By Anita Guidera
The Independent (Ireland)
Wednesday November 18 2009
Father Sean McKenna, who sensationally told his congregation he was leaving the priesthood for love, began a relationship with a mother-of-two only after her marriage had ended.
The Derry-based priest met separated mother and nurse Elaine Curran during his work as parish priest in Creggan before he moved on to Ballymagroarty some two years ago.
Since dropping the bombshell that he was quitting the priesthood at the weekend, Fr McKenna has appealed for the couple's privacy to be respected and he and Ms Curran have gone to ground.
But a source close to the priest has insisted that the relationship between the couple did not begin until a "considerable length of time" after the end of her marriage to local man Liam Curran.
Bombshell
Ms Curran, a nurse at a local health centre, is a mother of two children, aged six and 11 years.
This is the second time in the past 12 months that the Holy Family parish has lost a priest. Last February, curate Kieran Page announced he was taking a "leave of absence".
Shock waves continued to reverberate through the sprawling Ballymagroarty parish yesterday following the weekend bombshell.
The 51-year-old parish priest waited until Mass was almost over on Saturday night before taking to the altar to tell the congregation that in his personal life he was in a relationship.
"The nature of this relationship is such that the rule of celibacy does not allow me to continue in priesthood and to be in this relationship at the same time. Therefore I have made my choice. It is a difficult choice but a clear and free one," he said in a prepared statement.
His announcement prompted an outpouring of emotion as both priest and parishioners wept and embraced each other.
Fr McKenna has served in three parishes in the Derry diocese over a 25-year period and locals yesterday were critical of the Church for its stance on celibacy and the media for delving into what they saw as a private matter.
One woman from the Ballymagroarty area, where Fr McKenna ministered, was so scathing of the media that she would not let her name be used.
"It is a disgrace the way the media have portrayed this story. Fr McKenna was a good priest who has done nothing but help local people both here and in Creggan. If he decides that this is what he wants to do then it is his business and the media should have left him in peace."
Local man Bobby Bradley was supportive of Fr McKenna and critical of the Church.
"It shocked me but it is his life and he should be allowed to get on with it. Priests should have been allowed to marry years ago," he said.
Jacqueline Campbell said she was sad to see Fr McKenna leave. "He is a very genuine man and a great priest and I will be sorry that he is no longer going to be part of this parish.
"At the same time he should be allowed to get on with his life and after serving the people of Derry for 25 years he deserves all the happiness he can find," she said.
Calls to the local BBC Radio Foyle radio station were overwhelmingly favourable to the priest, a spokesperson said.
Happiness
"The vast majority of calls were supportive of Fr McKenna. In general, the calls reflected the popularity of the man himself who, it seems, is greatly admired within the community.
"The BBC and other media outlets also came in for criticism for running the story and many people said it was Fr McKenna's private business and we had no right to pry into it."
Bishop Seamus Hegarty is expected to announce a new appointment at the parish before Christmas.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Church cheers as priest admits that he's in love
By Anita Guidera
The Irish Independent
Tuesday November 17 2009
A congregation wept and cheered when their beloved priest delivered the bombshell that he had tendered his resignation because he had fallen in love.
Popular parish priest Fr Sean McKenna (51) told his stunned congregation at Sunday Mass that he was leaving the priesthood, having embarked on a "loving, beautiful and life-giving relationship".
The priest, who celebrated his silver jubilee earlier this year, is believed to be involved with a mother of two children who is separated from her husband.
The revelation, which has prompted calls for the abolition of mandatory celibacy, comes at a time when the Dublin Catholic Archdiocese is claiming there will soon be barely one priest per parish.
Mayo priest Fr Brendan Hoban is predicting priests will have effectively disappeared in Ireland within three decades.
Fr McKenna, who was ordained in Maynooth in 1985 and has served in three parishes in the Derry diocese, told his congregation in the Holy Family Church, Ballymagroarty, he had made his decision after "a period of discernment and personal reflection".
Celibacy
He revealed that the Bishop of Derry, Dr Seamus Hegarty, had accepted his decision with regret last week. He said that because celibacy was "integral to the priesthood" he could no longer remain a priest.
Following his announcement, he received a standing ovation from an applauding congregation, many of them in tears.
Fr Michael Canny, spokesperson for the Derry Diocese and a friend of Fr McKenna, told the Irish Independent that they had been shocked by the announcement. "It has come as a total shock, like a bolt out of the blue. He has been here 24 years and he has touched so many lives. It is like a wake here today."
All day yesterday, radio stations in Derry were flooded with messages from parishioners expressing their support.
"The Church has lost a good, kind, generous man. He was loving and caring and he did a lot of good for a lot of people," said one woman.
Outspoken Enniskillen-based Passionist priest Fr Brian D'Arcy told the Irish Independent that the Church was losing good men because of an outdated mandatory celibacy rule.
"It is a significant time to think about the value of compulsory celibacy. This may have been suitable for a particular time but that time has now gone. Remember, the first Pope, St Peter, was married.
"It is estimated that 110,000 priests have left the priesthood worldwide, the vast majority because they fell in love. It is extraordinary that the priesthood is being deprived of these very good men," he said.
FATHER McKENNA'S PUBLIC STATEMENT
Derry Journal
Published Date: 17 November 2009
Father McKenna has asked for his privacy to be respected, however he issued the following statement:
"As you are aware, celibacy is an integral part of the commitment to priesthood. The nature of this relationship is such that the rule of celibacy does not allow me to continue in priesthood and to be in this relationship at the same time. Therefore,
I have made my choice. It is a difficult choice but a clear and free one.
