Vatican lifts ban on married priests for Eastern Catholics in diaspora

Not exactly about the Ordinariates or Pastoral Provision, but this has relevance all the same. I wrote about the situation with the Ruthenians in my article "Whither the Anglican Use in the Catholic Church?" in the Lent 2006 issue of Anglican Embers; that article was also included as a chapter in the book Anglicanism and the Roman Catholic Church: Recent Developments.

BY  LAURA IERACI, CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

• November 17, 2014

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican has lifted its ban on the ordination of married men to the priesthood in Eastern Catholic churches outside their traditional territories, including in the United States, Canada and Australia.

Pope Francis approved lifting the ban, also doing away with the provision that, in exceptional cases, Eastern Catholic bishops in the diaspora could receive Vatican approval to ordain married men. In recent years, however, some Eastern Catholic bishops went ahead with such ordinations discreetly without Vatican approval.

Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches, signed the decree June 14. It was published later online in the "Acta Apostolicae Sedis," the official periodical through which Vatican laws and decisions are published.

The new law says the pope concedes to Eastern Catholic bishops outside their traditional territory the faculties to "allow pastoral service of Eastern married clergy" and "to ordain Eastern married candidates" in their eparchies or dioceses, although they must inform the local Latin-rite bishop in writing "in order to have his opinion and any relevant information."

"We are overjoyed with the lifting of the ban," Melkite Bishop Nicholas Samra of Newton, Mass., told Catholic News Service in a Nov. 15 email.

The Vatican decree explained that in response to the "protests" of the Latin-rite bishops in the United States, in 1890 the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples prohibited married Ruthenian priests from living in the United States. And in 1929-30, the Congregation for Eastern Churches extended the ban to all Eastern-rite priests throughout North America, South America and Australia.

The 1929 prohibition, known as "Cum data fuerit," had significant repercussions for the Eastern Catholic churches in the United States. Cardinal Sandri's decree noted that soon after the law was promulgated, "an estimated 200,000 Ruthenian faithful became Orthodox."

Ruthenian Bishop John Kudrick of Parma, Ohio, told CNS Nov. 16 that he sees the end to imposed celibacy for Eastern priests in the diaspora as an acknowledgement of the Eastern churches' "obligation to maintain their integrity" and "of the right of the various churches to equal responsibility of evangelization throughout the world."

"The world needs the church in its fullness," he said, adding he believes the "change of policy results from the longstanding experience of married priests in the Western world, especially the Orthodox, but also Eastern Catholic."

Bishop Kudrick said Eastern churches in the diaspora have a responsibility to minister to new immigrants, who are accustomed to married priests.

"Because of the dual responsibilities to maintain continuity with our past and to reach out to the society to which we are called, some degree of freedom is necessary," he said...

Read the rest at The Catholic Regsiter

Quad Cities man to enter Davenport Diocese as its first married priest

By Deirdre Baker
March 22, 2014

The 29-year marriage of Chris and Jody Young will continue, even after he is ordained as a priest in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Davenport this summer.

"I get to keep my wife, and I am keeping my wedding band on," Chris Young says.

Although the Catholic Church historically has prohibited priests from marrying, the 53-year-old Davenport man is joining the clergy thanks to a special 1980 dispensation from Pope John Paul II called The Pastoral Provision, which applies only to former clergy of the Episcopal -- or Anglican -- church.

This will make Young a rarity. It's estimated that about 100 Catholic priests in the U.S. have made the same conversion that he has.

Young, a lifelong Episcopalian until eight years ago, previously served as the priest at Christ Episcopal Church in Moline.

His entry to the Catholic faith brings a different dimension to the priesthood, Bishop Martin Amos of the Davenport Diocese said.

Amos, who has led the diocese since 2006, agreed with Young's quest for the priesthood and sponsored him in a 26-step process that has taken six years.

Young will be made a transitional deacon — one who intends to become a priest — in a ceremony Tuesday at Davenport Assumption High School, where he has taught religion classes for two years.

