Come on in, guys...but be sure to pull up the ladder behind you! I can't stand that attitude, whether we are talking about immigration or opening the Roman Catholic priesthood to married people.
NICOLE NEROULIAS
NewsOK
Published: November 10, 2009
(RNS) Former Episcopalians who have found a traditional refuge in Catholicism, where the priesthood remains closed to women and openly gay clergy, are applauding the Vatican's plan to help additional dissatisfied conservatives convert.
But while the welcome extends to married priests — a narrow loophole in the Catholic Church's celibacy requirement — most of those who have already converted say they want to remain rare exceptions.
''We trust the church's wisdom regarding the discipline of celibacy," said the Rev. D. Paul Sullins, who left the Episcopal Church 10 years ago with his wife and recently surveyed his colleagues on this issue. "A man who is married has two somewhat conflicting sets of commitments. It's difficult to balance them, and having a family also makes it difficult to move at short notice to another assignment."
The Vatican announced Monday (Nov. 9) that new dioceses will enable Episcopal congregations in the United States and their Anglican counterparts around the globe to convert while retaining their many of their worship traditions. It's an attractive offer for those in the 77-million member Anglican Communion who want to return to a more traditional form of Christianity and bridge the 16th century schism between the Church of England and Rome.
A generation before the current rift over gay clergy, a wave of clergy fleeing the Episcopal Church over the ordination of women had prompted the Catholic Church to open its Pastoral Provision Office to help married pastors make the transition. About 100 of them have been ordained since 1980, while nearly 500 formerly celibate priests have gone the other way — to the Episcopal Church.
''We're happy for people to go where they need to go," said Bishop Christopher Epting, the Episcopal Church's chief deputy for ecumenical and interreligious affairs. By allowing married priests to become Catholic, yet requiring homegrown clergy to remain celibate, and not granting a right of return to any of the priests who left in order to marry, the Vatican's outreach "will probably be more of a source of tension for them than for us," he added.
But Sullins, a professor at Catholic University in Washington who is working on a book about the Pastoral Provision, says the majority of clergy converts do not support an influx of married priests. While they may occasionally feel nostalgic for their old churches, which also offered roles for their wives, their steadfast conservatism and loyalties to their adopted spiritual home make them even more committed to a celibate clergy and other church teachings, including the prohibition on birth control, than the average priest.
The Pastoral Provision's bimonthly newsletter and its first retreat for clergy couples, going on this week (Nov. 9-13) at the Bethany Center in Lutz., Fla., also keeps them from feeling isolated, he added.
Even if hundreds more married Episcopal priests accept the Vatican's offer, they will still be a tiny fraction of the 40,000-plus Catholic priests in America, said Monsignor William H. Stetson, Pastoral Provision secretary. Under the new guidelines, converting as a married priest will still require a sponsoring bishop, at least a year of study and a papal dispensation. Men who have been divorced are ineligible; priests whose wives later die may not remarry.
''We have not had a flood of inquiries, and I don't expect that we will," he said. "The papal document is meant to address communities, not just priests, who wish to join the Catholic Church."
In the press release accompanying its declaration, the Vatican reiterated that "priestly celibacy is a sign and a stimulus for pastoral charity and radiantly proclaims the reign of God." To avoid confusing or offending worshipers, Sullins said he has always played down his unique status at church.
''My wife and I won't hold hands in the lobby of the church and we won't do things that might scandalize people," he said. "When my daughter was younger, coming out of Mass, she would stand next to me and help me shake hands, but that was a little risky."
Patti Sullins, who has found her own calling as a parish director of liturgy and music, said married priests like her husband bring valuable insights on family life to their ministries, but agrees celibacy should continue as the Catholic norm.
''The church is a demanding mistress," she said, noting that their jobs at Maryland parishes nearly an hour apart require she and her husband to schedule time on Mondays and Fridays for each other.
The married priests and their wives may find themselves with even more responsibilities in the future, as former Episcopalians who can serve as both clergy and lay guides to the converts responding to the Vatican's invitation. The Florida retreat gives the couples a timely opportunity to discuss this issue, she added.
''It will be nice to network with the other spouses and hear about how they're feeling and what we can do to set the groundwork for new people that are coming in," she said. "There wasn't much of a support system when we came in."
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Sunday, November 08, 2009
Around the wood stove: Ashland priest was my friend and classmate
David McGrath
Duluth News Tribune
11/8/2009
If the Wisconsin pastor suspended by his bishop last month is viewed by some as a monster (“Ashland priest suspended for hiding sordid past,” Oct. 17), then it must be as a Frankenstein, created in the church’s laboratory for producing “celibate” priests.
The Rev. Henry Willenborg has been accused of conducting two illicit sexual affairs while his superiors in the Sacred Heart Province in St. Louis, who knew of the accusations, kept him active in the ministry. Sacred Heart has been paying child support and tuition totaling $100,000 for a son Willenborg fathered with one of the women, Pat Bond, as long as she abided by a confidentiality agreement. But Bond went public after failing to obtain additional financial support from the province for Nathan’s medical care; he is now 22 and terminally ill with cancer.
Willenborg’s parishioners, however, think their pastor walks on water, which, by the way, can be seen literally behind his church, which sits on the banks of Lake Superior in northern Wisconsin.
Members of Our Lady of the Lake parish, in the old iron-mining port of Ashland, will tell you Fr. Henry has been nothing short of wonderful in his four years at a frozen Catholic outpost. A kind, wise leader, who gives brilliant sermons, they say.
As his former classmate at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Westmont, Ill., I would have to concur, adding “personable” and “serene” to their characterizations.
The disconnect between the dignified, soft-spoken student and the vilified, unapologetic adult makes perfect sense to me.
Henry and I were both exiled and segregated from society fresh out of elementary school. Certainly, no one forced us to pursue the priesthood, but a lifetime commitment made by a 14-year-old steeped in catechism and guilt over answering a religious “calling” may not be the freest nor most reasonable of decisions.
Our seminary experience was one of sacrifice, purportedly in preparation for a career of selfless devotion. The campus was closed to prevent all contact, not only with females, but with everyone outside the seminary community. All our mail was opened and read. Conversations with our fellow students were forbidden for long periods of time each day. Hours were spent in the classroom, the study hall, the dormitory, or in the chapel on unpadded kneelers. What free time we had was parceled and regulated.
