I'm a Catholic priest - and I'm married

[gilliam]

CLEBURNE, Texas – The offices of St. John Vianney Catholic Church are somewhat unusual.

My desk is covered with sermon notes, Bible study materials, parish records, and so forth. I straighten it up when I know I have a meeting, but mostly it’s a mess.

That part is not so unusual for Catholic priests.

What may be a little different, however, is the fact that on any given afternoon, my office plays host to my two young sons arguing over who will be the altar server and who will be the priest in today’s installment of “play church.” The winner gets to carry the small brass chalice around wearing miniature-sized priest vestments, while trying to put a Styrofoam communion wafer in the dog’s mouth. If our youngest son, Alexander, doesn’t get to be the priest that day, he registers his protest by stealing the sacrament (an excommunicable offense) or by simply walking around chanting in monotone, just to annoy his older brother.

This is a Tuesday afternoon at the offices of St. John Vianney Catholic Church, which also happen to be the living room of my family’s home. And this is what a married Catholic priesthood looks like.

read the rest
cruxnow.com/church/2014/08/05/im-a-catholic-priest-and-im-married/

 

[SuperLuigi]

This minister-turned-priest used to be from another denomination and converted.

I want to say it’s not uncommon but also rather unusual at the same time.

 

[po18guy]

Fr. Dwight Longenecker. There are various others. For the good of the Church, one may be dispensed from a discipline. These are perhaps the exceptions which prove the validity of the rule.

 

[fencersmother]

The parish priest at the only Catholic church in Hillsdale County, Michigan, is a former Anglican, married with three children.

 

[phil19034]

The parish **priest at the only Catholic church in Hillsdale County, Michigan, **is a former Anglican, married with three children.

Now this is rare (unless the parish is an Anglican Use parish). Typically, married priests are not pastors, and have other “day jobs,” like teaching at a Catholic School/University, working for a Catholic/Secular Hospital or Nursing Home, working for a Catholic apostolate, etc.

 

[po18guy]

Or, let all priests have the option of being married or not.

.

Why? Literally: what is it to you?

Celibacy is a gift given to those who can accept it.

 

[phil19034]

This article is very confusing.
It doesn’t make sense to insist that some priests take a vow of celibacy and not get married, while others don’t need to.
I’m not talking about fairness (tho indeed, it’s not very “fair”). I’m talking about either a rule is a rule, or it is not.

If Catholics men cannot get married and must be celibate in order to be a Catholic priest, it should be the same for all.

This priest in the article…and all the other men who are already married but then want to be Catholic priests…they can do what the women do when they feel called to the priesthood and then are told they cannot–they can continue to do “God’s work” in other ways.

Or, let all priests have the option of being married or not.

.

The only universal “rule” is that ordained Catholic Deacons, Priests & Bishops cannot marry.

Married men are allowed to become Catholic Deacons and Priests, but not Bishops.

However, in the Latin Rites of the Catholic Church, it is discipline that only celibate men can become a Priest. However, in the other Catholic Rites; married men are ordinated Priests.

The Catholic Church allows married men of select different denominations to be ordained in the Catholic Church if they convert. For example: if a married Orthodox Priests converts, he will still be a valid priest in the Catholic Church. There was also a married Bishop in South America because an Old Catholic bishop (different denomination which has/had valid orders, but allowed priests and bishops to marry) converted to the Catholic Church after he was ordained a Bishop. He never led a Catholic Diocese, but he was a Titular Bishop of the Catholic Church once he converted.

In regards to Protestant Ministers, the Church will allow married converts to become Catholic Priests from the Anglican Communion, Lutheran Communions and Methodist Communities if they meet certain criteria and attend a shortened time in seminary to learn the Catholic Theology. I personally do not know what criteria they have to meet, but if they meet it, they can become married Priests in the Latin Rites.

Currently, married Priests are the exception to the rule in the Latin Church, and according to many priests (both married and unmarried) due to the many duties of a priest and the sizes of many Roman Rite Parishes, it should stay that way.

 

[7_Sorrows]

The Episcopal priest at my old parish converted to Catholicism with his wife and 5 children. He is now a Catholic priest and parochial vicar and
might even have 6 children by now.

 

[Geo17]

I found this shocking. I admit I’ve been away from the Catholic church a long time. I also recall there was talk of letting priests and nuns get married 20 - 30 years ago. I was told the idea was defeated. So this surprises me. It raises the question of whether or not clergy should be required to stay unmarried. Maybe that was never such a good idea to begin with. I’d like to know how long have married men been allowed to become priests?

I believe there are certain things in the Catholic church that should be changed, but this isn’t at the top of the list. It doesn’t seem right to me that some of the clergy are required to remain unmarried while others are allowed to get married. This also brings up the question of what would happen if a married clergy man or woman wants a divorce. Or even if the spouse who isn’t clergy just gets up and leaves. That is just so common nowadays that to think it will never happen in a clergy marriage is foolish.

