I am sometimes asked if I have a “position” on married priests in the Catholic Church. I think this is the wrong way to think about the topic. The Church in her wisdom has decided, at this moment in time, that both a celibate priesthood and a married priesthood should exist side by side, both serving the people of God through preaching, teaching, and celebrating the Sacraments. It is pointless to argue whether or not the Church should have celibate priests or married priests since she already has both. Far more interesting and fruitful for contemplation is how each of these disciplines can be thought about theologically.
The Second Vatican Council acknowledged the ancient origins of the married priesthood that “legitimately flourishes in the Eastern Churches,” while also commending the long-standing discipline of celibacy among priests in the west (Presbyterium ordinis, 16). However, the married Catholic priesthood is no longer exclusively eastern, because since the early 1980s the Roman Catholic Church has also been ordaining some married men priests on a case by case basis, mostly former Anglican clergy, including myself. There are many good theological reflections on priestly celibacy, but the ones that exist on married priesthood are almost exclusively eastern. However, in spite of our small numbers, married Roman Catholic priests now provide valuable ministry in parishes, schools, hospitals, seminaries and numerous other settings. Therefore, it would seem that now is a fitting time for a theology of married priesthood to be developed from a western perspective, a theology that does not in any way deny the blessings or the normative character of the celibate priesthood in the west but that acknowledges that marriage offers its own unique gifts to the practice of priestly ministry.
As a married man who is a priest in the Roman Catholic Church, I have experienced at times the strangeness of being a square peg in a round hole. Most Roman Catholics have no idea that there are married priests, and so I find myself frequently explaining something that was a matter of course in my time as an Anglican priest. Economically, it can be a challenge figuring out how to make ends meet as a married Catholic priest, especially as the father of children with heavy special needs. Likewise, it requires prudence and a great deal of planning to make sure that my time is appropriately balanced between the needs of my family and the needs of those entrusted to my pastoral care.
But these are all practicalities. The real question for me is how to think of my twin vocations. What does it mean to be both an icon of Christ in my marriage and in my priesthood? How does my experience of God in my marriage inform my priesthood and vice versa?
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