"Since being ordained in 1985, I have found my experience of priesthood to be very meaningful and spiritually uplifting. I have greatly valued the ministry of priesthood and I know how much that ministry is valued by you the people of Holy Family and by the people of all the parishes and situations in which I have been privileged to serve – St Mary's Creggan and Long Tower.
"My decision to leave has not come about through any lessening of the respect and regard in which I hold this very important ministry in today's world.
"I am aware that many of you may be saddened by my decision to leave the priesthood and this parish of Holy Family. It has also been a very difficult decision for me and it has not been without pain."
The Irish Independent
Tuesday November 17 2009
A congregation wept and cheered when their beloved priest delivered the bombshell that he had tendered his resignation because he had fallen in love.
Popular parish priest Fr Sean McKenna (51) told his stunned congregation at Sunday Mass that he was leaving the priesthood, having embarked on a "loving, beautiful and life-giving relationship".
The priest, who celebrated his silver jubilee earlier this year, is believed to be involved with a mother of two children who is separated from her husband.
The revelation, which has prompted calls for the abolition of mandatory celibacy, comes at a time when the Dublin Catholic Archdiocese is claiming there will soon be barely one priest per parish.
Mayo priest Fr Brendan Hoban is predicting priests will have effectively disappeared in Ireland within three decades.
Fr McKenna, who was ordained in Maynooth in 1985 and has served in three parishes in the Derry diocese, told his congregation in the Holy Family Church, Ballymagroarty, he had made his decision after "a period of discernment and personal reflection".
Celibacy
He revealed that the Bishop of Derry, Dr Seamus Hegarty, had accepted his decision with regret last week. He said that because celibacy was "integral to the priesthood" he could no longer remain a priest.
Following his announcement, he received a standing ovation from an applauding congregation, many of them in tears.
Fr Michael Canny, spokesperson for the Derry Diocese and a friend of Fr McKenna, told the Irish Independent that they had been shocked by the announcement. "It has come as a total shock, like a bolt out of the blue. He has been here 24 years and he has touched so many lives. It is like a wake here today."
All day yesterday, radio stations in Derry were flooded with messages from parishioners expressing their support.
"The Church has lost a good, kind, generous man. He was loving and caring and he did a lot of good for a lot of people," said one woman.
Outspoken Enniskillen-based Passionist priest Fr Brian D'Arcy told the Irish Independent that the Church was losing good men because of an outdated mandatory celibacy rule.
"It is a significant time to think about the value of compulsory celibacy. This may have been suitable for a particular time but that time has now gone. Remember, the first Pope, St Peter, was married.
"It is estimated that 110,000 priests have left the priesthood worldwide, the vast majority because they fell in love. It is extraordinary that the priesthood is being deprived of these very good men," he said.
FATHER McKENNA'S PUBLIC STATEMENT
Derry Journal
Published Date: 17 November 2009
Father McKenna has asked for his privacy to be respected, however he issued the following statement:
"As you are aware, celibacy is an integral part of the commitment to priesthood. The nature of this relationship is such that the rule of celibacy does not allow me to continue in priesthood and to be in this relationship at the same time. Therefore,
I have made my choice. It is a difficult choice but a clear and free one.
"Since being ordained in 1985, I have found my experience of priesthood to be very meaningful and spiritually uplifting. I have greatly valued the ministry of priesthood and I know how much that ministry is valued by you the people of Holy Family and by the people of all the parishes and situations in which I have been privileged to serve – St Mary's Creggan and Long Tower.
"My decision to leave has not come about through any lessening of the respect and regard in which I hold this very important ministry in today's world.
"I am aware that many of you may be saddened by my decision to leave the priesthood and this parish of Holy Family. It has also been a very difficult decision for me and it has not been without pain."
Monday, November 16, 2009
Open Letter to American Bishops from CITI Ministries
This letter was published as a 1/4 page ad in the Washington Post, 11/15/2009. The contact information for CITI at the bottom of the ad also included an alternate CITI blog started by Louise Haggett at rentaprieststory.blogspot.com. Not sure what's up with that...
Your Excellencies:
What a blessing we have received from the Holy Spirit during this "Year of the Priest," to welcome back into full communion many of our Anglican brothers and sisters along with their clergy and families. Certainly this was a gift of the Spirit, recognized by the Vatican, to accept after four and a half centuries, the validity of their sacramental oneness with us.
As the whole church prays for the growth in vocations to the clerical and religious life, the Holy Spirit responds to our prayers by adding a significant number of clergy to our ranks.
Because of this visible grace granted to Jesus' Church we ask you, during your upcoming meeting, to consider extending this same welcoming hand to your own brother priests who for many and good reasons have accepted to fulfill God's calling by living a non-celibate life. Many of these men are known personally to you, and known to lead good and holy lives. We, the lay members of CITI (Celibacy Is The Issue), ask, no plead, for your help in petitioning the Vatican in providing the opportunity for these thousands of good and holy men to return to full ministry in our church with your blessing and to serve us for His greater honor and glory and to allow optional celibacy for all priests.
