The new/old clericalism continues to assert itself. Unintentionally, perhaps, attacks on the married diaconate may indicate that the restored ministry is critical to the Holy Spirit's plan for the Church. The argument that Canon 277 of the Code requires continence for married deacons is illogical, if not irrational.Further, the contention that removal of an explicit provision for diaconal marital relations from a preliminary draft of the Code implies the opposite is similarly fallacious. Since the scholastics of the Middle Ages, the consistency of reason and faith has been recognized as orthodox; if a contention is fallacious, it is not an argument.
Further, an authoritative implementation of the Code (the Directory for the Ministry and Life of the Permanent Deacon) explicitly recognizes conjugal love as nourishment for the spiritual life of the married deacon. The contention that married deacons are to abstain from intimacy within marriage is inconsistent with both Divine and natural law and not supported by Canon Law.
Married deacons, trust in the Lord and in His Spirit Who lead the Church!
See, I am doing something new! Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? (NAB)
Behold I do new things, and now they shall spring forth, verily you shall know them: (D-RB)
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