I think that at least, a married clergy person can’t be considered equal to a clergy person who has chosen to remain unmarried.

 

[sscott]

This is going to be much more common in the future. I predict that the discipline about married priests will change in the future. This is the experiment which can let that happen. Celibacy is not a gift but a hardship for many good men who are kept out of the priesthood by it. Most religions have married clergy and it works out very well. Allowing married priests will expand the base of potentially good men to serve the church. Those who write here about how wonderful priestly celibacy is, have not chosen it for themselves.

 

[tonysonlyfriend]

This article is very confusing.
It doesn’t make sense to insist that some priests take a vow of celibacy and not get married, while others don’t need to.
I’m not talking about fairness (tho indeed, it’s not very “fair”). I’m talking about either a rule is a rule, or it is not.

If Catholic men cannot get married and must be celibate in order to be a Catholic priest, it should be the same for all.

This priest in the article…and all the other men who are already married but then want to be Catholic priests…they can do what the women do when they feel called to the priesthood and then are told they cannot–they can continue to do “God’s work” in other ways.

Or, let all priests have the option of being married or not.

.

If celibacy is such a crucial aspect of the priesthood, then no married man should be allowed to be a priest. Period. Consistency is the key. Coherence.

You know the first thing that came to my mind when i read your post was the parable about laborers who came in late to work who got paid the same wage as those who had been there from dawn. If celibacy is a gift to priests and from priests to us, I want every priest to get that gift and to be able to give that gift. For the record, I don’t think it’s a gift but that what lots of people say about it to justify maintaining that discipline.

 

[JRKH]

A very nice article…I wish he could maybe spend some time here on the forum to discuss these things…but he is undoubtedly busy enough already.

Peace
James

 

[tonysonlyfriend]

This is going to be much more common in the future. I predict that the discipline about married priests will change in the future. This is the experiment which can let that happen. Celibacy is not a gift but a hardship for many good men who are kept out of the priesthood by it. Most religions have married clergy and it works out very well. Allowing married priests will expand the base of potentially good men to serve the church. Those who write here about how wonderful priestly celibacy is, have not chosen it for themselves.

I liken it to a wealthy man praising the godly virtue of poverty.

 

[fencersmother]

Men aren’t allowed “to get married” after they become priests. There are certain exceptions to the norm (dispensations from form?) where men who are already validly married can convert to Catholicism and then become Catholic priests.

I wish the laity wasn’t quite so worried about the sex lives of their clergy.

 

[po18guy]

If celibacy is such a crucial aspect of the priesthood, then no married man should be allowed to be a priest. Period. Consistency is the key. Coherence.

You know the first thing that came to my mind when i read your post was the parable about laborers who came in late to work who got paid the same wage as those who had been there from dawn. If celibacy is a gift to priests and from priests to us, I want every priest to get that gift and to be able to give that gift. For the record, I don’t think it’s a gift but that what lots of people say about it to justify maintaining that discipline.

You might consider asking a priest about celibacy. What you or I think means nothing - zero, zip, nada - to the truth or the best practice for maintaining the Church.

Does no one remember what Saint Paul wrote about celibacy? Priestly celibacy is very strongly supported by Paul’s writing and practice. Conversely, priestly marriage is supported by the fact that Peter and others were apparently married. The bible supports both. The Catholic Church has both.

Further, does no one realize that celibacy is not a discipline in the Eastern Catholic Churches? Yet, all marriages must take place prior to ordination, and once widowed, a Priest cannot re-marry - either Eastern or Latin rite.

 

[Miserissima]

There is a world of difference between the ideas of a “priest who gets married” versus a “married man who becomes a priest.”

For all those who express shock over Pastoral Provision, it displays a woeful ignorance of the 23 sui juris Churches.

Just sayin’.

 

[phil19034]

I found this shocking. I admit I’ve been away from the Catholic church a long time. I also recall there was talk of letting priests and nuns get married 20 - 30 years ago. I was told the idea was defeated. So this surprises me. It raises the question of whether or not clergy should be required to stay unmarried. Maybe that was never such a good idea to begin with. I’d like to know how long have married men been allowed to become priests?

I believe there are certain things in the Catholic church that should be changed, but this isn’t at the top of the list. It doesn’t seem right to me that some of the clergy are required to remain unmarried while others are allowed to get married. This also brings up the question of what would happen if a married clergy man or woman wants a divorce. Or even if the spouse who isn’t clergy just gets up and leaves. That is just so common nowadays that to think it will never happen in a clergy marriage is foolish.

I think that at least, a married clergy person can’t be considered equal to a clergy person who has chosen to remain unmarried.