I did not thrive there; I was labeled “surly” by the staff for rebelling against the suffocating constraints. On our two free half days during the week, I’d leave the soccer field or hockey rink and sneak through the woods, find the road and hike into town where I’d snatch cigarettes off dashboards of open cars and find a place to smoke and watch the “lay people” lead lives.
Henry, however, was among the exemplary seminarians: deferential to faculty, pious in church, seemingly self-controlled. He was studious but not outspoken in class.
His free time was spent in “project” work, helping Fr. Ambrose rake leaves, chop down diseased elms, and weed the large vegetable garden. The Franciscans loved him.
For me, the “calling” morphed into a syndrome. As unhappy as I was, I was reluctant to leave for fear of what lay beyond the seminary. I had concerns about salvation and being branded a quitter. But at the end of my junior year, I set myself free.
Not so with Henry. One of a small handful who stuck it out to the end, he took his vow of poverty, chastity and obedience and was ordained a Catholic priest. The next 10 years, he also set himself free, but in a manner for which he is now suspended by Bishop Peter Christensen of the Superior Diocese.
Today, seminaries screen applicants more closely and provide for more contact with the community.
But many are still recruited out of eighth grade. And the Pope remains adamant about celibacy.
A 2004 report by the U.S. Bishops’ National Review Board observed that celibacy has created problems for too many priests, leading to depression, alcoholism and eruptions of “improper sexual conduct.”
My personal recollections do not constitute an excuse for my classmate. After all, it was reported that he began his relationship with Pat Bond while officially giving her marriage counseling. And this after an alleged extended affair with a female high school student.
But without the seminary’s indoctrination and isolation, and without the imposed celibacy, the pleasant, reliable, dignified young man I had known as a teen might not be national news today.
When I visited a year ago, I was impressed by how devoted his parishioners were as they waited in a long line after Saturday evening Mass, just to have a word with their pastor.
Looking back, I shouldn’t have been surprised. Like any boarding school, the seminary was clique-heavy, as adolescents away from home have need of family and identity as jocks, musicians, scholars and the like. Henry, however, was immune to the petty clashes and animosities between groups. He had no agenda, nothing to prove to peers, and you could talk to him with comfort and sincerity.
His open heart and generosity would later make him a valued counselor and cherished priest, but one felled by the spartanism and celibacy embedded in the priesthood.
David McGrath of Hayward is an emeritus professor of English for the College of DuPage in Illinois.
Duluth News Tribune
11/8/2009
If the Wisconsin pastor suspended by his bishop last month is viewed by some as a monster (“Ashland priest suspended for hiding sordid past,” Oct. 17), then it must be as a Frankenstein, created in the church’s laboratory for producing “celibate” priests.
The Rev. Henry Willenborg has been accused of conducting two illicit sexual affairs while his superiors in the Sacred Heart Province in St. Louis, who knew of the accusations, kept him active in the ministry. Sacred Heart has been paying child support and tuition totaling $100,000 for a son Willenborg fathered with one of the women, Pat Bond, as long as she abided by a confidentiality agreement. But Bond went public after failing to obtain additional financial support from the province for Nathan’s medical care; he is now 22 and terminally ill with cancer.
Willenborg’s parishioners, however, think their pastor walks on water, which, by the way, can be seen literally behind his church, which sits on the banks of Lake Superior in northern Wisconsin.
Members of Our Lady of the Lake parish, in the old iron-mining port of Ashland, will tell you Fr. Henry has been nothing short of wonderful in his four years at a frozen Catholic outpost. A kind, wise leader, who gives brilliant sermons, they say.
As his former classmate at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Westmont, Ill., I would have to concur, adding “personable” and “serene” to their characterizations.
The disconnect between the dignified, soft-spoken student and the vilified, unapologetic adult makes perfect sense to me.
Henry and I were both exiled and segregated from society fresh out of elementary school. Certainly, no one forced us to pursue the priesthood, but a lifetime commitment made by a 14-year-old steeped in catechism and guilt over answering a religious “calling” may not be the freest nor most reasonable of decisions.
Our seminary experience was one of sacrifice, purportedly in preparation for a career of selfless devotion. The campus was closed to prevent all contact, not only with females, but with everyone outside the seminary community. All our mail was opened and read. Conversations with our fellow students were forbidden for long periods of time each day. Hours were spent in the classroom, the study hall, the dormitory, or in the chapel on unpadded kneelers. What free time we had was parceled and regulated.
I did not thrive there; I was labeled “surly” by the staff for rebelling against the suffocating constraints. On our two free half days during the week, I’d leave the soccer field or hockey rink and sneak through the woods, find the road and hike into town where I’d snatch cigarettes off dashboards of open cars and find a place to smoke and watch the “lay people” lead lives.
Henry, however, was among the exemplary seminarians: deferential to faculty, pious in church, seemingly self-controlled. He was studious but not outspoken in class.
His free time was spent in “project” work, helping Fr. Ambrose rake leaves, chop down diseased elms, and weed the large vegetable garden. The Franciscans loved him.
For me, the “calling” morphed into a syndrome. As unhappy as I was, I was reluctant to leave for fear of what lay beyond the seminary. I had concerns about salvation and being branded a quitter. But at the end of my junior year, I set myself free.
Not so with Henry. One of a small handful who stuck it out to the end, he took his vow of poverty, chastity and obedience and was ordained a Catholic priest. The next 10 years, he also set himself free, but in a manner for which he is now suspended by Bishop Peter Christensen of the Superior Diocese.
Today, seminaries screen applicants more closely and provide for more contact with the community.
But many are still recruited out of eighth grade. And the Pope remains adamant about celibacy.
A 2004 report by the U.S. Bishops’ National Review Board observed that celibacy has created problems for too many priests, leading to depression, alcoholism and eruptions of “improper sexual conduct.”
My personal recollections do not constitute an excuse for my classmate. After all, it was reported that he began his relationship with Pat Bond while officially giving her marriage counseling. And this after an alleged extended affair with a female high school student.
But without the seminary’s indoctrination and isolation, and without the imposed celibacy, the pleasant, reliable, dignified young man I had known as a teen might not be national news today.
When I visited a year ago, I was impressed by how devoted his parishioners were as they waited in a long line after Saturday evening Mass, just to have a word with their pastor.