As lay people we recognize and appreciate what we are asking on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of good Catholics, who are poorly served due to a current shortage of priests. There are also "new needs" that exist among the unchurched who have sought out married priests for spiritual and pastoral support. Perhaps God is answering our prayers for vocation by giving us this opportunity to welcome back these men. We know that not every Catholic will readily accept the return of these valid priests and their families; nor will they readily accept the Vatican's decision to welcome back our Anglican brothers and sisters. Yet we believe that this is what Jesus had in mind when we read at the end of Matthew's gospel: "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age." Matt 28:19-20
And we lay people, believing in Heb 5:6 ("You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.") again ask you, as successors to the non-celibate Apostles, to petition the Vatican, as a group, to welcome back these worthy workers in the vineyard of Jesus.
In behalf of the lay members of CITI Ministries, I am,
Jerry Siegmund
South Carolina Board Member
Your Excellencies:
What a blessing we have received from the Holy Spirit during this "Year of the Priest," to welcome back into full communion many of our Anglican brothers and sisters along with their clergy and families. Certainly this was a gift of the Spirit, recognized by the Vatican, to accept after four and a half centuries, the validity of their sacramental oneness with us.
As the whole church prays for the growth in vocations to the clerical and religious life, the Holy Spirit responds to our prayers by adding a significant number of clergy to our ranks.
Because of this visible grace granted to Jesus' Church we ask you, during your upcoming meeting, to consider extending this same welcoming hand to your own brother priests who for many and good reasons have accepted to fulfill God's calling by living a non-celibate life. Many of these men are known personally to you, and known to lead good and holy lives. We, the lay members of CITI (Celibacy Is The Issue), ask, no plead, for your help in petitioning the Vatican in providing the opportunity for these thousands of good and holy men to return to full ministry in our church with your blessing and to serve us for His greater honor and glory and to allow optional celibacy for all priests.
As lay people we recognize and appreciate what we are asking on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of good Catholics, who are poorly served due to a current shortage of priests. There are also "new needs" that exist among the unchurched who have sought out married priests for spiritual and pastoral support. Perhaps God is answering our prayers for vocation by giving us this opportunity to welcome back these men. We know that not every Catholic will readily accept the return of these valid priests and their families; nor will they readily accept the Vatican's decision to welcome back our Anglican brothers and sisters. Yet we believe that this is what Jesus had in mind when we read at the end of Matthew's gospel: "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age." Matt 28:19-20
And we lay people, believing in Heb 5:6 ("You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.") again ask you, as successors to the non-celibate Apostles, to petition the Vatican, as a group, to welcome back these worthy workers in the vineyard of Jesus.
In behalf of the lay members of CITI Ministries, I am,
Jerry Siegmund
South Carolina Board Member
Derry priest's shock revelation at Mass
Belfast TelegraphMonday, 16 November 2009
A priest in Londonderry has sent shockwaves through the Catholic Church by resigning after he became involved in a relationship with a woman.
Fr Sean McKenna, parish priest at the Holy Family Church in Ballymagroarty, told his stunned congregation during Mass services at the weekend that he had fallen in love.
The 51-year-old priest, who has been a popular member of the local Catholic clergy for over 20 years, said he had taken the decision to leave after embarking on a “loving” and “beautiful” relationship”.
He also said that the celibacy clause inherent in ordination to the priesthood had forced him to make the decision to leave.
Fr McKenna received a standing ovation from the congregation after speaking directly to the people.
Despite their shock, messages of support have been pouring in from parishioners throughout today with many people expressing admiration for his honesty and openness.
It is understood the priest tendered his resignation to a shocked Bishop of Derry Seamus Hegarty over the past few days.
Fr McKenna was today keeping a low profile, but in a statement to his parishioners delivered from the altar over the weekend, he said: “I am here today to tell you that I have decided to leave the priesthood.
“After a long period of reflection and discernment, I have approached Bishop Hegarty this week to inform him of what I have decided.
“He has, with great regret, agreed to accept my decision.”
Father Michael Canny, the spokesman for the Derry Diocese, said he and Bishop Hegarty were shocked to hear the news.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Walsh seeks female ordination debate
Bishop Willie Walsh of Killaloe, Ireland, getting a few more points in before he will have to submit his mandatory resignation due to age at the end of this year...RTÉ News
Saturday, 14 November 2009 09:48
The Papal ban on discussing the ordination of women has been challenged by Bishop Willie Walsh of Killaloe.
Bishop Walsh called for the debate on women priests in an interview with RTÉ News following an address to the Association of European Journalists in Dublin.
He said he would love to see another Pope John XXIII opening up discussion, particularly of exclusion.
The Bishop expressed sadness about his Church excluding homosexuals and refusing the Eucharist to couples in second unions.
Bishop Walsh recalled that Christ deliberately included people shut out by the religious authorities of His time.
He also urged discussion of mandatory priestly celibacy.
Earlier, Bishop Walsh challenged a lesser Vatican rule that almost completely excludes Protestants from its Eucharist.
He said he had never suggested to Church of Ireland members that they were not welcome to receive the sacrament in his churches.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Gay Catholic priest getting married
By Bryn WeeseEdmonton Sun
11/12/2009
TORONTO -- Canada's first openly gay Catholic priest is to mark another milestone.
Father Karl Clemens is getting married Saturday to his partner Nick.
He says he'll be the first man of the Catholic cloth to enter into a same-sex marriage in Canada, and maybe even in North America.
"I'm not doing it to start a revolution, but if people want to exercise their right, and so forth, that's terrific," Clemens told Sun Media yesterday.
"I feel very strongly about it.
"I'm leading the way, or pioneering, as it were, in something that I think is very important," Clemens said. "It's a human right."
Clemens, who is approaching 70 and who retired from the Kingston, Ont. diocese after serving there for 33 years, moved to Toronto more than a decade ago to work in, and advocate for, the city's gay village.
