Married Lutheran man, with kids, converts to Catholicism and becomes a Priest ?!

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We recently moved and just registered at our new Parish. Well, one of the Priests there is moving away, so during his last Homily he was talking candidly about how great this particular parish community is. As it turns out, he was raised Lutheran, is married with kids, but felt called to convert. So he did, and then became a priest. The week before when they announced that the following Sunday would be Father so and so’s last mass because he was moving to a different state with his family, I assumed they meant extended family. I can’t wrap my head around this. He’s married- although not in the Catholic church- and has children. And lives with his family. But is a Priest?🤷
 
It’s done on a case by case basis and usually the priest is an associate and not the main priest because of his familial obligations. Priests being married or not is a discipline and not a dogma and can be changed…
 
He is also usually a minister in his prior denomination. I have talked to several former episcopal priest that are married.
 
This is called the “Pastoral Provision” - if you google it you will find out more.

pastoralprovision.org/History.html

This is about Anglicans. There are Convert Priests from different denominations - read where there is a former Baptist minister to be ordained in Kentucky.
 
Ok, so I’ve googled it. And I understand the process. But the reasoning is still…what’s the word…hypocritical? How can a vow of celibacy be a requirement for priests, with the exception of those who become priests this way? It’s either a requirement or not, if you make exceptions you weaken the reasoning in the first place.
 
zookeeper said:
Ok, so I’ve googled it. And I understand the process. But the reasoning is still…what’s the word…hypocritical? How can a vow of celibacy be a requirement for priests, with the exception of those who become priests this way? It’s either a requirement or not, if you make exceptions you weaken the reasoning in the first place.
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The Eastern branch of the Catholic Church has always allowed married men to become priests (and continues to do so). It is only the Latin church that has placed restrictions on it. In part, this was a reform of the 11th century to prevent priests from engaging in simony and nepotism. Priests and bishops were increasingly favoring the careers of their children, and many were using parish funds to provide for lavish lifestyles for their families. That said, it is still only a discipline. It could be changed at any time. The reason it is only done for converts is precisely to keep it rare. In the view of the church, it is more important to receive a former pastor into the church to prevent flocks being led astray than to be firm on the rule of celibacy.

Further, there is also a provision that prevents Catholics from converting to another denomination, marrying, and then converting back to Catholicism in order to become married. The current conversions of Anglicans, Lutherans, and Methodists (and as of this week, one former Baptist) remain a very limited exception. If I recall correctly, there are only about 100 married Latin-branch priests in the US.
 
zookeeper said:
Ok, so I’ve googled it. And I understand the process. But the reasoning is still…what’s the word…hypocritical? How can a vow of celibacy be a requirement for priests, with the exception of those who become priests this way? It’s either a requirement or not, if you make exceptions you weaken the reasoning in the first place.
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Celibacy is preferred. But from what I’ve heard (I think from a protestant minister who converted- not sure), celibacy actually helps make the priest’s job easier. They don’t have a family to worry about, meaning they can focus more on their “flock.” Being a father to the parish means neglecting his duties as father of his children, or the reverse will be true.

If you want, and if he doesn’t mind, you can ask a celibate priest if he would rather be married.
 
zookeeper said:
Ok, so I’ve googled it. And I understand the process. But the reasoning is still…what’s the word…hypocritical? How can a vow of celibacy be a requirement for priests, with the exception of those who become priests this way? It’s either a requirement or not, if you make exceptions you weaken the reasoning in the first place.
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Hi Zookeeper and welcome to the forums! Glad that you are here.🙂

I think the issue is that you are holding fast to a “married or not married no middle ground” mindset.

First thing to understand is that celibacy is a discipline (like not eating meat on Friday), not a doctrine or dogma. What that means is that celibacy requirements can be changed by Rome as She sees fit. As was mentioned before, celibacy *was not *a requirement in the early Church, *is not *a requirement in the Eastern Catholic Church (except for Bishops) and is a current requirement in the Latin Rite with a few exceptions. Let’s just talk Latin Rite to keep the rest of the conversation simple.

Second point is that there are two types of Priests in the Catholic Church: diocesan and religious. Religious priests take vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience, and I do not believe there are any married religious priests in the Latin Rite.

Diocesan priests make promises of celibacy and obedience. While they are close, they are not the same. When a married Priest is ordained, they do not make the promise of celibacy if I am not mistaken. So you see, while celibacy is required currently it is not an exclusive requirement nor does the Church believe it weakens the priesthood to make the few exceptions.

Now, the reasoning behind celibacy is from Scripture, mostly Saint Paul, but can best be summed up by a priest friend: “All I need to do is pack a toothbrush and I am ready to go where God needs me”.