Looking back, I shouldn’t have been surprised. Like any boarding school, the seminary was clique-heavy, as adolescents away from home have need of family and identity as jocks, musicians, scholars and the like. Henry, however, was immune to the petty clashes and animosities between groups. He had no agenda, nothing to prove to peers, and you could talk to him with comfort and sincerity.
His open heart and generosity would later make him a valued counselor and cherished priest, but one felled by the spartanism and celibacy embedded in the priesthood.
David McGrath of Hayward is an emeritus professor of English for the College of DuPage in Illinois.
Friday, November 06, 2009
Editor questions celibacy for priests
Total Catholic
Friday, 06 November 2009 09:51
The Editor of a prominent Irish religious publication has called for an open debate on priestly celibacy in order to address the priest shortage.
Writing in the November Editorial of Reality magazine, Fr Gerard Moloney, CSsR, asks, “Is the man-made law of celibacy more important than people’s right to the Eucharist and to proper pastoral care?”
In his article, entitled ‘Facing up to the priest shortage’, Fr Moloney, writes that the Year for Priests comes at a challenging and difficult time for priests in Ireland as the “fall-out from the sex abuse and other scandals continues to reverberate”.
In this context, the Redemptorist notes that “clergy are ageing, their workload is increasing, vocations are scarce, and morale has sunk.”
Discussing the impact of the vocations crisis, Fr Moloney writes, “We all know there is a vocations crisis and that it’s getting worse.” He says the consequence of this is that “an increasing number of Catholics worldwide are unable to participate in a Sunday or weekday Mass.” Furthermore, he notes that parishes are being clustered or subsumed into other parishes.
Worryingly, the Editor of Reality suggests that priests are “becoming mere sacrament-dispensers, moving from parish to parish administering the sacraments, with little or no time for the comprehensive pastoral care of their flock which is demanded by Canon law.
This, writes Fr Moloney, is “not good for priests, it is not good for those to whom they minister and it is not building up the life of the Church”.
Welcoming the introduction of the permanent diaconate in some dioceses and the increased pastoral involvement of lay men and women as a way of easing the burden on priests, he says it is good but “more is needed”.
On the issue of mandatory celibacy, Fr Moloney, who has been Editor of Reality since 1993, says “it has to be looked at”.
Recognising that married priests already minister in the Church through former Anglicans who joined the Catholic Church, Fr Moloney asks if the thousands of men who left the priesthood in order to marry could be readmitted.
He further asks whether the Year for Priests has anything special to say to women?
He concludes that the Year for Priests is “a wonderful opportunity to celebrate our priests and the work they do but it must also allow for an open, honest discussion about the priest shortage, and what the Holy Spirit might be saying to us about this crisis.”
Meanwhile the Redemptorist Congregation worldwide have elected Fr John M. Brehl, a 54-year-old Canadian, as superior general of the 5,300-member order.
The 107 members of the general chapter of the order, formally known as the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, elected Fr Brehl on the ninth ballot.
A native of Toronto, Fr Brehl is the first Canadian to serve as superior general of the order founded by St Alphonsus Liguori in 1730. Its members now minister in more than 70 countries.
Fr Brehl, who was born in 1955, professed his first vows as a Redemptorist in 1976 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1980 after earning a degree from the Toronto School of Theology.
He succeeds US Redemptorist Fr Joseph Tobin.
Friday, 06 November 2009 09:51
The Editor of a prominent Irish religious publication has called for an open debate on priestly celibacy in order to address the priest shortage.
Writing in the November Editorial of Reality magazine, Fr Gerard Moloney, CSsR, asks, “Is the man-made law of celibacy more important than people’s right to the Eucharist and to proper pastoral care?”
In his article, entitled ‘Facing up to the priest shortage’, Fr Moloney, writes that the Year for Priests comes at a challenging and difficult time for priests in Ireland as the “fall-out from the sex abuse and other scandals continues to reverberate”.
In this context, the Redemptorist notes that “clergy are ageing, their workload is increasing, vocations are scarce, and morale has sunk.”
Discussing the impact of the vocations crisis, Fr Moloney writes, “We all know there is a vocations crisis and that it’s getting worse.” He says the consequence of this is that “an increasing number of Catholics worldwide are unable to participate in a Sunday or weekday Mass.” Furthermore, he notes that parishes are being clustered or subsumed into other parishes.
Worryingly, the Editor of Reality suggests that priests are “becoming mere sacrament-dispensers, moving from parish to parish administering the sacraments, with little or no time for the comprehensive pastoral care of their flock which is demanded by Canon law.
This, writes Fr Moloney, is “not good for priests, it is not good for those to whom they minister and it is not building up the life of the Church”.
Welcoming the introduction of the permanent diaconate in some dioceses and the increased pastoral involvement of lay men and women as a way of easing the burden on priests, he says it is good but “more is needed”.
On the issue of mandatory celibacy, Fr Moloney, who has been Editor of Reality since 1993, says “it has to be looked at”.
Recognising that married priests already minister in the Church through former Anglicans who joined the Catholic Church, Fr Moloney asks if the thousands of men who left the priesthood in order to marry could be readmitted.
He further asks whether the Year for Priests has anything special to say to women?
He concludes that the Year for Priests is “a wonderful opportunity to celebrate our priests and the work they do but it must also allow for an open, honest discussion about the priest shortage, and what the Holy Spirit might be saying to us about this crisis.”
Meanwhile the Redemptorist Congregation worldwide have elected Fr John M. Brehl, a 54-year-old Canadian, as superior general of the 5,300-member order.
The 107 members of the general chapter of the order, formally known as the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, elected Fr Brehl on the ninth ballot.
A native of Toronto, Fr Brehl is the first Canadian to serve as superior general of the order founded by St Alphonsus Liguori in 1730. Its members now minister in more than 70 countries.
Fr Brehl, who was born in 1955, professed his first vows as a Redemptorist in 1976 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1980 after earning a degree from the Toronto School of Theology.
He succeeds US Redemptorist Fr Joseph Tobin.
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Celibacy may be reviewed as new priests are few; Married priests of other faiths may convert to Catholicism
By Jennifer Garza
Sacramento Bee
11/4/2009
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- One of the hardest things Ed Donaghy has ever done was leave his ministry as a Catholic priest. For months, he agonized over his conflicting desires to have a family and serve as a priest in the Sacramento Diocese.