Regarding his same-sex marriage, he's prepared for a backlash from the church and some of its followers, as he was when he came out of the closet in 2005.
"There will be Catholics who feel, because of their lack of understanding, that this is a very wrong thing and therefore will not be pleased," Clemens said.
"But those are consequences we have to be willing to deal with because we feel strongly about the issue at hand, which is the right to be able to enter into same-sex marriages."
Clemens and his partner will be married Saturday afternoon in the couple's home.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Married priests want to remain exceptions
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."
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."
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
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
In Memoriam: Fr. Leo Lynch
Fr. Leo Lynch, a married priest in Saginaw, Michigan, and CITI member, passed away last week. Here is his obituary from The Saginaw News and an earlier article from National Catholic Reporter.A Life Remembered: Leo Lynch 'stood up for others who couldn't speak up for themselves'
By Sue White
The Saginaw News
October 12, 2009, 11:11PM
“Sue,” Leo R. Lynch would start, drawing out my name, “I want to talk to you about a little something.”
Maybe it was his folk trio, The New Image, pulling together a show again for a worthy cause. Or he would share some news on his sons, Stephen and Andrew, each finding success on stages in New York City and Chicago.
Afterward, when the story came out, he’d call back again, usually leaving a message that went something like “Boy, was I surprised when I picked up the paper this morning...”
And the funny thing is, meeting with friends and family at his visitation services Monday, Oct. 12, almost everyone remembered in different ways how much he touched their lives.
Through it all, added his wife, Judy, “he was a man of God. To Leo, wherever there were people, there was church.”
Lynch died Friday, Oct. 9, after suffering a heart attack. He was 78. A funeral liturgy will take place at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 13, at Snow Funeral Home, 3775 N. Center in Saginaw Township, followed by interment in Roselawn Memorial Gardens.
A Bay City native, Lynch was ordained a Catholic priest in 1956 in Rome. Throughout his ministry, he was active in fighting the issues of the day, such as racism, poverty and war.
“I think of so many things when I remember my dad, but the role he played in the civil rights and anti-war movements stands out,” Stephen Lynch said. “Even when he was playing with Al Lacki and Ralph Buggia in The New Image, the songs were always about important things in troubled times.
“I respected him for that. He stood up for others who couldn’t speak up for themselves.”
In 1969, feeling he could no longer support the church’s views on divorce and remarriage, intercommunity services and the celibacy of priests, Leo Lynch resigned from what he called his “institutional” church.
Lynch married the former Judith Hayes in 1970, and continued to minister to the faithful, celebrating Mass with the Emmanuel Catholic community. As people told his family Monday, “once a priest, always a priest.”
He had many gifts, including playing the padre in the Midland Music Society’s 1980 production of “Man of La Mancha,” one of several roles he held in community theater.
Later, he watched his sons embrace the stage and Stephen Lynch receive a Tony Award nomination for his lead role in Broadway’s “The Wedding Singer.”
But doing God’s work was definitely his greater calling, his son remembered.
“I knew him as a great father, someone I could always turn to when I needed someone,” Stephen Lynch said. “But I’ve met so many people since I’ve come home, and from what they’re telling me, it feels like he reached out to everyone in the community.
“They all had a story to tell, how he affected their lives in some way. He was always helping as many people as he could. He lived his faith.”
Married priest celebrating Mass in Saginaw: parish cites canon law, invites priest
by Tim McCarthy
National Catholic Reporter
Feb 26, 1993
SAGINAW, Mich. - The priest was married, the parish closed, but the Mass went on.
With his wife, Judy, in attendance, Father Leo Lynch, a priest in the Saginaw diocese until he opted for secular life in 1969, wore no vestments over his blue business suit and red-plaid tie. Just the same, he was priest aplenty for the St. Rita remnant gathered that icy Saturday evening in the church they said the diocese was taking away from them piece by piece.
Last August, with closure round the corner for St. Rita and four other inner-city churches, rebellious parishioners called upon Lynch to celebrate a protest Mass in a parking lot. ABC-TV's "20/20" was there, no doubt savoring the moment during the sign of peace, when Lynch went over and embraced one of his grown sons.
No such hoopla surrounded the Feb. 6 Mass, only the third Lynch has celebrated publicly since 1969, but it was a public challenge to progressive Saginaw Bisbop Kenneth Untener. Lynch said it might cost him his part-time job as choir director for another Saginaw parish.
When members of Saginaw's Save the Churches approached him last summer, armed with the canons they said allowed him to celebrate Mass, Lynch accepted but appealed to them to ask him not because canon law said so: "Ask me because Jesus said, 'Break the bread.'"
"I have no addiction to be priest (in terms of celebrating the Eucharist)," he said, doodling at the kitchen table during a recent interview in his comfortable culde-sac home. "But these people have a right to the Eucharist."
Although St. Rita closed officially Nov. 15, there has been a Mass the-re every Saturday or Sunday since then. Usually the Masses draw 40 to 50 people who say they refuse to sacrifice their close-knit community to the larger joint parish the diocese has asked them to merge with. Married or not, Lynch is welcome.
Friday, October 02, 2009
2nd Bishops’ Synod for Africa: Married Priests Want In
The Kenyan newspaper The Standard reports today that married priests want their voice heard in the forthcoming second Synod of Catholic bishops set to begin next week in the Vatican.
Through their prelature, Married Priests Now, the clergy argue that the synod would be incomplete without the agenda of the clerics renouncing their celibacy vows.