This has been in place since 1980 as an avenue to bring Anglicans back home to the Catholic Church. The general idea is that it’s easier to being entire Anglican parishes back into the Catholic Chur h if we have Anglican priests convert and become priests in the Catholic Church.

pastoralprovision.org/

This led to the Anglican Ordinariate, where we have more Anglicans parishes which have come into full communion with the Catholic Church; entire Parish receiving RCIA, Confession, Confirmation, and First Holy Communion together.

Within the boundaries of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, we already have one Anglican Use Parish and have a 2nd community going through RCIA now.

These Ordinariates (there are three; one in Britain, one in Austrailia, and one for the US and Canada) are not part of their local Diocese and are like their own Diocese, each lead by a a former Anglican Bishop who are Monsignors in the Catholic Church because they are all married, therefore not permitted to be ordained as a Bishop.

As for married men becoming priests, they Catholic Church has had married men become priests for 2000 years. But the Latin Rites have limited this for the past 1000 years.

Also, as FYI - outside of Anglican Use Parishes, married priests in the Latin Rites cannot become pastors (except in EXTREME situations). Also married priests cannot be ordained Bishops. Married priests typically have to have a “day job” to help pay for their family unless they have family money or a working wife.

I hope this helps.

 

[7_Sorrows]

This has been in place since 1980 as an avenue to bring Anglicans back home to the Catholic Church. The general idea is that it’s easier to being entire Anglican parishes back into the Catholic Chur h if we have Anglican priests convert and become priests in the Catholic Church.

pastoralprovision.org/

This led to the Anglican Ordinariate, where we have more Anglicans parishes which have come into full communion with the Catholic Church; entire Parish receiving RCIA, Confession, Confirmation, and First Holy Communion together.

Within the boundaries of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, we already have one Anglican Use Parish and have a 2nd community going through RCIA now.

These Ordinariates (there are three; one in Britain, one in Austrailia, and one for the US and Canada) are not part of their local Diocese and are like their own Diocese, each lead by a a former Anglican Bishop who are Monsignors in the Catholic Church because they are all married, therefore not permitted to be ordained as a Bishop.

As for married men becoming priests, they Catholic Church has had married men become priests for 2000 years. But the Latin Rites have limited this for the past 1000 years.

Also, as FYI - outside of Anglican Use Parishes, married priests in the Latin Rites cannot become pastors (except in EXTREME situations). Also married priests cannot be ordained Bishops. Married priests typically have to have a “day job” to help pay for their family unless they have family money or a working wife.

I hope this helps.

I am not sure you are correct about your last paragraph.
Extreme situations? Having to have a day job?

 

[Celtic_Maiden]

I found this shocking. I admit I’ve been away from the Catholic church a long time. I also recall there was talk of letting priests and nuns get married 20 - 30 years ago. I was told the idea was defeated. So this surprises me. It raises the question of whether or not clergy should be required to stay unmarried. Maybe that was never such a good idea to begin with. I’d like to know how long have married men been allowed to become priests?

I believe there are certain things in the Catholic church that should be changed, but this isn’t at the top of the list. It doesn’t seem right to me that some of the clergy are required to remain unmarried while others are allowed to get married. This also brings up the question of what would happen if a married clergy man or woman wants a divorce. Or even if the spouse who isn’t clergy just gets up and leaves. That is just so common nowadays that to think it will never happen in a clergy marriage is foolish.

I think that at least, a married clergy person can’t be considered equal to a clergy person who has chosen to remain unmarried.

Its easy to see that you have been away from the Church a long time, a lot of practising Catholics might find this “shocking” These Protestants Clergyman have gone through a lot which you have not even considered.

They have lost the job that they loved.
Thrown out of the Parochial Vicarage.
Now have no job or money, and have a family to feed,
and only for the Lord bringing them Home and that they Love the Lord the hurdle would
be to great only that Truth brought them Home to the Catholic Church - at a Great Price.
I have great admiration for them, if the Church allows it, who am I to tell the Lord, No.
Celibacy is only a Church law, not a dogma, the early Apostles were all married. Its not a case of two laws, the Church in its charity makes exceptions in certain cases, its the Lord that has spoken, not anyone else. Obedience is better than sacrifice.

 

[Geo17]

Well I did think the celibacy thing was a dogma. I have to tell you that back in the 1950’s & 1960’s, the average catholic person knew very little about Catholicism. Back then the Mass was said in Latin, and you weren’t allowed to ask questions the Church didn’t want you to ask. I should say, you weren’t allowed to ask questions the Church didn’t want to answer. That was the world of Catholicism I grew up in. Some people my age who knew more went to Catholic schools. My parents didn’t have the money for that.

Even though I’m shocked by this, it doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing. Since I am an older man, I can say with some certainty that to remain celibate all one’s life has to be a gift from God or one is likely to fail. Although it would be helpful if our society wasn’t so sexually oriented. It wasn’t like this when I was a kid, and it was better that way. I’m aware there are scattered groups of people trying to go back to the way God wanted us to live, and I hope they succeed.