In the end, Donaghy felt he had no choice. The priest, who served in Woodland, Calif., told his bishop he had to leave.
That was four decades ago.
"It would have been wonderful to be married and be a priest," said Donaghy, 73, now retired as an insurance agent. "I loved the work and would have continued."
Donaghy is one of more than 75 men in the Sacramento area who have left active ministry in the priesthood to marry. Many of them, say Donaghy and others, "would have returned in a minute if the rules changed."
That is not likely to happen soon.
But the possibility that someday Catholics may see married priests in the pulpit was raised last month. That's when Vatican officials announced an arrangement that welcomes Anglicans into the Catholic Church, including their married priests.
Vatican officials have said repeatedly over the years that celibacy will remain mandatory, but many observers say having married Anglican priests in the church is a "major move" toward the idea of married Catholic priests.
"It's significant," said Sister Chris Schenk, of FutureChurch, a Cleveland group studying the shortages of priests in the United States.
"It's time for the church to bring these married priests back into ministry and to address the issue of mandatory celibacy," Schenk said. "We have parishes closing and a number of priests retiring. Look at the demographics."
About 40,000 priests serve in U.S. dioceses, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University. Many of those are nearing retirement. In 2009, 472 men were ordained.
"We have to do something because we need priests," Schenk said. "It only makes sense to re-think celibacy."
The Catholic Church already has married priests. Priests in the Eastern rite - 21 churches that are in communion with Rome - may marry.
"In our church most of the priests are married," said the Rev. Ted Wroblicky, a married priest at the Holy Wisdom Eastern Catholic Parish in Sacramento. "It is not unusual at all. People are used to it."
In his church, if the men are priests first, they aren't permitted to marry and remain in the ministry. However, if a man is already married, he can become a priest.
For nearly a decade, the Roman Catholic Church also has had a special provision for married ministers of other faiths to become Catholic priests after converting. Currently, about 150 married men across the country are now training for the Catholic priesthood, according to Schenk.
In the Sacramento Diocese, a former Lutheran pastor is in the process of becoming a Catholic priest. The man, who did not want to be identified, is married and has children. He will have the same responsibilities as other Catholic priests once he is ordained, according to church officials.
Some have conflicting views on the subject of celibacy and the priesthood.
"I believe in celibacy, but most of the Apostles were married, so we have to figure out a way of having both," said David Leatherby, who has attended Mass every day for 45 years and who has a grandson who is a priest.
He believes practical issues should be addressed and celibacy ought to be optional.
For him, it's also a practical matter. "The church needs priests, why not bring in these men?"
Celibacy has been a church rule since the 12th century. The issue of a celibate priesthood has been debated by theologians, parishioners and priests.
In a 2004 survey of Sacramento diocesan priests, 73 percent of the priests who responded said they favored an open discussion on mandatory celibacy, according to Call to Action, a Catholic grass-roots organization that mailed the survey to every priest in Northern California. The results were similar to those in other dioceses.
Some who favored a discussion said many early church leaders were married while others cited the blessings of celibacy.
Sacramento Bishop Jaime Soto said celibacy is a gift.
"I think the celibate lifestyle is an important element of the priesthood," said Soto, the spiritual leader of the Sacramento Diocese and its 900,000 Catholics.
It is a lifestyle that some priests find difficult to follow. Dan Delany left the church in 1967, after he fell in love. He and his wife Chris, a former nun, later founded Sacramento's Loaves & Fishes.
"It was painful at the time because there were a lot of challenges," said Delany of leaving ministry. He said there were many men who left after Vatican II.
"After that there were more opportunities and a lot of us who left were do-gooders anyway - so we got involved in social service issues," Delany said.
He and Donaghy belong to a Sacramento group of priests who have left active ministry called NOVA (Now Serving in Other Vineyards Adjoining). They meet once a month for lunch.
Bishop Francis Quinn, now retired, served as chaplain to the men in NOVA. He believes the church should study the advantages and disadvantages of celibacy and the priesthood.
"I think there are great advantages to having optional celibacy because some men need that intimacy," Quinn said. "On the other hand, there is a beauty in celibacy, as Christ was celibate."
Quinn said that while optional celibacy may address some concerns, "there will probably be new ones as well if it becomes optional."
However, he said he believes the church will eventually have married priests. "But I thought that 30 years ago, and it didn't change, so I'm not a good predictor."
When Donaghy was an active priest, he saw so many wonderful families in the church that he believed his call was to have one of his own.
After he made his decision to leave, he met his wife-to-be Brigid. She had been a nun who left her order months earlier. They have been married 39 years, have three children, five grandchildren and a comfortable life in Lincoln.
Donaghy said he welcomes the Roman Catholic Church's invitation to married Anglican priests, saying it could get people used to the idea of having married priests and their families in church on Sundays.
"I think there's room in the church for married and unmarried priests," he said.
Sacramento Bee
11/4/2009
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- One of the hardest things Ed Donaghy has ever done was leave his ministry as a Catholic priest. For months, he agonized over his conflicting desires to have a family and serve as a priest in the Sacramento Diocese.
In the end, Donaghy felt he had no choice. The priest, who served in Woodland, Calif., told his bishop he had to leave.
That was four decades ago.
"It would have been wonderful to be married and be a priest," said Donaghy, 73, now retired as an insurance agent. "I loved the work and would have continued."
Donaghy is one of more than 75 men in the Sacramento area who have left active ministry in the priesthood to marry. Many of them, say Donaghy and others, "would have returned in a minute if the rules changed."
That is not likely to happen soon.
But the possibility that someday Catholics may see married priests in the pulpit was raised last month. That's when Vatican officials announced an arrangement that welcomes Anglicans into the Catholic Church, including their married priests.
Vatican officials have said repeatedly over the years that celibacy will remain mandatory, but many observers say having married Anglican priests in the church is a "major move" toward the idea of married Catholic priests.
"It's significant," said Sister Chris Schenk, of FutureChurch, a Cleveland group studying the shortages of priests in the United States.
"It's time for the church to bring these married priests back into ministry and to address the issue of mandatory celibacy," Schenk said. "We have parishes closing and a number of priests retiring. Look at the demographics."
