15/07/02
Thanks to Stephen McCann for translating this article which Alex Walker gave to a German reporter Barbara Dreissen.
Family fathers in chasubles - 228 married ex-Anglican priests in England and Wales reinforce the Catholic Church as priests.
By, Barbara Dreissen
Witham (epd). Those who would see Father David Prior celebrating mass standing at the altar, might think he was a completely ordinary Catholic priest. Yet his parish community of Holy Family and All Saints Church in the southern English city of Witham knows that the middle aged woman in the first row of the church is his wife. Also Fr. Prior's four grown sons participate in the liturgy. The kind (sympathetic) man in a chasuble is one of 228 pastors in England and Wales who have switched from the Anglican to the Roman Catholic Church. While they are serving as priests in the Catholic church they are not bound by the vow of celibacy.
In Prior's opinion celibacy as a "call" for priest is something he has never been able to understand: As an Anglican I found it always totally natural to marry. In the Catholic Church it was not so long ago that is was the same: "until some centuries ago the Catholic priest would have also joined in a bond of marriage. It is concerning this law that the Church has freed itself making marriage [once again] conceivable. This choice [to marry], if it might arise again would be forbidden [to the Anglican clergy turned Roman Catholic]. In 1997, he [Fr. Prior] was required discard the right to remarry in at his priestly consecration.
The Catholic Church has become a refuge for many Anglicans who no longer feel at home in their own Church. This change was brought about by a decision in 1992 which allowed women in the Anglican Church to be ordained. In that time many pious and conservative [Anglicans] felt as though the Church had gone too far. Among them was the former Bishop of London, Graham Leonard. Another example was Father John Oldman, who was 88 years old, and already very sick, when he changed his confessions. [Fr. Oldman] He was already connected to a life support machine when he was granted permission to become a Roman Catholic Priest. He died just a few days later.
The new comers are by no means welcomed without restrictions. Many parishioners have approached his change in profession with apprehension (suspicion) admits Prior. Some are not able to befriend their new pastor when they realise he is married. Prior's youngest son was teased by his new Catholic School classmates. Nevertheless Prior assures that his family has been sincerely received by the parish.
Also many Roman Catholic priests stand in opposition to their new colleagues with a mixture of feelings. While many Ex-Anglicans have families and also are busy serving in parish communities, there are those [priests] of long service who see this as unjust. The choice to live with a woman bears irrefutable consequences and they would need to resign their office. Alex Walker thinks this disposition has reached a boiling point. Alex Walker is the leader of Advent, a self help group for married Roman Catholic priests.
I find very unfair, that the Catholic Church opposes its own priest when he wants to start a family, and at the same time welcomes Anglican priests with open arms, complains the 47 year old, who in 1980 had to leave his post as a Catholic priest because of a relationship [with a woman]. Today he is married and has two daughters ages nine and eleven. He thinks it is a "paradox" that the Church which "has become openly taken with a renewed sense marital spirituality. Why then can she not make an exception with her own priests?" he asks.
The work of his organisation is aimed at helping priests in crisis situations. "When a Catholic Priest leaves the Church he is under a giant stigma," said Walker. Not so long ago the his own parish community in Lancaster experienced such a crisis. The residing priest was let go very abruptly and suddenly. From Walker's point of view the young man had been played around [habe Sport getrieben: I am not sure the of the contextual meaning, but generally means to play sports, possibly to go too far]. Only a few days later it was made public that he must leave his office [as priest]. "He was not permitted to speak with anyone, neither with me."
Thanks to Stephen McCann for translating this article which Alex Walker gave to a German reporter Barbara Dreissen.
Family fathers in chasubles - 228 married ex-Anglican priests in England and Wales reinforce the Catholic Church as priests.
By, Barbara Dreissen
Witham (epd). Those who would see Father David Prior celebrating mass standing at the altar, might think he was a completely ordinary Catholic priest. Yet his parish community of Holy Family and All Saints Church in the southern English city of Witham knows that the middle aged woman in the first row of the church is his wife. Also Fr. Prior's four grown sons participate in the liturgy. The kind (sympathetic) man in a chasuble is one of 228 pastors in England and Wales who have switched from the Anglican to the Roman Catholic Church. While they are serving as priests in the Catholic church they are not bound by the vow of celibacy.
In Prior's opinion celibacy as a "call" for priest is something he has never been able to understand: As an Anglican I found it always totally natural to marry. In the Catholic Church it was not so long ago that is was the same: "until some centuries ago the Catholic priest would have also joined in a bond of marriage. It is concerning this law that the Church has freed itself making marriage [once again] conceivable. This choice [to marry], if it might arise again would be forbidden [to the Anglican clergy turned Roman Catholic]. In 1997, he [Fr. Prior] was required discard the right to remarry in at his priestly consecration.
The Catholic Church has become a refuge for many Anglicans who no longer feel at home in their own Church. This change was brought about by a decision in 1992 which allowed women in the Anglican Church to be ordained. In that time many pious and conservative [Anglicans] felt as though the Church had gone too far. Among them was the former Bishop of London, Graham Leonard. Another example was Father John Oldman, who was 88 years old, and already very sick, when he changed his confessions. [Fr. Oldman] He was already connected to a life support machine when he was granted permission to become a Roman Catholic Priest. He died just a few days later.
The new comers are by no means welcomed without restrictions. Many parishioners have approached his change in profession with apprehension (suspicion) admits Prior. Some are not able to befriend their new pastor when they realise he is married. Prior's youngest son was teased by his new Catholic School classmates. Nevertheless Prior assures that his family has been sincerely received by the parish.
Also many Roman Catholic priests stand in opposition to their new colleagues with a mixture of feelings. While many Ex-Anglicans have families and also are busy serving in parish communities, there are those [priests] of long service who see this as unjust. The choice to live with a woman bears irrefutable consequences and they would need to resign their office. Alex Walker thinks this disposition has reached a boiling point. Alex Walker is the leader of Advent, a self help group for married Roman Catholic priests.
I find very unfair, that the Catholic Church opposes its own priest when he wants to start a family, and at the same time welcomes Anglican priests with open arms, complains the 47 year old, who in 1980 had to leave his post as a Catholic priest because of a relationship [with a woman]. Today he is married and has two daughters ages nine and eleven. He thinks it is a "paradox" that the Church which "has become openly taken with a renewed sense marital spirituality. Why then can she not make an exception with her own priests?" he asks.
The work of his organisation is aimed at helping priests in crisis situations. "When a Catholic Priest leaves the Church he is under a giant stigma," said Walker. Not so long ago the his own parish community in Lancaster experienced such a crisis. The residing priest was let go very abruptly and suddenly. From Walker's point of view the young man had been played around [habe Sport getrieben: I am not sure the of the contextual meaning, but generally means to play sports, possibly to go too far]. Only a few days later it was made public that he must leave his office [as priest]. "He was not permitted to speak with anyone, neither with me."