Then, on June 7, Young will be ordained by the bishop at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Davenport. Two other men also will be ordained as priests at that time, but both are following the more traditional path...

Read the rest of this article at the web site of The Quad Cities Times.

Hat tip to Mary Ann Mueller

Blogger's Note: We posted about the ordination of Rev. Young a few days ago, but this is a new story, and worth your while. While the frequently reported "fact" that there are about "100 Catholic priests" with wives is routinely reported in stories like this, given the many ordinations for the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, along with continued Pastoral Provision ordinations such as this one, the number should clearly be bumped up to at least 150. Still a tiny percentage of the more than 45,000 priests serving the Catholic Church in the US, but a large increase all the same.

On Married Priests: Our Sunday Visitor Looks at the new reality

On the web site of Our Sunday Vistor there's a long article that looks at married men who are priests; most of these, of course, being Pastoral Provision and Ordinariate priests. The article begins:

Understanding married priesthood
Since the pastoral provision, the Roman Catholic Church has permitted some men with wives and families to become priests. Here’s an in-depth look at the issue.

By Brian Fraga - OSV Newsweekly, 11/18/2012

There are widened eyes, some confused looks and questions.

Many knowledgeable, faithful Catholics are taken aback for the first time when they meet a Catholic priest — and his wife.

“For some, it’s a surprise. For others, I think, there is a sense that this is something they have thought is a direction the Church should head in,” said Father John Lipscomb, a former Episcopalian bishop who entered the Catholic Church five years ago with his wife of 44 years.

“I think people see this as something very positive in the life of the Church,” said Father Lipscomb, 62, the spiritual director of the Bethany Retreat Center in the Diocese of St. Petersburg, Fla.

Father Lipscomb is one of about 70 married Catholic priests in the United States. Most of them were ordained priests in the Episcopal Church, but eventually left that denomination and were allowed to become priests in the Catholic Church, thanks to a 1980 pastoral provision approved by Blessed Pope John Paul II.

Earlier this year, the Vatican expanded the provision by creating ordinariates — similar to dioceses — where entire Anglican parishes can enter into communion with the Catholic Church. In the United States and Canada, the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter includes 18 parish communities...

Read the rest at the OSV.

Hat tip to Deacon Greg Kandra at the Deacon's Bench.

Maine Catholic convert brings wife, children to priesthood

The Rev. David Affleck, pastor of three churches in York County, is one of two new priests in the state.
By Eric Russell erussell@pressherald.com

When David Affleck was ordained earlier this month as Maine's newest Roman Catholic priest, his wife, Katherine, sat in the pews at Portland's Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.

Two of his four grown children were there as well.

Wait, what?

A Catholic priest who's married? With children? That can't be right.

Except it is.

Affleck, 62, of York, is a former Episcopal priest who took advantage of a 1980 papal provision that allows him and others like him to become priests in the Catholic Church.

Only a handful of such ordinations take place in the U.S. each year. In Maine, it's happened just three times in 32 years, and Affleck is the only current convert. One died, and the other has left the church.

"It is indeed rare for a pastoral provision to be sought and granted," Bishop Richard Malone said in a statement. "The Church takes a great deal of time and energy to know that the man in question is truly being called to the priesthood and completely understands the responsibilities and ministry within the Catholic Church."

The trend, however small, is less a reflection of relaxed requirements of the Catholic Church and more a sign that fewer men are joining the priesthood, said Monsignor Michael Henchal, a Catholic priest in Maine for nearly 40 years. Aside from Affleck, only one other priest has been ordained this year. There are now more retired priests in Maine (86) than active priests (69). Affleck is needed.

That's not to diminish his resume. He has a master's degree, a doctorate and more than 15 years of priesthood under his collar. When parishioners of St. Raphael in Kittery, St. Christopher in York or Our Lady of Peace in Berwick see Affleck at the front of their church, reading Scripture and offering Communion, they see a man of distinction and conviction...

Read the full story at The Portland Press Herald.

Hat tip to Mary Ann Mueller.

Archbishop Ireland

Mr. Uher reflects on a sad chapter in the history of the Church in the U.S.A. by way of warning that it not be repeated.

