BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
ILOILO City – What will Pope Francis say? Three Iloilo-based married Roman Catholic priests who advocate optional celibacy have been given the authority to solemnize marriages.
The three – Fr. Jose Elmer Cajilig, Fr. Hector Canto and Fr. Jesus Siva – secured official authority to do so from the National Statistics Office (NSO) effective July 14, this year.
Though being frowned at by the Roman Catholic Church for breaking their vow of celibacy, the three continue to perform rites for baptism, burial and wedding.
The Certificate of Registration of Authority to Solemnize Marriage issued by NSO regional director Norman Julag-ay is also another step for them to be recognized and accepted in the community, Fr. Cajilig said.
Until the NSO approved their request, the three priests would “marry” couples only after the latter had sought official confirmation through judges, Fr. Cajilig revealed.
The three established Compania de los Padres de Familia (Padres de Capilla), Inc. three years ago in Lambunao, Iloilo. The group then sought authority from the NSO to solemnize marriages.
“We are overjoyed,” said Fr. Cajilig, 52. “This should be a step in calling the Pope’s attention to our advocacy for optional celibacy.”
‘NOT A MAJOR PROBLEM’
On July 13 at the Vatican City, the seat of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis promised “solutions” to the issue of priestly celibacy.
Speaking to Italy’s La Repubblica daily, Francis pointed out that celibacy was instituted “900 years after Our Lord’s death” and that clerics can marry in some Eastern Churches under Vatican tutelage.
“There definitely is a problem but it is not a major one. This needs time but there are solutions and I will find them,” Francis said without giving further details.
Fr. Cajilig has two children with his 10-year partner who is now pregnant with their third child.
He completed his Theological course at SVD Theological House in Tagatay City and served as a deacon from 1989 to 1993.
In 1993, he was ordained at the San Jose de Buenavista Cathedral in San Jose, Antique. Thereafter he served his first assignment as priest at Pandan Catholic Church in Pandan, Antique.
His last assignment was at San Nicholas de Tolentino Parish Church in Tobias Fornier, Antique.
The 53-year-old Fr. Canto, on the other hand, broke his vow of celibacy on May 31, 1998. He and his wife now have three children.
“The sacraments we celebrate as priests are still valid but the law has suspended us to perform,” he said in an interview on national television last year.
Fr. Canto said he has always wanted to be a priest and spent 14 years in the seminary to become one.
But he also said a celibate life is not for everybody, noting that even Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 11 of the Bible understood this.
Paul instructed other Christians that it would be better to marry than burn in passion, Fr. Canto said.
ONCE A PRIEST, ALWAYS A PRIEST?
The 52-year-old Fr. Siva, meanwhile, was ordained in January 1987 and had been parish priest in seven towns in Iloilo province before his last assignment as pastor of St. Nicholas Church in Lambunao.
He officiated the televised wedding of Fr. Canto in 1998. He was suspended two weeks later.
Fr. Siva later filed a case with the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) against the Archdiocese of Jaro, claiming that the Church illegally terminated him.
The NLRC junked his complaint. It ruled that the conflict between Fr. Siva and Jaro archdiocese was “purely ecclesiastical in nature”.
The State, NLRC also said, cannot meddle in Church affairs such as “proceedings for excommunication, ordinations of religious ministers, administration of sacraments, and other activities with attached religious significance.”
Though illicit in the eyes of the Church, Fr. Cahilig considers their ministerial work legal.
Under the Canon Law of the Catholic Church, he said, married priests are not banned from performing their duties, especially during emergencies.
“If you are the only the priest present in a community for instance, when someone asks you to hold a funeral Mass for their deceased love ones, you as a duly ordained priest is bound to perform it. It is not illegal per se,” Fr. Cajilig said./PN