About 40,000 priests serve in U.S. dioceses, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University. Many of those are nearing retirement. In 2009, 472 men were ordained.
"We have to do something because we need priests," Schenk said. "It only makes sense to re-think celibacy."
The Catholic Church already has married priests. Priests in the Eastern rite - 21 churches that are in communion with Rome - may marry.
"In our church most of the priests are married," said the Rev. Ted Wroblicky, a married priest at the Holy Wisdom Eastern Catholic Parish in Sacramento. "It is not unusual at all. People are used to it."
In his church, if the men are priests first, they aren't permitted to marry and remain in the ministry. However, if a man is already married, he can become a priest.
For nearly a decade, the Roman Catholic Church also has had a special provision for married ministers of other faiths to become Catholic priests after converting. Currently, about 150 married men across the country are now training for the Catholic priesthood, according to Schenk.
In the Sacramento Diocese, a former Lutheran pastor is in the process of becoming a Catholic priest. The man, who did not want to be identified, is married and has children. He will have the same responsibilities as other Catholic priests once he is ordained, according to church officials.
Some have conflicting views on the subject of celibacy and the priesthood.
"I believe in celibacy, but most of the Apostles were married, so we have to figure out a way of having both," said David Leatherby, who has attended Mass every day for 45 years and who has a grandson who is a priest.
He believes practical issues should be addressed and celibacy ought to be optional.
For him, it's also a practical matter. "The church needs priests, why not bring in these men?"
Celibacy has been a church rule since the 12th century. The issue of a celibate priesthood has been debated by theologians, parishioners and priests.
In a 2004 survey of Sacramento diocesan priests, 73 percent of the priests who responded said they favored an open discussion on mandatory celibacy, according to Call to Action, a Catholic grass-roots organization that mailed the survey to every priest in Northern California. The results were similar to those in other dioceses.
Some who favored a discussion said many early church leaders were married while others cited the blessings of celibacy.
Sacramento Bishop Jaime Soto said celibacy is a gift.
"I think the celibate lifestyle is an important element of the priesthood," said Soto, the spiritual leader of the Sacramento Diocese and its 900,000 Catholics.
It is a lifestyle that some priests find difficult to follow. Dan Delany left the church in 1967, after he fell in love. He and his wife Chris, a former nun, later founded Sacramento's Loaves & Fishes.
"It was painful at the time because there were a lot of challenges," said Delany of leaving ministry. He said there were many men who left after Vatican II.
"After that there were more opportunities and a lot of us who left were do-gooders anyway - so we got involved in social service issues," Delany said.
He and Donaghy belong to a Sacramento group of priests who have left active ministry called NOVA (Now Serving in Other Vineyards Adjoining). They meet once a month for lunch.
Bishop Francis Quinn, now retired, served as chaplain to the men in NOVA. He believes the church should study the advantages and disadvantages of celibacy and the priesthood.
"I think there are great advantages to having optional celibacy because some men need that intimacy," Quinn said. "On the other hand, there is a beauty in celibacy, as Christ was celibate."
Quinn said that while optional celibacy may address some concerns, "there will probably be new ones as well if it becomes optional."
However, he said he believes the church will eventually have married priests. "But I thought that 30 years ago, and it didn't change, so I'm not a good predictor."
When Donaghy was an active priest, he saw so many wonderful families in the church that he believed his call was to have one of his own.
After he made his decision to leave, he met his wife-to-be Brigid. She had been a nun who left her order months earlier. They have been married 39 years, have three children, five grandchildren and a comfortable life in Lincoln.
Donaghy said he welcomes the Roman Catholic Church's invitation to married Anglican priests, saying it could get people used to the idea of having married priests and their families in church on Sundays.
"I think there's room in the church for married and unmarried priests," he said.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Cardinal Levada: no “celibacy issue” in reception of Anglicans into Catholic Church
Catholic News Agency
10/31/2009
Vatican City, Oct 31, 2009 / 12:13 pm (CNA).- In an extensive clarification released on Saturday by the Vatican press office, Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J. made clear, on behalf of the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Joseph Levada, that there is no “celibacy issue” delaying the publication of the Constitution that will establish the context in which Anglicans can be received into the Catholic Church.
In a statement released in English –breaking the common use of Italian- Fr. Lombardi explained that “there has been widespread speculation, based on supposedly knowledgeable remarks by an Italian correspondent Andrea Tornielli, that the delay in publication of the Apostolic Constitution regarding Personal Ordinariates for Anglicans entering into full communion with the Catholic Church, announced on October 20, 2009, by Cardinal William Levada, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, is due to more than ‘technical’ reasons.”
“According to this speculation, there is a serious substantial issue at the basis of the delay, namely, disagreement about whether celibacy will be the norm for the future clergy of the Provision,” Fr. Lombardi’s statement explains.
Responding to the speculations, which include suggestions that also celibacy in the Catholic Latin rite would be open to discussion, Fr. Lombardi offered the official comments of Cardinal Levada.
“Had I been asked I would happily have clarified any doubt about my remarks at the press conference. There is no substance to such speculation. No one at the Vatican has mentioned any such issue to me.”
According to Cardinal Levada, Pope Benedict’s Apostolic Constitution will be ready “by the end of the first week of November” and its delay “is purely technical in the sense of ensuring consistency in canonical language and references.”
The Prefect of the Congregation also explains that “the drafts prepared by the working group, and submitted for study and approval through the usual process followed by the Congregation, have all included the following statement, currently Article VI of the Constitution:
- 1. Those who ministered as Anglican deacons, priests, or bishops, and who fulfill the requisites established by canon law and are not impeded by irregularities or other impediments may be accepted by the Ordinary as candidates for Holy Orders in the Catholic Church. In the case of married ministers, the norms established in the Encyclical Letter of Pope Paul VI Sacerdotalis coelibatus, n. 42 and in the Statement "In June" are to be observed. Unmarried ministers must submit to the norm of clerical celibacy of Code of Canon Law 277, §1.
- 2. The Ordinary, in full observance of the discipline of celibate clergy in the Latin Church, as a rule (pro regula) will admit only celibate men to the order of presbyter. He may also petition the Roman Pontiff, as derogation from can. 277, §1, for the admission of married men to the order of presbyter on a case by case basis, according to objective criteria approved by the Holy See.”