Hope this helped. If not, please keep asking.
 
zookeeper said:
We recently moved and just registered at our new Parish. Well, one of the Priests there is moving away, so during his last Homily he was talking candidly about how great this particular parish community is. As it turns out, he was raised Lutheran, is married with kids, but felt called to convert. So he did, and then became a priest. The week before when they announced that the following Sunday would be Father so and so’s last mass because he was moving to a different state with his family, I assumed they meant extended family. I can’t wrap my head around this. He’s married- although not in the Catholic church- and has children. And lives with his family. But is a Priest?🤷
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He was not just an ordinary Married Lutheran man who decided to become Catholic and then become a Catholic priest. He was a long time (I would guess) Lutheran minister with much experience and education, who converted to the Catholic faith and petitioned Rome for permission to seek Ordination.
 
zookeeper said:
Ok, so I’ve googled it. And I understand the process. But the reasoning is still…what’s the word…hypocritical? How can a vow of celibacy be a requirement for priests, with the exception of those who become priests this way? It’s either a requirement or not, if you make exceptions you weaken the reasoning in the first place.
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This is where you are confused also. Diocesan priests do not make a “vow of celibacy”. They make a promise of Chastity for their state in Llife, which 99.8% of the time single (unmarried), and can never Marry as long as they are Ordained clergy according to canon law.
 
In the Orthodox churches and all other eastern churches and in those eastern Catholic rites which have married priests, one important rule is observed. A married man may be ordained a priest, but a priest may not marry. So if the priest is unmarried when he is ordained, he can never marry. If he is married when he is ordained and later his wife dies, he cannot marry again. The idea is that God can call a man married or single to the priesthood, but once the call comes, it should take precedence over a desire to marry. That same important rule is in the Pastoral Provision promulgated by John Paul II.
 
God chooses whomever He will…who would have thought ST Paul would ever be God’s choice?

For all we know he and his wife could be living as celibates…if it’s OK with Rome it’s OK with me
 
I can’t wrap my head around this. He’s married- although not in the Catholic church- and has children. And lives with his family. But is a Priest?

Easily. Deal.
 
zookeeper said:
Ok, so I’ve googled it. And I understand the process. But the reasoning is still…what’s the word…hypocritical? How can a vow of celibacy be a requirement for priests, with the exception of those who become priests this way? It’s either a requirement or not, if you make exceptions you weaken the reasoning in the first place.
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you need to pray for a dicerning heart. You are here to ruffle feathers. Contemplate your motives.
 
It’s truly simple:

Better he be admitted and ordained, than he be rejected.

Some of the best priests have wives. St Peter did…
 
Matthew 8:14, Mark 1:30 and Luke 4:38 tell us that Simon Peter had a mother-in-law, and so we know he was married. It is possible that his wife had died by the time he was commissioned by Jesus, but it is unlikely that all the other apostles were single or widowers. If any of them had wives and children, we can assume they left these dependents in the care of relatives before departing on missionary journeys.

In general ordaining a single man is better than ordaining a married man for financial and theological reasons, but why is it so hard to understand that a man with a wife and children can be ordained as a Catholic priest now for good reasons? In some of the eastern rites of the Catholic Church married men have been ordained for several centuries.

If a married man is ordained and later his wife dies, he cannot marry again. As I explained in a previous reply, there is a difference between ordaining a married man as a Catholic priest and allowing a Catholic priest to marry.

As for this man being married outside the Church, the response to that is simple. He and his wife were baptized before they got married. It was a valid marriage. When they were received into the Catholic Church, their marriage was regularized before the man was ordained as a Catholic priest.
 
zookeeper said:
Ok, so I’ve googled it. And I understand the process. But the reasoning is still…what’s the word…hypocritical? How can a vow of celibacy be a requirement for priests, with the exception of those who become priests this way? It’s either a requirement or not, if you make exceptions you weaken the reasoning in the first place.
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The Episcopal and Lutheran priest never took a vow of celibacy. The Catholic priest, by his own free will, did. Celibacy is a discipline not a doctrine
 
macroom2 said:
Matthew 8:14, Mark 1:30 and Luke 4:38 tell us that Simon Peter had a mother-in-law, and so we know he was married. It is possible that his wife had died by the time he was commissioned by Jesus, but it is unlikely that all the other apostles were single or widowers. If any of them had wives and children, we can assume they left these dependents in the care of relatives before departing on missionary journeys.
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According to I Cor. 5:9, at least some of the other apostles (including Peter), and some of Jesus’ step-brothers not only were married, but took their wives with them on their travels (or so I, among others, interpret “periagein”).

DaveBj
 
It’s fair to me. The Protestant discernment to service process does not include a lot of discussion and prayer regarding celibacy. That was missing in his preparation for service. So he could not have discerned that as God’s will in his life the way Catholic seminarians do.
 
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