The presiding archbishop of the movement in Kenya Rev Daniel Kasomo said the issue of married priests should be top on the agenda in the meeting to be attended by bishops from across the continent.
By the way, in an related story which we failed to report when it occured back in June (mostly because we have been keeping a distance from all these guys), the five American bishops who were part of Archbishop Milingo's "Married Priests Now" have broken with Milingo to form their own "Married Priests USA". The five are Archbishops Peter Brennan (NY), Joseph Gouthro (NV), Patrick Trujillo (NJ), George Stallings (DC) and Bishop Joaquin Perez (FL). They say that they have disassociated themselves for theological and philosophical differences...
Through their prelature, Married Priests Now, the clergy argue that the synod would be incomplete without the agenda of the clerics renouncing their celibacy vows.
The presiding archbishop of the movement in Kenya Rev Daniel Kasomo said the issue of married priests should be top on the agenda in the meeting to be attended by bishops from across the continent.
By the way, in an related story which we failed to report when it occured back in June (mostly because we have been keeping a distance from all these guys), the five American bishops who were part of Archbishop Milingo's "Married Priests Now" have broken with Milingo to form their own "Married Priests USA". The five are Archbishops Peter Brennan (NY), Joseph Gouthro (NV), Patrick Trujillo (NJ), George Stallings (DC) and Bishop Joaquin Perez (FL). They say that they have disassociated themselves for theological and philosophical differences...
Thursday, October 01, 2009
Why are fewer Catholics taking road to the abbey?
Belfast Telegraph
Wednesday, 30 September 2009
As the number of vocations to the priesthood in Ireland falls dramatically, Malachi O'Doherty asks if this means that the Catholic Church will have to radically change its attitude to women
The single element in the secularisation of Ireland that guarantees a radical change in our religious culture is the collapse in vocations. In Catholic understanding, a vocation to the priesthood or religious life is a calling from God. Well, God has fallen strangely silent.
The churches are not emptying nearly as fast as the pulpits are. Many thousands of people in this country still want the services and support that come with at least occasional church attendance and membership of a congregation. But the church, as they have understood it, is about to disappear.
Ten times more priests are leaving the church or dying as are hearing the call and responding to it. So most of the ones we are left with are older men, many of them tired and overworked.
The 159 priests of the diocese of Down and Connor is being replenished by only one or two new vocations a year. In 1950 the diocese had one priest for every 700 Catholics. Now each priest has double that number to look after.
This is a crisis for the church but also an indicator of a fundamental change in the character of Catholic Ireland.
Once we had thousands of priests. The optimist says that Ireland was inordinately devout then and that the figures were inflated beyond what was natural; in that case a sort of normality is restoring itself now.
In other countries priests have several parishes to serve and live with the reality of half-hearted commitment among the faithful.
Ireland is simply turning into a normal western country from having been virtually obsessed with religion. It was a phase we were going through and it is over.
In the near future, many parishes will have no priest at all. A priest from outside will have the responsibility of dropping by to consecrate the eucharist, but he will not be there on Sunday to say mass. A lay eucharistic minister will distribute communion instead and lead the prayers.
That will effect two likely changes in the character of Catholic worship.
Since the line of communication from the institutional church to the people will have been broken, the power to impose dogmatic rigour will weaken. And, since most eucharistic ministers are women, we may shift in a decade from a male led church to something that looks, feels and sounds matriarchal.
Already there are more women than men in Catholic colleges studying theology, preparing for the responsibility they will inherit.
The other main churches say that they are not suffering the same rapid decline. The lonely celibate life of a Catholic priest is probably harder than that of a married pastor in the Church of Ireland and Presbyterian Church.
An indication of that is that some Catholic priests are defecting to the Church of ireland. One is Mark Hayden, in his new parish in Gorey in Co Wexford.
The Church of Ireland Chaplain at Queens University, Belfast, was a Roman Catholic and several women who have felt called to the priesthood have gone into the Church of Ireland. Olive Donahoe in Portalise is one.
An ex-priest in the North West was recently invited by a Church of Ireland bishop, over a game of golf, to cross over and take a parish. But the secular trend in Ireland is following the pattern of change in other European countries a generation before us, according to University of Aberdeen sociologist Steve Bruce: "The trajectory is the same."
There are certainly signs of growth in some of the evangelical churches but this may be masked by surges of enthusiasm which attract people from one church to another.
When Pastor George McKim started to hold prayer services in hotels in Belfast and Templepatrick in June, he drew several hundred people, but it is likely that few were new converts to religious faith. The other churches which those people had come from will have registered corresponding declines.
There was a similar surge of enthusiasm for healing services at the north Belfast Elim church last year.
This year, the Catholic seminary at Maynooth, reported an increased number of men coming forward for training.
One recent high profile recruit to training for the priesthood was former Northern Ireland international soccer player, Philip Mulryne, who has begun his studies.
To attract increased numbers the President of Maynooth, Mgr Hugh Connolly had reached out to older men and announced that he was changing the training regime to teach men to pray and lead prayer.
In the past, the main flow of entrants would have been from the schools.
Boys coming out of Catholic schools would have had daily exposure to praying in front of others and been at ease with it.
Mgr Connolly was recognising that for the priesthood to survive at all a new kind of recruit had to be won over and catered for with an education that started with the basics. The church hopes that older men, who have a clearer sense of what they want from life, will be less likely to drop out or leave the priesthood after a few years, but there is a growing sense that the priesthood is no longer a life long commitment.
The increase that is being celebrated amounts to 36 men in the whole of Ireland.