Cardinal Levada further explains that “this article is to be understood as consistent with the current practice of the Church, in which married former Anglican ministers may be admitted to priestly ministry in the Catholic Church on a case by case basis.”
With regard to future seminarians, the Cardinal explains that “it was considered purely speculative whether there might be some cases in which a dispensation from the celibacy rule might be petitioned.”
“Objective criteria about any such possibilities (e.g. married seminarians already in preparation) are to be developed jointly by the Personal Ordinariate and the Episcopal Conference, and submitted for approval of the Holy See,” Cardinal Levada said.
10/31/2009
Vatican City, Oct 31, 2009 / 12:13 pm (CNA).- In an extensive clarification released on Saturday by the Vatican press office, Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J. made clear, on behalf of the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Joseph Levada, that there is no “celibacy issue” delaying the publication of the Constitution that will establish the context in which Anglicans can be received into the Catholic Church.
In a statement released in English –breaking the common use of Italian- Fr. Lombardi explained that “there has been widespread speculation, based on supposedly knowledgeable remarks by an Italian correspondent Andrea Tornielli, that the delay in publication of the Apostolic Constitution regarding Personal Ordinariates for Anglicans entering into full communion with the Catholic Church, announced on October 20, 2009, by Cardinal William Levada, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, is due to more than ‘technical’ reasons.”
“According to this speculation, there is a serious substantial issue at the basis of the delay, namely, disagreement about whether celibacy will be the norm for the future clergy of the Provision,” Fr. Lombardi’s statement explains.
Responding to the speculations, which include suggestions that also celibacy in the Catholic Latin rite would be open to discussion, Fr. Lombardi offered the official comments of Cardinal Levada.
“Had I been asked I would happily have clarified any doubt about my remarks at the press conference. There is no substance to such speculation. No one at the Vatican has mentioned any such issue to me.”
According to Cardinal Levada, Pope Benedict’s Apostolic Constitution will be ready “by the end of the first week of November” and its delay “is purely technical in the sense of ensuring consistency in canonical language and references.”
The Prefect of the Congregation also explains that “the drafts prepared by the working group, and submitted for study and approval through the usual process followed by the Congregation, have all included the following statement, currently Article VI of the Constitution:
- 1. Those who ministered as Anglican deacons, priests, or bishops, and who fulfill the requisites established by canon law and are not impeded by irregularities or other impediments may be accepted by the Ordinary as candidates for Holy Orders in the Catholic Church. In the case of married ministers, the norms established in the Encyclical Letter of Pope Paul VI Sacerdotalis coelibatus, n. 42 and in the Statement "In June" are to be observed. Unmarried ministers must submit to the norm of clerical celibacy of Code of Canon Law 277, §1.
- 2. The Ordinary, in full observance of the discipline of celibate clergy in the Latin Church, as a rule (pro regula) will admit only celibate men to the order of presbyter. He may also petition the Roman Pontiff, as derogation from can. 277, §1, for the admission of married men to the order of presbyter on a case by case basis, according to objective criteria approved by the Holy See.”
Cardinal Levada further explains that “this article is to be understood as consistent with the current practice of the Church, in which married former Anglican ministers may be admitted to priestly ministry in the Catholic Church on a case by case basis.”
With regard to future seminarians, the Cardinal explains that “it was considered purely speculative whether there might be some cases in which a dispensation from the celibacy rule might be petitioned.”
“Objective criteria about any such possibilities (e.g. married seminarians already in preparation) are to be developed jointly by the Personal Ordinariate and the Episcopal Conference, and submitted for approval of the Holy See,” Cardinal Levada said.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Rome welcomes disaffected Anglicans into the Catholic Church
By JAMES GRAFF, World Editor
(Oct. 20) -- The number of married Catholic priests could grow sharply as the result of the Vatican's epochal decision to welcome thousands of disaffected Anglicans and Episcopalians into the Catholic church.
At press conferences in Rome and London on Tuesday, Vatican officials announced that the church would set up a special canonical structure that will ease the conversion of members of the Anglican Communion without them having to give up what the Vatican called "the distinctive Anglican spiritual and liturgical patrimony." That means not only a body of prayers and hymns, but also a tradition of married priests and bishops.
"It's a stunning turn of events," says Lawrence Cunningham, theology professor at Notre Dame University. "This decision will allow for many more married clergy in Western churches, and that's going to raise anew the question, 'If they can do it, why can't the priests of Rome?'" says Cunningham. "I can already picture the electronic slugfest on the Internet in coming days and weeks."
The Catholic church already allows clergymen who convert from Protestant denominations to remain married on a case by case basis, and married priests are common in the Eastern Rite, a group that uses Orthodox traditions but is loyal to Rome.
But the arrangement with the Anglican Communion goes much further. Cardinal William Levada, the Vatican's top doctrinal official, announced in Rome that the church would set up a personal ordinariate -- in essence a diocese defined not by geography, but by function, like the division that serves Catholics in the military -- for converted Anglicans.
The move comes after years of discord within the Anglican Communion, which unites 77 million Anglicans and Episcopalians under the loose authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams. The church has been racked by schisms over the ordination of women and its stance toward homosexuality.
Some Anglicans believe the Vatican's move will deepen those divisions. "When it comes to elegant funerals, no one can beat the Vatican," wrote commentator Andrew Brown in The Guardian. "The Roman Catholic church is no longer even pretending to take seriously the existence of the Anglican Communion as a coherent body."
For many traditional Episcopalians, as the denomination is known in the U.S., the last straw was the 2003 election of openly gay Gene Robinson as bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire. In protest, hundreds of churches have broken links with the Episcopal church and declared themselves in line with the conservative Anglican bishops in Africa or South America.
Martyn Minns, the bishop of one such dissident group, the Convocation of Anglicans in North America, said today, "This move by the Catholic church recognizes the reality of the divide within the Anglican Communion and affirms the decision to create a new North American province that embraces biblical truth."
The news is likely to have a particularly strong effect in Great Britain, where there has been a tendency for years for members of the nominally Anglican majority to join the Catholic church, from theologian John Cardinal Newman in the 19th century to former Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2007.
Such conversions have generally meant not only a recognition of the pope's authority, but also a rejection of Anglican traditions. That turning away may no longer be necessary. "Now you can be an Anglican and still be Catholic," says Jo Bailey Wells, director of Anglican Studies at Duke Divinity School. "The Anglicans never had that vote of confidence before."
