Anyone ever had a married priest?

[leyton]

Our church recently had a married priest. I believe he had married while in another religion, and then converted to Catholicism. He was truly one of the greatests speakers I've ever seen at the lectern - everyone loved his sermons. Unfortunately, he could not handle the double commitment of a family and a parish.

Interestingly enough, a few years later we had a man who had been ordained to the priesthood after his wife died. His son was ordained the next year - so our diocese had a father/son pair of priests!

[DemBones DemBones]

1. Interesting that he couldn't handle having a family and a parish.

I've always thought there was a lot to be said for celibate clergy, having grown up Protestant and seen all that is expected of the minister's wife and kids as well as the minister himself.

Edit: I've not encountered any married Catholic priests but there is one in our archdiocese. Like other married Catholic priests, he was a married Episcopal priest when he and his entire family converted to Catholicism.

Letting these married former Episcopalians be Catholic priests seems unfair to all the Catholic men who wanted to be priests but realized at some point in seminary or after ordination that they wanted to marry and have children, too. There are a lot more of them than there are of Episcopal priests who want to convert, so if the Church is doing this to help fill the ranks of the priesthood, they should look at all those former priests/ former seminarians. Thousands of them belong to CORPUS, which is a group of priests who left the priesthood to marry and want to serve as priests again.

[leyton]

2. Well, I think that was the case.

I never heard it from him directly, so perhaps it's not fair to say it. Though I think you'd have to be superman to handle both at once.

[happynewyear]

3. a priest does not marry for one reason

If a priest decides to leave the Church and marry, the belief is that this priest has lost his faith. That is it, plain and simple.

I would not want a priest that was married around me for he has no faith and that is how Catholics of the old school anyway believe, like it or not.

:kick:

[leyton]

4. He married, and then entered the faith...

I believe the two cases I'm referring to are not people who left the Church and married. They married, and entered the Church, and thus found themselves as active priests who were also married.

[pelagius]

5. My priest is married...

...which is not such a big deal since I'm an Episcopalian. His wife, however, is painfully shy -- although a delightful woman -- and does not in any way serve as the "queen bee" for the church. In fact, she's not at all active in the parish life, although she serves as librarian for our day school.

I'm glad my church is enough on the ball to respect this, but my traditionally-minded Protestant mother -- who thinks I'm lost to popery by being an Anglican! -- pointedly asked me when she visited our church, "And where is the minister's wife?" I told her she was not very visible in the church and was, in fact, somewhere else that Sunday.

"How nice for her," my mother said between clenched teeth, but as far as I'm concerned my priest has the vocation and, unless we want to put her on salary, the wife is not a member of the church staff.

I see pros and cons to married clergy, but think the single best argument in favor of a celibate priesthood is the amount of time and energy freed up to serve God in His Church.

[DemBones DemBones]

6. Every time I read this thread title,

I want to say, "No, I've never had a priest at all!"

DB DB aka a BAAAD Catholic girl

:evilgrin:

[pelagius]

7. Naughty, naughty, naughty.... :-) n/t

[DemBones DemBones]

8. Like I said, bAAAAAAd

Catholic girl! ;-)

[blue_roses_lib]

12. Teehee. n/t

[SOteric]

9. Yes, actually.

One of our priests was a Lutheran pastor when he converted to Catholicism. The position of the church has been that ordination does not come with affiliation to a church but is a call from God. So if God calls a man to the priesthood, then he's called a man to the priesthood. But it would be contrary to church policy to expect that a family break it's sacred bonds in order to convert.

[Tracer]

10. Does this count?....

... My former pastor (for 10 years) had a secret family with several illegitimate children.

[Nadege116]

11. Yes

I'm Orthodox, my priest is married with three kids. He is a wonderful family man.