Those among the Catholic bishops who are currently inclined to thwart or stop the Personal Ordinariates arising from Anglicanorum coetibus would do well to consider the legacy of Archbishop Ireland of Minnesota, or like him they may wind up reviled and on the wrong side of history. Archbishop Ireland has his defenders citing several things, but violating Church Law and causing a schism eclipses everything else.  He was not alone among the Irish Catholic clergy to greet the Greek Catholics with contempt bordering upon hate, but he is remembered as the very worst.  Who wants to be seen in his company?

Archbishop Ireland is personally responsible for the biggest schism in Catholicism in the USA.  His poor decisions and belligerence with regard to the Greek Catholics, his violation of the Law of the Church that went unchallenged, all of these issues sent large numbers of Eastern Greek Catholics into the Orthodox Church where they contributed significantly to the birth of the Orthodox Church of America.  In fact, with tongue planted firmly in cheek Archbishop Ireland is called "the Father of the Orthodox Church of America".

The US bishops had sought and received from Rome a prohibition on married priests serving among or being ordained to serve  the Eastern Catholics in the USA.  They were wrong, and for their error the bishops have had to apologise in our time.   During the "Russian Greek Catholic Schism" the US Latin-rite Catholic bishops stood with Archbishop Ireland in his attack on the legitimate Canonical rights of the Greek Catholics.  They were wrong to do so.  They learned nothing from the experience, and later another 100,000 Greek Catholics would leave for the Orthodox Church under the Patriarch of Constantinople.  Similar situations obtained in Canada...

Has the Church not learned from the Portuguese disaster in India? from the Greek Catholic exodus in North America?  Will we really find Anglicanorum coetibus thwarted and blunted at every turn leading those who had wished to be loyal sons and daughters of the Church to make a telephone call to the Polish National Catholics or the Antiochian Orthodox for a chat?  Please, Lord God, let everyone wake up to receive the gift they are being given through Anglicanorum coetibus.  May they listen to the aspirations of the new clergy and laity and help them realise their goals so they can enter the mission field that is their own nation fully furnished with what they need to be that part of the Church that cherishes and makes use of the Anglican Patrimony.

Read the full post at Tonus Peregrinus.

Are there are bishops in the U.S., U.K. or Autstralia attempting to thwart the will of the Holy Father as expressed in Anglicanorum coetibus? I have seen no proof of this, but it is certainlly a possibility, given the way that Pope John Paul II's Ecclesia Dei was flat out rejected by many in the episcopate, and the way Pope Benedict XVI's Summorum Pontificum has been resisted by too many. A few years ago I wrote an article on the history of the Latin-rite bishops' relationships with the Eastern Catholics in the U.S. and also with the Polish Catholics. That article, Whither the Anglican Use? is available on the AUS site on the Anglican Embers page. It reviews the same history Mr. Uher refers to in his piece. My conclusion was that a canonical solution was needed to protect the Anglican Use parishes, and while I was not imaginative enough to come up with the idea of a Personal Ordinariate, the world was fortunate that the Lord saw fit to put someone with more imagination in charge! I have rejoiced to see Anglicanorum coetibus first announced and then implemented, because I felt it would give the legal protection needed. But it is also true, as Mr. Uher implies, that it is not enough to have the law on your side; you must use the law and the avenues it provides to defend and vindicate the rights that law establishes.

New questions, challenges confront Episcopal-turned-Catholic leader

By Nancy Frazier O'Brien
Catholic News Service

BALTIMORE (CNS) -- Father Jeffrey N. Steenson is finding that there are a lot of new roads to travel and new questions to resolve since his Jan. 1 appointment as head of the Houston-based Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter for former Anglicans who want to become Catholics.

The former Episcopal bishop of the Rio Grande, who was ordained a Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, N.M., in February 2009, was to be installed in his new post Feb. 12. Also in February, a class of about 40 former Episcopal priests will begin an intensive, Internet-based course of studies to become Catholic priests within the ordinariate.

