June 06, 2002
Priests seek end to celibacy rule
By Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent
PRESSURE to relax the celibacy rule for Roman Catholic priests is growing as increasing numbers of former Anglican vicars work successfully in Catholic parishes.
The Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales now has 228 former Anglican clergy as priests, of whom nearly half are married. Their presence is leading to resentment among serving Catholic priests as well as priests who resigned to marry and have a family.
"The situation is approaching crisis point," Alex Walker, chairman of Advent, a support group for married former Catholic priests, said. "We are the silent workforce which the Church has but is not prepared to use." Although most of the exAnglicans work in chaplaincies at universities or hospitals, the shortage of Catholic priests means that some have been placed in parishes with the title "priest-in-charge".
Father David Prior, ordained into the Church of England in 1970, was Rector of Corringham, Essex, when he decided to convert to Catholicism. Despite being married with four sons, he was accepted for ordination training by the Bishop of Brentwood, the Right Rev Thomas McMahon, and in 1995 went to St John's Seminary at Wonersh. He was ordained in 1997 and is the priest at Holy Family and All Saints Catholic Church in Witham, Essex. "Day to day life in the Catholic church is very similar but there is a difference in the culture," he said. "I am priest-in-charge because a married priest cannot be a parish priest."
Although exempted from the standard vow of celibacy at his ordination, he took a form of the vow which means that, should anything happen to his wife, he could not remarry and remain a working priest. "I am not free to remarry if I become a widower," he said. He described celibacy as a "calling". Not everyone who was called to the Catholic priesthood was called to celibacy, he said. And, as a law of the Church rather than a natural law, it could be changed. "As an Anglican I always felt it appropriate for a man to feel called to the married state," Father Prior said. "Centuries ago, Catholic priests could be married. I am sure there will be some men who have decided that the priesthood is not for them because it requires celibacy."
His wife, Kate Prior, who contributed a chapter to Dwight Longenecker's book The Path to Rome, said: "Being a Catholic priest's wife feels no different to being a vicar's wife. The presbytery is as busy as the vicarage.
Priests seek end to celibacy rule
By Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent
PRESSURE to relax the celibacy rule for Roman Catholic priests is growing as increasing numbers of former Anglican vicars work successfully in Catholic parishes.
The Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales now has 228 former Anglican clergy as priests, of whom nearly half are married. Their presence is leading to resentment among serving Catholic priests as well as priests who resigned to marry and have a family.
"The situation is approaching crisis point," Alex Walker, chairman of Advent, a support group for married former Catholic priests, said. "We are the silent workforce which the Church has but is not prepared to use." Although most of the exAnglicans work in chaplaincies at universities or hospitals, the shortage of Catholic priests means that some have been placed in parishes with the title "priest-in-charge".
Father David Prior, ordained into the Church of England in 1970, was Rector of Corringham, Essex, when he decided to convert to Catholicism. Despite being married with four sons, he was accepted for ordination training by the Bishop of Brentwood, the Right Rev Thomas McMahon, and in 1995 went to St John's Seminary at Wonersh. He was ordained in 1997 and is the priest at Holy Family and All Saints Catholic Church in Witham, Essex. "Day to day life in the Catholic church is very similar but there is a difference in the culture," he said. "I am priest-in-charge because a married priest cannot be a parish priest."
Although exempted from the standard vow of celibacy at his ordination, he took a form of the vow which means that, should anything happen to his wife, he could not remarry and remain a working priest. "I am not free to remarry if I become a widower," he said. He described celibacy as a "calling". Not everyone who was called to the Catholic priesthood was called to celibacy, he said. And, as a law of the Church rather than a natural law, it could be changed. "As an Anglican I always felt it appropriate for a man to feel called to the married state," Father Prior said. "Centuries ago, Catholic priests could be married. I am sure there will be some men who have decided that the priesthood is not for them because it requires celibacy."
His wife, Kate Prior, who contributed a chapter to Dwight Longenecker's book The Path to Rome, said: "Being a Catholic priest's wife feels no different to being a vicar's wife. The presbytery is as busy as the vicarage.