(20 Sep 2018) A cleric in Slovakia has challenged the celibacy rules practiced by the Roman Catholic Church in a rare action of dissent against the church hierarchy in the conservative Catholic stronghold in Central and Eastern Europe.
To explain his critical stance and propose changes, Michal Lajcha teamed up with a colleague for five years to write a book, in two versions, one for laypeople while the other for theologians, that asserts the church would vastly benefit if married men are allowed to be ordained and celibacy would be voluntary.
In the book "The Tragedy of Celibacy - The Death of Wife", Lajcha and Peter Lucian Balaz, called celibacy a "festering wound" in the church that could be cured by ordaining married men.
And that, he claims, would also help prevent sex scandals.
According to current church rules, a married man first needs to become a widower to be eligible for priesthood.
Lajcha says current priests live in a different world from their parishioners and can hardly understand their troubles and worries.
Lajcha argued the church would become more credible with married priests because now "nobody hardly believes that we really live the life of celibacy".
But he doesn't propose that celibacy be abolished completely.
He believes if the church starts to ordain married men, it would mean celibacy should be voluntary.
As the church faces numerous sex abuse and cover-up scandals around the globe, Lajcha considers them related to celibacy.
Since the news about the book broke last week, Lajcha had to change his telephone number due to negative responses to it from fellow priests and others.
He says Slovakia's Catholic Church officials have banned him from having a church.
He held mass for himself in an the empty sanctuary of his former church in Klak the day The Associated Press visited him, because he said he missed doing it after nine years of giving them almost every day.
Church authorities declined to comment to the AP for this story.
Lajcha says he is ready to leave the church even though priesthood fulfils him.
Find out more about AP Archive: www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: / ap_archive
Facebook: / aparchives ​​
Instagram: / apnews
You can license this story through AP Archive: www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...