Indeed, two prominent British priests who publicly broke from Anglicanism years ago stated today that after this ruling from Rome, some Anglicans "will begin to form a caravan, rather like the People of Israel crossing the desert in search of the Promised Land."
Whether that happens or not, today's decision marks a milestone in the relations between the Vatican and the church of England, which King Henry VIII established in 1534 after the pope refused to grant him a marriage annulment. Since then, religious and social battles have often marked relations between Catholics and Anglicans. Says Cunningham: "This would have been unthinkable 200 years ago, and barely imaginable in the 19th century."
2009 AOL LLC. All Rights Reserved.
(Oct. 20) -- The number of married Catholic priests could grow sharply as the result of the Vatican's epochal decision to welcome thousands of disaffected Anglicans and Episcopalians into the Catholic church.
At press conferences in Rome and London on Tuesday, Vatican officials announced that the church would set up a special canonical structure that will ease the conversion of members of the Anglican Communion without them having to give up what the Vatican called "the distinctive Anglican spiritual and liturgical patrimony." That means not only a body of prayers and hymns, but also a tradition of married priests and bishops.
"It's a stunning turn of events," says Lawrence Cunningham, theology professor at Notre Dame University. "This decision will allow for many more married clergy in Western churches, and that's going to raise anew the question, 'If they can do it, why can't the priests of Rome?'" says Cunningham. "I can already picture the electronic slugfest on the Internet in coming days and weeks."
The Catholic church already allows clergymen who convert from Protestant denominations to remain married on a case by case basis, and married priests are common in the Eastern Rite, a group that uses Orthodox traditions but is loyal to Rome.
But the arrangement with the Anglican Communion goes much further. Cardinal William Levada, the Vatican's top doctrinal official, announced in Rome that the church would set up a personal ordinariate -- in essence a diocese defined not by geography, but by function, like the division that serves Catholics in the military -- for converted Anglicans.
The move comes after years of discord within the Anglican Communion, which unites 77 million Anglicans and Episcopalians under the loose authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams. The church has been racked by schisms over the ordination of women and its stance toward homosexuality.
Some Anglicans believe the Vatican's move will deepen those divisions. "When it comes to elegant funerals, no one can beat the Vatican," wrote commentator Andrew Brown in The Guardian. "The Roman Catholic church is no longer even pretending to take seriously the existence of the Anglican Communion as a coherent body."
For many traditional Episcopalians, as the denomination is known in the U.S., the last straw was the 2003 election of openly gay Gene Robinson as bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire. In protest, hundreds of churches have broken links with the Episcopal church and declared themselves in line with the conservative Anglican bishops in Africa or South America.
Martyn Minns, the bishop of one such dissident group, the Convocation of Anglicans in North America, said today, "This move by the Catholic church recognizes the reality of the divide within the Anglican Communion and affirms the decision to create a new North American province that embraces biblical truth."
The news is likely to have a particularly strong effect in Great Britain, where there has been a tendency for years for members of the nominally Anglican majority to join the Catholic church, from theologian John Cardinal Newman in the 19th century to former Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2007.
Such conversions have generally meant not only a recognition of the pope's authority, but also a rejection of Anglican traditions. That turning away may no longer be necessary. "Now you can be an Anglican and still be Catholic," says Jo Bailey Wells, director of Anglican Studies at Duke Divinity School. "The Anglicans never had that vote of confidence before."
Indeed, two prominent British priests who publicly broke from Anglicanism years ago stated today that after this ruling from Rome, some Anglicans "will begin to form a caravan, rather like the People of Israel crossing the desert in search of the Promised Land."
Whether that happens or not, today's decision marks a milestone in the relations between the Vatican and the church of England, which King Henry VIII established in 1534 after the pope refused to grant him a marriage annulment. Since then, religious and social battles have often marked relations between Catholics and Anglicans. Says Cunningham: "This would have been unthinkable 200 years ago, and barely imaginable in the 19th century."
2009 AOL LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Father Dueppen and the Stripper: The Story Continues
Agencia EFE
10/8/2009
Miami (USA) — A former Catholic priest who created a scandal in Miami because of his affair with a former stripper acknowledged paternity of a child born during the relationship with the woman and now wants a large part in her custody, The Miami Herald reported yesterday on its website.
David Dueppen asked a court in Miami-Dade County that he be granted custody of the baby Marilyn Epiphany at least 70 percent of the time with the child, according to court papers filed this week.
"He has never denied paternity of the child and would like to be very involved in her life," said Raymon Rafool, lawyer for the 42-year old former priest.
The lawyer also denied the charges of alleged domestic abuse that have been made against his client.
The scandal of the love affair between Dueppen and former dancer Beatrice Hernandez broke out last September when the woman asked for support for the girl she gave birth to in January and said that the father was the former priest.
Hernandez also requested a restraining order against the former priest who, according to her, began to suggest that she attend a swingers club and a nudist colony so that she could be released from the evil spirits that Dueppen said possessed her.
The woman revealed that she met Dueppen at the nightclub where she worked as a stripper.
Dueppen worked at St. Francis de Sales, Miami Beach, the same church where famous former Catholic priest Alberto Cutie, who was captured by a photographer on a beach caressing and kissing a woman who later became his wife when he abandoned Catholicism, celebrated Mass.
The relationship between Dueppen and Hernandez ended in 2005 and she threatened to sue the church and to avoid the suit the Archdiocese of Miami reached an agreement with the former dancer through which she received $ 100,000, said the woman.
But the affair resumed in 2006 when Dueppen sought out the former dancer and two years later she became pregnant.
According to Hernandez, the former priest put into questioned his paternity, so she demanded a DNA test.
The former priest initially refused and Hernandez threatened to go to the Church with the baby.
During that time, said Hernandez, both had violent arguments and on one occasion Dueppen allegedly tried to strangle her.
The Archdiocese of Miami has reported that in 2006 it was informed through an attorney that the former priest was allegedly failing to comply with a fiduciary relationship with a woman.
"When he became aware of this, Archbishop John Favalora removed Fr. Dueppen from parish ministry and gave him a leave of absence for 13 months. During that time, he recieved professional spiritual help, including his obligation to faithfully practice celibacy and all other aspects of a moral life," a statement indicated.