Father Steenson and his wife, Debra, have three grown children and a grandson. Because he is married, he will not be ordained a bishop, but he will become a full voting member of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

He spoke to Catholic News Service during a busy day Jan. 22 at Mount Calvary Church in Baltimore, where he celebrated Mass, received a group of parishioners into the Catholic Church, performed a baptism and led an evensong service.

Q: What do you see as the biggest challenges facing the ordinariate and yourself in the next months or years?

A: We have to create a set of norms to govern it -- I'm not a canon lawyer, but the canon lawyers call it particular law. None of that exists yet so that's what we've been working overtime on for the last month, just to try and create that. So there's the practical question of getting the legal and business structure set up, and I've noticed that there are so many questions about the ordinariate -- about what it is, what its mission is -- that it's easy for people to misunderstand or draw wrong conclusions. Like, the Episcopalians shouldn't think we're sheep stealing because we could never contact an Episcopalian directly. The Catholic Church wonders, "Will you fit in or will you just be a separate entity?" So we have to show that we're going to keep our patrimony, our identity intact but we're a fully functioning part of the Catholic Church and we have deep respect for the ecumenical protocols whenever there are these awkward situations coming up. So I would say this is very, very difficult. (Laughs) God is really going to have to watch over us in all this.

Q: Are there special challenges to governing a church jurisdiction that covers so large a geographical area?

A: I'm sure there are going to be many, and it's primarily going to be for the clergy to be able to build relationships with each other. We're going to be virtual in so many respects. We're going to really depend on technology to keep communication open. Our formation program for the clergy is going to be run via a really high-tech Internet system that will allow real-time, two-way communications, which I'm told has never been attempted before in any kind of a theological exercise. So that will be hard, and I'm concerned that a small group -- I mean, this church (Mount Calvary) is not going to have any problems -- but a small group that is out in the middle of nowhere doesn't feel isolated and forgotten. So we will have to work really hard on that...

Read the rest of the interview at Catholic News Service.

Hat tip to Mary Ann Mueller.

New ordinariate and 1980 pastoral provision: An analysis

Jan. 23, 2012
By Jerry Filteau


WASHINGTON -- How are the new U.S. Catholic ordinariate for former Anglican groups and the 1980 U.S. pastoral provision for Episcopal (Anglican) priests who become Catholics different? What do they have in common? What does the presence of Catholics in the new ordinariate mean for other Catholics?
The pastoral, canonical, ecclesiastical and other questions posed by the new developments are numerous and challenging, but here is an attempt to sort out a few of the bigger ones.
To take the third question first, other Catholics -- Eastern or Latin rite -- who were baptized or confirmed into the church as Latin or Eastern Catholics can legitimately participate in the life and worship of an Anglican-use Catholic community, but ordinarily, they may not become a formal member of that community.
An exception is marriage, for which church laws similar to those applying to Latin-Eastern rite Catholic marriages would come into play: An Eastern or Latin Catholic marrying a Catholic in the new Anglican-use ordinariate could become a member of that ordinariate if the couple agrees on that decision.
Going back to differences and similarities between the 1980 pastoral provision and the new ordinariate, the 1980 provision was aimed chiefly at meeting requests of individual Anglican clergy. It allowed exemptions from celibacy for those who were married and sought to enter into full Communion with the Catholic Church but also wanted to continue their life commitment to ordained ministry, only now as Catholic priests...

Please read the rest of this analysis (Mr. Filteau seems to have a good grasp of the facts, although there are a couple of points that are open to interpretation and not settled) on the web site of the National Catholic Reporter.

Hat tip to Ordinariate Portal

Former Anglican Priests: What About the Families?

by CHARLOTTE HAYS
08/19/2011
With many married clergymen coming into the Church, logistical problems arise.

When Father Ian Hellyer, a Catholic priest in England, figures his personal budget, he faces concerns that are unusual for a Catholic priest: He must consider the needs of his wife, Margaret, and their nine children.

