published: Tuesday | April 8, 2003
By Mark Dawes, Staff Reporter
Martin Schade
MARTIN SCHADE was in the Roman Catholic priesthood for 21 years. He was one step away from becoming a full-fledged Jesuit. Then he quit, and it was not because of the demands of celibacy. He wanted to be a priest for all religions.
Mr. Schade, 49, is technically still a priest, because in the Roman Catholic Church, once a priest, always a priest. If he were to marry, that marriage would not be validated by the Roman Catholic Church. He would need to be laicized a process by which the Pope declares one no longer a priest but a member of the laity a wish that the Pope rarely grants.
The holder of Masters degrees in Philosophy, Divinity and Theology, Mr. Schade is also a licensed lecturer for Roman Catholicism having obtained a Licentia in Sacred Theology.
At present, he teaches human sexuality, philosophy and ethics at the University of Technology. Born in the United States, he came to Jamaica during the 1980s. He was at one time the chaplain at St. George's College in Kingston, and a lecturer at St. Michael's Seminary. He entered the priesthood at 25 and was ordained at 35. Then he left the formal priesthood at 46. He will be 50 in June.
But why did he fall out of grace with the Roman Catholic Church?
"There are two sides to the coin of why I left. One, I could not limit myself. Two, I could not limit God." The only way I could be a Roman Catholic priest is to be a Jesuit with their progressive thinking - I always say to people, the Jesuits make me a full human being than I think I could have been on my own with all the stimulation that they gave me academically, spiritually, socially.
He explained, "I call myself a priest of all religions... I discovered that any religion limits god, because it is limited by human limitations. And then with a very doctrinal dogmatic church like the Roman Catholic Church, even though I love its theology, it limits God. That is why l left formal Roman Catholic priesthood. I qualify that. I never gave up the priesthood. I gave up the formal Roman Catholic element of it."Read the full story (here)
6 comments:
I imagine this is an example of a bad Jesuit?
I worked with Fr. Marty in Jamaica. It was a difficult environment for a number of reasons. I understand how such a hostile environment can lend itself to the temptation of syncretism, especially when the culture itself is rife with it.
In which Jesuit-authored book have I read this:
"Jesus is not the only route to God..."
I give him credit for having the integrity to just plain leave.
How many folks in the Catholic Church - realizing who butters their bread - didn't do the same but stayed put, collected their living, and taught whatever they pleased?
Praise God this syncretist had a bit more honesty to him.
You could be thinking of Karl Rahner's famous "Anonymous Christian".
The writer is totally fair, and there's no doubt.
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