Concilium: Religion In The Seventies

The present number of Concilium fulfills a promise made by the
editors three years ago to devote an entire issue to a study of
ministry and celibacy in the Church. Much has happened in this
time to sharpen the focus of a debate that has continued universally over a decade and shows no signs of abating. In the time ofpreparation for the Synod of Bishops in 1971 many episcopal conferences commissioned research and engaged in extensive consultationregarding the present mandatory relationship betweenministry and celibacy in the Roman Catholic Church. The sessions
in Rome revealed a great sensitivity to this profound human
problem in the Church. The deliberations thus involved far more
than merely the communication of proposals by representatives
of the conferences to the Pope. The record of the Synod indicates
that the episcopal college itself accepted the responsibility for
decisions to meet the needs of the faithful in the present extreme
crisis of the priesthood. The synodal document on the ministerial
priesthood was published together with that on justice in the
world on 30 November 1971. A papal rescript of that date con¬
veys Pope Paul’s acceptance and confirmation of the conclusions
of these documents.