There are currently 77 men in training.
They are coming into a church vastly unlike the one they were baptised in and they will be its lonely and over worked inheritors.
And one other bad augur. Those who are close to the new generations of priests say they are much more conservative than the older men of the generation dying out. They might not fit so well into the new Ireland.
Wednesday, 30 September 2009
As the number of vocations to the priesthood in Ireland falls dramatically, Malachi O'Doherty asks if this means that the Catholic Church will have to radically change its attitude to women
The single element in the secularisation of Ireland that guarantees a radical change in our religious culture is the collapse in vocations. In Catholic understanding, a vocation to the priesthood or religious life is a calling from God. Well, God has fallen strangely silent.
The churches are not emptying nearly as fast as the pulpits are. Many thousands of people in this country still want the services and support that come with at least occasional church attendance and membership of a congregation. But the church, as they have understood it, is about to disappear.
Ten times more priests are leaving the church or dying as are hearing the call and responding to it. So most of the ones we are left with are older men, many of them tired and overworked.
The 159 priests of the diocese of Down and Connor is being replenished by only one or two new vocations a year. In 1950 the diocese had one priest for every 700 Catholics. Now each priest has double that number to look after.
This is a crisis for the church but also an indicator of a fundamental change in the character of Catholic Ireland.
Once we had thousands of priests. The optimist says that Ireland was inordinately devout then and that the figures were inflated beyond what was natural; in that case a sort of normality is restoring itself now.
In other countries priests have several parishes to serve and live with the reality of half-hearted commitment among the faithful.
Ireland is simply turning into a normal western country from having been virtually obsessed with religion. It was a phase we were going through and it is over.
In the near future, many parishes will have no priest at all. A priest from outside will have the responsibility of dropping by to consecrate the eucharist, but he will not be there on Sunday to say mass. A lay eucharistic minister will distribute communion instead and lead the prayers.
That will effect two likely changes in the character of Catholic worship.
Since the line of communication from the institutional church to the people will have been broken, the power to impose dogmatic rigour will weaken. And, since most eucharistic ministers are women, we may shift in a decade from a male led church to something that looks, feels and sounds matriarchal.
Already there are more women than men in Catholic colleges studying theology, preparing for the responsibility they will inherit.
The other main churches say that they are not suffering the same rapid decline. The lonely celibate life of a Catholic priest is probably harder than that of a married pastor in the Church of Ireland and Presbyterian Church.
An indication of that is that some Catholic priests are defecting to the Church of ireland. One is Mark Hayden, in his new parish in Gorey in Co Wexford.
The Church of Ireland Chaplain at Queens University, Belfast, was a Roman Catholic and several women who have felt called to the priesthood have gone into the Church of Ireland. Olive Donahoe in Portalise is one.
An ex-priest in the North West was recently invited by a Church of Ireland bishop, over a game of golf, to cross over and take a parish. But the secular trend in Ireland is following the pattern of change in other European countries a generation before us, according to University of Aberdeen sociologist Steve Bruce: "The trajectory is the same."
There are certainly signs of growth in some of the evangelical churches but this may be masked by surges of enthusiasm which attract people from one church to another.
When Pastor George McKim started to hold prayer services in hotels in Belfast and Templepatrick in June, he drew several hundred people, but it is likely that few were new converts to religious faith. The other churches which those people had come from will have registered corresponding declines.
There was a similar surge of enthusiasm for healing services at the north Belfast Elim church last year.
This year, the Catholic seminary at Maynooth, reported an increased number of men coming forward for training.
One recent high profile recruit to training for the priesthood was former Northern Ireland international soccer player, Philip Mulryne, who has begun his studies.
To attract increased numbers the President of Maynooth, Mgr Hugh Connolly had reached out to older men and announced that he was changing the training regime to teach men to pray and lead prayer.
In the past, the main flow of entrants would have been from the schools.
Boys coming out of Catholic schools would have had daily exposure to praying in front of others and been at ease with it.
Mgr Connolly was recognising that for the priesthood to survive at all a new kind of recruit had to be won over and catered for with an education that started with the basics. The church hopes that older men, who have a clearer sense of what they want from life, will be less likely to drop out or leave the priesthood after a few years, but there is a growing sense that the priesthood is no longer a life long commitment.
The increase that is being celebrated amounts to 36 men in the whole of Ireland.
There are currently 77 men in training.
They are coming into a church vastly unlike the one they were baptised in and they will be its lonely and over worked inheritors.
And one other bad augur. Those who are close to the new generations of priests say they are much more conservative than the older men of the generation dying out. They might not fit so well into the new Ireland.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Noted German theologian suspended over celibacy
Fr. Michael Schulz, who had just been appointed in July to the International Pontifical Theological Commission, has been suspended as a priest. Schulz was ordained in 1984. He has been a professor of dogmatic theology at the University of Bonn since 2004 and he is also dean of the faculty. Prior to Bonn, he was on the theology faculty at l'Università della Svizzera italiana in Lugano. He is the author of numerous books including Sein und Trinität (1997), Dogmatik/Dogmengeschichte (eine Einführung in das Fach Dogmatik; 2001), Karl Rahner begegnen (Sankt Ulrich Verlag, 1999) and Hans Urs von Balthasar begegnen (Sankt Ulrich Verlag, 2002).According to Kath.net, Fr. Schulz informed his bishop that he is in a relationship with a woman and plans to get married. The announcement of Fr. Schulz's suspension was made jointly by Cardinal Karl Lehmann of the Diocese of Mainz, where Schulz was incardinated, and Cardinal Meissner of the Archdiocese of Cologne who is responsible for the Catholic theology faculty at the University of Bonn.
