened, and why the Catholic Church and not Islam or Judaism or evangelical Christianity? Why did this engulf your religion in particular?”
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