News & Politics - African Archbishop Gets Excommunicated

Lexis · 09-26-2006, 10:52 AM

Thought some might find this interesting, especially since we were discussing the church in another thread.

Quote:

VATICAN CITY (AP) - Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo, the Zambian prelate who angered the Vatican by getting married in 2001, has been excommunicated for again defying the Holy See by installing four married men as bishops, the Vatican said Tuesday.

The Vatican said Milingo, 76, was ``automatically excommunicated'' under church law for the ordination of the men at a church in Washington on Sunday.

The Archdiocese of Washington said Sunday that the installations were not valid.

Milingo is in a condition of ``progressive, open break with communion with the Church,'' the Vatican said in a statement.

The four men, who claim affiliation with the breakaway Synod of Old Catholic Churches, also were automatically excommunicated for being ordained, the Vatican said.

In its announcement of the excommunication, the Vatican accused Milingo of ``sowing division and dismay among the faithful,'' and said it lost patience with him after trying to persuade him against the ordinations.

Milingo's spokesman in Washington did not immediately return a phone call.

Milingo has long had a troubled relationship with the Vatican. In 2001, he was married to a South Korean acupuncturist chosen for him by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon of the Unification Church, in a group wedding ceremony in New York. Upon appeal from Pope John Paul II a few months later, he renounced that union.

Last summer, Milingo reappeared in the United States and said he was living with his wife in the Washington, D.C. area.

He gained a strong following in a church where he had been stationed near Rome because of his reputation as an exorcist. But Catholic officials accused him of promoting African indigenous beliefs by performing mass exorcisms and healing ceremonies.

The defiant ordination of the men appeared to be the last straw for Rome.

Guardian Unlimited | World Latest | African Archbishop Gets Excommunicated

What I can't understand is why this was the last straw. Surely the whole marrying someone thing should have been a clue that this guy was going to go his own way no matter what?

**TheAngel** · 09-27-2006, 05:06 PM

I don't think this is a bad thing, not the excommunication mind you, but the publicity. I do not go to a Catholic church so instead have a minister, and he has the most amazing wife in the world and they are both such wonderful, intelligent, caring people. His wife always sends out birthday cards and calls you when your sick and brings over food. I don't think that makes my minister any less religious. Perhaps this will help people recognize that marriage and a lack of commitment to God do not go hand in hand.

S.A.S.H.A. · 09-27-2006, 06:02 PM

Quote:

Perhaps this will help people recognize that marriage and a lack of commitment to God do not go hand in hand.

I remember when I was a Catholic as a kid I never understood what was so horrible about priests being married. Always got told that it was essential to serve God and such, but I researched the whole history of celibacy, in particular that of Roman Catholic clerics. LAME! At least the Eastern Catholics don't follow this practice.

Sasha

**sum1** · 09-28-2006, 12:58 AM

The ban on marriage is and always has been just plain stupid.

jalapeno_wildchild · 10-01-2006, 04:41 PM

Amen.

S.A.S.H.A. · 10-02-2006, 08:12 PM

Two Roman Catholic priests allegedly misappropriated more than $8 million from their church and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on real estate, travel, rare coins and girlfriends, police in Florida said on Friday.

Sasha

Lain · 10-02-2006, 09:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sum1 (View Post)

The ban on marriage is and always has been just plain stupid.

Thank you. I thought the same way too

**GrhmLz** · 10-12-2006, 03:28 PM

Yeah, personally, i don't think there is anything wrong with marriage and ministering the Word of God at the same time.

However, at the same time, it doesn't bother me that the indoctrination into the Catholic Church requires taking a vow of celibacy. Both priests and nuns are subject to it and it's a personal choice to enter that lifestyle. If someone wishes to pursue marriage and to become an ordained preacher in the christian ministry, there is always the alternative option of entering into a Baptist or other type ministry. Many of the preachers/ministers within those denominations don't practice the "celibacy vow." Neither way is wrong it's just that the Catholic church is also following suit with scripture from the bible that explains it's easier to serve God without the distractions of taking on a spouse b/c then your focus tends to shift more to pleasing them rather than God. That why a verse says "He who marries does right but he who doesn't marry does even better." Don't forget, Christian Scripture does not advocate premarital sex so a priest/nun is only living the celibate life that an unmarried christian person would be expected to!

**sum1** · 10-13-2006, 01:16 AM

I think it's about time the Catholic church dumped the whole thing of priests having to be celibate.

Papri · 10-13-2006, 06:44 AM

Wasn't the whole ban on priests marrying formed in the 13th Century or something to keep the wealth in the monasteries/Church and not really a religious obligation?

I can see how the Vatican are annoyed though as the guy obviously knew the rules before signing up to the job, so to speak.

Lexis · 10-13-2006, 09:56 AM

I'm reading a lot of Italian history books at the moment at the stuff the popes and cardinals got up to would make you sick. Pope Alexander VI (an infamous Borgia) had mistresses and 9 children that we know about it! It was all murder and conquest of land.


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