As a result of the suspension, Schulz will probably lose his current teaching position, though he may be allowed to keep his salary which is paid by the state and transfer to a teaching position that does not require Catholic Church approval.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Culture Notes: Ruhama Aqui y Ahora
Flash: For those who speak Spanish and want to know the Padre Alberto story from the other side of the bed (so to speak), his wife Ruhama Canellis is going to be on "Aqui y Ahora" (Univision) at 10 p.m. tonight (9/29) filling in the gaps in this telenovela.
Friday, September 25, 2009
From Priest to Minister
Rev. Stephen Joseph Fichter has an article on the Web edition of America (10/5/2009) about Catholic priests who, like Fr. Alberto Cutié, have converted to Protestant denominations.
"...How unique is Cutié’s story? How many other Catholic priests have left the church for another denomination in order to marry? Could Cutié’s conversion signal the beginning of another wave of men leaving the priesthood? Until November 2008, when I completed my dissertation on the transition of celibate Catholic priests into married Protestant ministry, it would have been impossible to address these questions. The data I collected over the course of a year allowed me to conduct the first-ever analysis in this field....Anyway, the entire article is very worth reading: http://www.americamagazine.org/content/article.cfm?article_id=11896
...Thanks to information gathered from the research offices of the five mainline Protestant Churches (Congregational, Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian), I was able to identify 414 such men in the United States. Following the advice of the late Dean Hoge, I did not contact the Baptist Church or any of the hundreds of small Protestant denominations, presuming that very few Catholic priests would be inclined to join them.
Nearly one-third of the 414 former Catholic priests now serving in Protestant ministry agreed to participate in my survey. Of the 131 respondents, 105 (80.2 percent) became Episcopalian, 15 (11.5 percent) Lutheran, eight (6.1 percent) Congregationalist, and three (2.3 percent) Methodist. I found a 40-year age range: the youngest was 42 and the eldest 82. Their mean age was 62.8 while the median was 64...
...When asked why they made the transition, six out of ten respondents cited celibacy....Other respondents spoke about their dislike for specific tenets of Catholic dogma. Many pointed to the publication of Humanae Vitae as a major turning point in their lives. One former diocesan priest, who is now 80 years old, said, “Humanae Vitae pushed me off the edge. I saw that act as the refusal of the Roman Catholic Church to enter the modern world.”...
Dear Wives Of Priests
I have been writing a blog for wives of priests, The Apostles Wives Club, http://theapostleswivesclub.com/, for a little over a year. The purpose of my blog is to connect with other women married to priest and to share our stories, but all I receive is silence from you. I assumed there might be many wives like me wishing to hear from each other and ready to claim their identity. When nothing happened, I understood that other wives weren’t interested or they didn’t want to talk. Instead of hearing from wives, I started hearing from women who were involved with priest in secret forbidden relationships, and I began answering their questions and addressing their issues. This lead to the idea of writing a book; so I started a book project, http://theapostleswivesclub.com/book-project/.
The editor of CORPUS Reports, David Gawlick, agreed to print an article where I could appeal to priests’ wives and their husbands for ways they could contribute. Then a funny thing happened. I started to realize that most of what I was writing about for these women were issues that most all priests’ wives have had to deal with to some degree and there wasn’t so much difference between the wives and the women not married. Instead of an article, I wrote a letter and I am including it here for you too because maybe you don’t read CORPUS Reports and you might want to contribute to my book in some way by sharing a story or a piece of advice.
Dear Wives Of Priests,
I have been intending to write an article for CORPUS Reports to ask readers, you, wives of priest, and your husbands to share with me some of your story and offer one piece of advice for women involved with priests for the book I have wanted to write. However, I couldn’t write the article because I am filled with conflict about it. I am not conflicted about wanting to write something more in book form, but I feel more conflict about how to present this subject to those of you who don’t seem to talk. I don’t know if you have ever explored the issues that we deal with on my blog, The Apostles Wives’ Club.
My blog wasn’t intended for women involved in secret forbidden relationships, but for women married to priests. However, the more I write, the more I realize that most of us women married to priests , with the exception of those who started relationships with their husbands after he left the priesthood, were once involved in secret forbidden relationships of some duration and intensity. I don’t quite know how to address this and or how to come to terms with this in an article since I believe that secret relationships are basically unhealthy and destructive.
There are so many issues involved with secrets. I believe that even if a couple eventually marries there will be issues stemming from that to deal with later. There are also the relationships that might have begun when a priest was a pastor, counselor, spiritual advisor, or confessor to a woman. Those are so unhealthy period. Maybe this is why I don’t hear from you. Maybe you just don’t want to deal with the subject.
There is just so much that really has little to do with whether or not we support a married priesthood, which is the focus of CORPUS. What I write about has so much more to do with secrets and how they affect our lives and how we live with our choices, and how we can make better choices.
I don’t know what many of the readers of CORPUS might feel about the subjects I deal with or even if they would be open to hearing about them? How would what I say compare with what you or your husbands believe about yourselves and your relationships? If you are out there what do you think about secret relationships? How has it affected your marriage?
You may feel less inclined to share and rather more inclined to tell me where to get off. I hope not and that maybe I will finally hear your voice.
Email me at eveapostle@yahoo.com . Hope to hear from you soon.
God bless!