After a favorable professional report, and a renewed assurance by Dueppen that he could and was willing to lead a celibate life, the former priest was reassigned to a parish in 2007, but not with the responsibilities of a pastor.
10/8/2009
Miami (USA) — A former Catholic priest who created a scandal in Miami because of his affair with a former stripper acknowledged paternity of a child born during the relationship with the woman and now wants a large part in her custody, The Miami Herald reported yesterday on its website.
David Dueppen asked a court in Miami-Dade County that he be granted custody of the baby Marilyn Epiphany at least 70 percent of the time with the child, according to court papers filed this week.
"He has never denied paternity of the child and would like to be very involved in her life," said Raymon Rafool, lawyer for the 42-year old former priest.
The lawyer also denied the charges of alleged domestic abuse that have been made against his client.
The scandal of the love affair between Dueppen and former dancer Beatrice Hernandez broke out last September when the woman asked for support for the girl she gave birth to in January and said that the father was the former priest.
Hernandez also requested a restraining order against the former priest who, according to her, began to suggest that she attend a swingers club and a nudist colony so that she could be released from the evil spirits that Dueppen said possessed her.
The woman revealed that she met Dueppen at the nightclub where she worked as a stripper.
Dueppen worked at St. Francis de Sales, Miami Beach, the same church where famous former Catholic priest Alberto Cutie, who was captured by a photographer on a beach caressing and kissing a woman who later became his wife when he abandoned Catholicism, celebrated Mass.
The relationship between Dueppen and Hernandez ended in 2005 and she threatened to sue the church and to avoid the suit the Archdiocese of Miami reached an agreement with the former dancer through which she received $ 100,000, said the woman.
But the affair resumed in 2006 when Dueppen sought out the former dancer and two years later she became pregnant.
According to Hernandez, the former priest put into questioned his paternity, so she demanded a DNA test.
The former priest initially refused and Hernandez threatened to go to the Church with the baby.
During that time, said Hernandez, both had violent arguments and on one occasion Dueppen allegedly tried to strangle her.
The Archdiocese of Miami has reported that in 2006 it was informed through an attorney that the former priest was allegedly failing to comply with a fiduciary relationship with a woman.
"When he became aware of this, Archbishop John Favalora removed Fr. Dueppen from parish ministry and gave him a leave of absence for 13 months. During that time, he recieved professional spiritual help, including his obligation to faithfully practice celibacy and all other aspects of a moral life," a statement indicated.
After a favorable professional report, and a renewed assurance by Dueppen that he could and was willing to lead a celibate life, the former priest was reassigned to a parish in 2007, but not with the responsibilities of a pastor.
Culture Notes: "Into Temptation"
Into Temptation is another movie dealing with priests, celibacy, etc. but more interesting because it was made by Patrick Coyle, the son of an ex-Catholic seminarian who left to get married.Official Movie Synopsis:
John Buerlein works the crossword while old women confess the sins of their husbands and the homeless sleep it off in quiet pews--just another day at St. Mary Magdalen’s Downtown Catholic Church where he is the overworked, underpaid pastor.
His shift is nearly over when a beautiful call girl enters, Linda, to confess a sin she hasn’t committed yet:
“I’m going to kill myself. On my birthday. And I’m Aries, Father, so I don’t have a lot of time.”
Then she disappears and Fr. John sets out to find her.
Along the way he befriends an ex-prizefighter, a street-smart librarian, a renegade street-whore, an omniscient cab driver, and a moody pimp who quotes Robert Frost. Together this ad-hoc congregation sets out to save a life…and possibly redeem their own.
Fr. John is hit, hit-on, held at knife point, treated to a peep show, and informed by the archdiocese in no uncertain terms that his career is in jeopardy if he doesn’t cease and desist.
Then his first love turns up after 20 years, as beautiful as ever, to tell him she is divorced and that she never stopped loving him. He was her first. She was his only. Shockingly, John’s mother encourages the reunion.
When John emerges from his descent into the world of pornography and prostitution to stand again before his congregation, he is a profoundly changed man, as are the members of his church who now hang on his every word.
The Director's Background
Patrick Coyle tells the story of his father, his inspiration for the character of Fr. John in an article in Moving Pictures:
My dad was the baby of a big Irish family that emigrated from County Mayo in Ireland and finally settled in Omaha, Nebraska. It was decided he would be "the family priest" by his mother, Margaret, at a very early age. Every proper Irish Catholic family ought to have one, or so went the prevailing turn-of-the-century thought (20th, not 21st.), and Margaret was a woman who got her way...
...So, when the time came, Jimmy went off to seminary and all was well in Grandma Margaret's world. Enter my mother, Margaret Mary Quinlan, 5-feet-2, eyes of blue, a mountain of singing talent, cute as a button and not afraid to have some fun on a dance floor. My dad heard her sing the Ave Maria in church one Sunday and went "backstage" for an introduction after mass. Eight children later, including yours truly, the rest is history. My dad went to work as a traveling salesman after serving his country in WWII.
...I began to wonder, one day, what kind of priest my dad would have made. Out came Into Temptation.
A Mother, a Sick Son and His Father, the Priest
Laurie GoodsteinNew York Times
10/16/2009
O’FALLON, Mo. — With three small children and her marriage in trouble, Pat Bond attended a spirituality retreat for Roman Catholic women in Illinois 26 years ago in hopes of finding support and comfort.
What Ms. Bond found was a priest — a dynamic, handsome Franciscan friar in a brown robe — who was serving as the spiritual director for the retreat and agreed to begin counseling her on her marriage. One day, she said, as she was leaving the priest’s parlor, he pulled her aside for a passionate kiss.
Ms. Bond separated from her husband, and for the next five years she and the priest, the Rev. Henry Willenborg, carried on an intimate relationship, according to interviews and court documents. In public, they were both leaders in their Catholic community in Quincy, Ill. In private they functioned like a married couple, sharing a bed, meals, movie nights and vacations with the children.
Eventually they had a son, setting off a series of legal battles as Ms. Bond repeatedly petitioned the church for child support. The Franciscans acquiesced, with the stipulation that she sign a confidentiality agreement. It is now an agreement she is willing to break as both she and her child, Nathan Halbach, 22, are battling cancer....
Click here for the rest of the story
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