Fr. Jonathan Morris asks to be laicized

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There were some women at my church who were happy to hear our priest had left because they think
priests should be allowed to marry.
Even though they Don’t know for sure why he left the last rumor I heard was
“he has a girlfriend”. I Don’t know for sure if he does so I choose not to believe the rumor. I still get sad because he left.
 
Father Morris will remain a priest. He will no longer have his faculties.

It’s not really like a divorce.
 
Divorced men are still married to their spouses, sans annulment. No one said the states are identical nor is that the argument.

The attitude of “if you feel you made a mistake in your vocation, 'tis better to move on from that vocation” is not something I can really relate to.

And like I said, if your husband told you that, I doubt you’d applaud him, even if he didn’t marry again, in keeping with what the Church requires.

Ultimately, Fr. Morris is doing what the Church prescribes given his desire; our thoughts on him matter little for him. Likewise, many people leave their spouses but do not remarry nor do they receive Communion, as is appropriate. That does not mean I like or respect they or Fr. Morris’s decisions or commitment, but whether or not I like it is technically as irrelevant as others who do.
 
He’s not the first man I’ve heard of that has left the priesthood with the hopes of marrying and starting a family – known of a couple of instances of this happening with associates in my personal life. I suppose I struggle to understand why men don’t fully come to terms with the issue of celibacy before becoming a priest, and accepting the cross once they’ve made that promise. Though maybe he thought he had. I’m in no place to judge the man, but I’m not really going to celebrate or applaud it, either.
 
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The promises a priest makes during ordination are the same type of promises we make during baptism. The type of thing that leaves an indelible mark on your soul. Marriage may be during this life, but no indelible mark is placed on our soul through marriage vows.

A priest leaving the priesthood doesn’t erase that mark. Just like renouncing your baptism can’t erase that mark. It’s nothing like marriage. Yes both are sacraments but the similarities end there. “There is no marriage in heaven” is something I see posted all the time here. There are priests in heaven. The mark on your soul never goes away.

I am sorry you feel that way about marriage as well.
 
I don’t understand why you would be sorry.

If I truly loved someone, I would want them to be happy. If for whatever reason, after a period of discernment, my spouse really felt that getting married was a mistake, as hard as it might be, the best thing would be to let them go.

I can’t, for the life of me, understand why that is so difficult for people to understand.

Is it ideal? Of course not. But I would rather have someone walk away than be miserable.
 
The best thing to do if your spouse suddenly decides your marriage was a mistake IMHO is boot him/ her out the door, put his/ her stuff on the curb, and forget you knew him/ her. I sure wouldn’t be interested in whether he was happy or not at that point.
 
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My one coworker did that. Him and his wife separated for months before reconciling.
 
As others have said this situation isn’t ideal. We want our priest to remain priest. I wouldn’t say that “celebrating” Morris’ decision would be appropriate but wishing him well sure would be.

However if they feel they made a mistake better to leave than be miserable.

To me the bottom line is that we are not in Morris’ heart. We do not know God’s will for him or what Morris has found through prayer. We have seen very public priests leave the priesthood in the wrong way. Morris is doing it the right way in a fashion established by the Church.

I will not judge him.
 
this may be awful to say but the first time I saw him on TV and saw his FaceBook page I said to myself he’s not going to remain a priest for much longer.
 
CilladeRoma said:
If I truly loved someone, I would want them to be happy. If for whatever reason, after a period of discernment, my spouse really felt that getting married was a mistake, as hard as it might be, the best thing would be to let them go.

I can’t, for the life of me, understand why that is so difficult for people to understand.
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after 20 some years of marriage and several children, yeah, I can see why that would be difficult for a spouse to understand. Marriage vows say nothing about the happiness of the spouses and everything about what a commitment really is.
 
Exactly! Thank you for finding the words to say what my heart was attempting to.
 
Just saw his interview on Fox News. Looks like he was pressured into the priesthood by his former (corrupt) superior. Honestly, I feel so bad for him. He had even tried to leave the seminary but his ordination was moved up by 2 years by his superior. So terrible of that superior. If that happened to someone getting married it would be declared invalid. Obviously, there are different rules for the priesthood, but it still warrants compassion for him. Even the best of us can make terrible mistakes. To think we are above that is a sign of pride. I admire his humility in honing his mistake. On a side note, I will miss his public ministry. I loved listening to his homilies. :cry:
 
I saw the interview too, and feel the same as you. He had doubts and has wanted to leave for a long time. I think people need to have compassion. May God bless him and lead him to His will for him.
 
CilladeRoma said:
If for whatever reason, after a period of discernment, my spouse really felt that getting married was a mistake, as hard as it might be, the best thing would be to let them go.
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If DH pulled a stunt like that, I would never beg him to stay, but I would still expect to be supported in the manner to which we were accustomed.

Ain’t no way I’m supporting somebody else’s little midlife crisis.
 
Yeah, but what if it was you?

Many people were “pushed” into marriage who were not ready.
Not always for nefarious reasons either, sometimes, it was because no one wanted to disappoint their parents or family.
I am not saying that it is the ideal. All I am saying is I have some empathy towards the poor guy.
 
CilladeRoma said:
Yeah, but what if it was you?
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Even if I wanted out, I still have a responsibility to my spouse not to leave him high and dry just because I was having adolescent yim-yams.

I wouldn’t pull an Eat Pray Love on my husband and shuck my obligations and run away to find myself. I would still have an obligation to earn the same money as I do now, so as not to make life even harder for him. And I have an obligation to my kids to not serve them up a crud sandwich (for instance they would have to miss out on things because my ex was now carrying a double load) just because I de-discerned my marriage.

A priest has different obligations and discernment’s to go through. I’m not addressing this priest. I’m addressing the scenario you described.
 
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CilladeRoma said:
Yeah, but what if it was you?
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There is this thing called commitment. It seems that people forget what that means. I see it all the time, even with parents helping their kids find the way out of their commitments. My parents taught me the importance of my commitments. I am glad they did. Otherwise I might very well have walked out on my vows a few times during the 25 years I’ve been married. I am 100% positive my husband feels the same.

Marriage is full of good times and bad times. Spouses are each other’s cross. Sometimes that Cross is light and the walk towards eternity is easy, but many times the weight of that cross can be overwhelming. That is when we cling for dear life.

I am not responsive for making my husband happy, and he is not responsible for my happiness either. I really hate seeing my husband hurting or angry or sad, but it is not my job to fix his feeling. All I must do is support him in his journey. That is what love is.

I prefer when my husband shows his love through these same actions, but it is not necessary for him to do that for me to do my part. It’s not easy all the time, at times I have felt “tricked” into marrying or see the “pressure” that “pushed” me to marry. That is when commitment comes in. Knowing we must see things through the hard times in order to reach better times again.
 
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