A former Anglican clergyman, Father Hellyer was ordained in June into a Church that by and large has not had to provide for men with families. He is a priest of the personal ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, a newly erected diocese for former Anglicans. It was created under the provisions of Pope Benedict XVI’s Anglicanorum Coetibus, which made it possible for former Anglicans to come into the Catholic Church in groups.

A similar ordinariate is expected to be up and running soon in the United States, perhaps by the end of the year.
Some men who seek ordination as Catholic priests are coming from affluent parishes.

“Episcopal clergy are expected to be paid at a professional level,” said Father Ernie Davis, a former Episcopal priest and father of three.

Father Davis cautioned: “If you’re looking at the bottom line when you make this decision [about whether to seek ordination as a Catholic priest], then this isn’t the place for you.”

Episcopal clergymen in the United States often get in touch with Father Christopher Phillips, another former Anglican priest who is pastor of Our Lady of the Atonement, an Anglican-use parish in San Antonio, Texas, to inquire about becoming Catholic priests.

“I put a fatherly arm around them and say, ‘Don’t think you are going to be able to live like you have been living,’” Father Phillips said. Like Father Davis, Father Phillips came into the Church under Pope John Paul II’s 1980 pastoral provision, a precursor to Anglicanorum Coetibus.

Clergy from the “continuing Church” movement — breakaway Episcopal churches, which tend to be less lavishly endowed — may face less financial shock, Father Phillips said, because “they are more used to putting cardboard in their shoes.”


Read the whole story at The National Catholic Register

Hat tip to Deacon Greg Kandra at the Deacon's Bench.

MARRIED PRIEST: An Episcopal clergyman makes the conversion to Catholicism

Published: (Monday, Aug 8, 2011 10:52AM) Midnight, Aug. 7

BY RANDI BJORNSTAD
The Register-Guard


Two things set Father Bryce McProud apart from most newly ordained Roman Catholic priests: He once tried out for the Metropolitan Opera and placed highly enough to consider it a career option. And he’s married.

The opera part is easy to understand. About 40 years ago, about the same time he was considering a calling to the ministry, he “sang quite a lot,” and apparently very well. “At that point, I had to choose between opera and the church,” McProud said. “I prayed about it a lot and decided to go with the church.”

As for being married, McProud, a longtime minister in the Episcopal church and now parochial vicar at St. Mary Catholic Church in Eugene, received a dispensation from Pope Benedict XVI that allowed him to make the switch and, as an already married priest, to bring his wife along...

Read the rest at The Register-Guard.

Hat tip to Deacon Greg Kandra at The Deacon's Bench.

New Catholic priest brings wife, kids with him

When the Rev. Bart Stevens is ordained a Catholic priest in Billings on Thursday, he will share the moment with friends and family — including his wife and five children.
Stevens, 35, joins a small fraternity of married Roman Catholic priests. Since 1980, slightly more than 100 former Episcopal priests in the United States have been ordained priests in the Catholic Church.
He is the first in the Great Falls-Billings Diocese. And his presence has sparked talk around town, as his wife, Becky, found out not long ago at a local grocery store.
"She's in the checkout line and these people are talking about me," Stevens said, sitting in his office in a house next to Holy Rosary Church. "One says 'Did you hear about the married priest in the Catholic church?' "
The other person corrected the first one, suggesting it must be an Episcopal priest. The two went back and forth until Becky Stevens broke into their conversation.
"Becky's like, 'I think you're talking about my husband,' " Stevens said, smiling. "It takes people a while to wrap their head around it."
He will be ordained at St. Patrick's Co-Cathedral by Bishop Michael Warfel. Priests from throughout the diocese are expected to attend the ceremony...
Read the rest in the Billings Gazette.

Hat tip to Deacon Greg Kandra and Elizabeth Scalia

The danger of married priesthood

On his blog "The Maccabean", Fr. Seraiah writes in part:

"The debate regarding "married versus celibate" clergy misses many of these points. It is not "married vs. celibate" as much as it is "faithful vs. unfaithful". A faithful married priest is a great asset to a church and his family can be a wonderful example. An unfaithful married priest (and that means more than sexually) is a plague on the church.

Read the rest of his reflection on his blog.