As we know hundreds of thousands of people throughout the world cannot receive the Eucharist or have a sacramental life. This is because most of us receive the sacraments from the secular priest, celibate and supported by a parish, and the secular priesthood is a thing of the past. The bishops won’t listen to the Pope’s invitation to discuss extending valid ordination to parish members.
Let’s boil this down a bit. The bishops are denying us the Eucharist and the other Sacraments. And many priests seem to agree with them- qui tacet consentire.
It’s as simple as that .
We can only speculate as to why this is. And believe us, we will, over the next few weeks. We’ll skip the obvious images, like doctors ignoring the sick, lawyers truanting court, etc. We can adjust without them .And here in Scotland we’re used to that kind of remarkably difficult adjustment when considering the local ecclesiastical crisis.
One of us was asked, when bringing up the subject of extended ordination, if “we fancied putting on the collar, then.” That is an actual statement. It’s true. We’ll get to that attitude later. Oh, we will, we will.
But the bottom line is: why won’t the secular clergy give us our Sacraments ?
Suggestions, by the way, are welcome. We’ll take our theories in no particular order, although the first one is rather important.
Here’s a statement from a newly ordained priest in an American diocese in 2008. It is quoted from a US blog, details available if required. He is transparently sincere, which is the problem, of course. It is his priestly education which is at fault.
“A priest is most a priest in the quiet, hidden moments of his day when he is confident in his identity as
alter Christus, consoled by his sacramental proximity to the fountain from which graces flow, and
humbled before the God who chooses men to be His representatives and instruments in the world.”

Well, there you are. If you think you’re an alter Christus, why should you listen to anybody else ? Even if there are people all over the world who would like access to the “fountain from which graces flow” , but can’t get this, because of the secular priesthood system ? By definition, if you’re an alter Christus, everyone else is wrong. This does make it difficult to get things changed.
But there are other reasons . As they used to say, watch this space.