Ukrainian cardinal says married men not answer to vocations crisis

Published: 2008-01-04

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Ordaining married men is not a guaranteed way to solve a vocations crisis, and it will not automatically improve the quality of priests, said Cardinal Lubomyr Husar of Kiev-Halych, head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church. "The quality of the priest does not depend on whether or not he is married," the cardinal said in a Jan. 4 interview with the Vatican newspaper. The cardinal, whose Eastern-rite church ordains married men, spoke to L'Osservatore Romano about the Ukrainian bishops' decision to proclaim 2008 "The Year of the Christian Vocation." "We are not limiting ourselves to vocations to religious life and the priesthood, but are focusing on the Christian concept of vocation," he said. "This is because we have seen a serious instability both in the family and in religious life." The rate of separation and divorce, as well as the rate of priests and religious asking to be released from their vows, has increased, the cardinal said.

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