Marcella Paliekara
Cardinal of Madrid: Married priests can't celebrate the Eucharist
UPDATE: Since this news came out, MOCEOP has issued a curt response to the cardinal which basically says that his statement reflects his conservative character and goes on to list various members of the Catholic Church hierarchy who MOCEOP says are supportive of optional celibacy. I am not going to translate this response because it was obviously compiled hastily and I have doubts about its accuracy (all due respect to our hermanos in Spain). -- RGby José Manuel Vidal (translation Rebel Girl)
El Mundo
9/25/2009
Madrid's Cardinal Antonio Maria Rouco Varela doesn't want to hear anything about married and laicized priests. Much less them celebrating Mass. Hence, "to avoid confusion of the faithful, the archbishop of Madrid has issued a note reminding that "the Church expressly prohibits laicized or married priests from priestly ministry."
A few days ago, various media reported that two of every ten priests, or 20% of the Spanish clergy, are married and laicized. In round numbers, that would be about 5,500 priests in Spain alone. Worldwide it is estimated that the number of married priests could be around 150,000.
Many of them left their relationship with the Church along with the priesthood. But many others continue to demand, since Vatican II, the abolition of compulsory celibacy and, therefore, a return to ministry for married priests who want to come back.
There is another group of priests, almost all belonging to the Movement for Optional Celibacy (MOCEOP) who have chosen not only to make rhetorical demands, but also the policy of fait accompli. And some are working as priests. In small communities or neighborhood parishes in various parts of Spain. Not to mention overseas, where it is common for married priests to continue in ministry, given the scarcity of vocations and a blind eye from the bishops.
As a representative of this group, Julio Perez Pinillos, has claimed in various media that he, among others, served as a priest in Vallecas. "Because now one should lead the way," he said.
The archbishop of Madrid stepped up immediately to confront "some recent statements widely disseminated in the media". The first thing he says in his note, is that "the Church prohibits married or secularized priests, who have thus abandoned their priestly commitment, from priestly ministry and, therefore, from celebrating Mass as well as other sacraments".
Despite Julio Pinillos's public statements, the Archbishop of Madrid says he has "no evidence that any priest who is in that situation is offering the sacraments in any church or place of worship in the archdiocese."
Finally, the Archdiocese of Madrid's communique insists on recommending to its priests, in the Year for Priests, "a generous and fresh impetus towards the ideal of total self-giving to Christ and the Church, which is essential to responsibly exercise the priestly ministry."
The old debate on celibacy
The debate on celibacy began in the '60s, when half of Spanish seminarians were in favor of optional celibacy. Those were the days of conciliar "aggiornamento". Even Spanish public opinion, perhaps influenced by the new winds brought by the Second Vatican Council, was overwhelmingly in favor of allowing priests to marry.
Since then this percentage has continued to grow. In every survey carried out in Spain, about 75-80% of respondents support optional celibacy and married priests.
It is not a dogma
Celibacy is not a dogma but a church law that, just as it was passed, could be abolished. Jesus never said that his disciples had to be celibate. In fact, Peter, the head of the apostles, was married. In the early centuries of the Church, there were married and single priests and even bishops, without distinction. St. Paul himself only asked that bishops "have only one wife".
For over a millennium there were married and celibate priests. In the fourth century priests were required to abstain from sex the night before celebrating the Eucharist. When the Church introduced the daily Mass, the precept of abstinence became a continuing obligation. The justification was "ritual purity": any activity or experience of sexual pleasure is incompatible with contact with the eucharistic bread.
Having not achieved the imposition of sexual continence and faced with the subsequent failure of all penalties thereon, the Second Lateran Council in 1139 enacted the law of celibacy. "The priestly ordination becomes an impediment to marriage," reads canon VII of that council. The main reason for enacting that rule was economic: married priests distributed their inheritance among their sons, decreasing the property of their diocese and the Church.
Despite the enactment of the law of celibacy, in 1500 the majority of the priests were still in "marriage-like relationships." It wasn't until the Council of Trent (mid-sixteenth century) that the Church discipline of celibacy was imposed. With a few exceptions. For example, Pius IV thought of dispensing German priests from celibacy because of entreaties from the Emperor.
With ups and downs, celibacy has been imposed on since then on the Latin-rite Catholic Church. Because, in the Eastern Rite Catholic Church optional celibacy is the rule, as well as in all other Christian denominations: Protestant, Anglican and Orthodox.
Arguments Against Celibacy
1. It is a mandatory, imposed law, when in reality it is a 'charism', which by definition has to be free.
2. St. Peter was married and Paul recommended that bishops "have only one wife". Only in the fourth century did the Church demand sexual abstinence of its priests.
3. It is a law of the Church and, therefore, can be changed by the Pope at any time.
4. The law of celibacy has created a loss in priestly vocations.
5. All other Christian denominations (Protestant, Anglican and Orthodox) and even Greek-rite Catholics allow married priests.
6. At most it should be optional.
7. Priests would be more in touch with the reality of people and families.
8. Mandatory celibacy is inhumane.
9. Loneliness is hard, "a bad advisor". Marrying would avoid the "sex scandals" among priests.
10. Celibate priests, like prostitutes, have to love everybody, but nobody in particular.
11. There are many Christians who, because of the law of celibacy, don't have access to the Mass.
12. Most of the faithful prefer married priests.
Arguments For Celibacy
1. It is a law that is freely accepted by those who are ordained priests in the Roman Catholic rite.
2. Jesus Christ, the Eternal High Priest, was celibate.
3. It is a church law, but one that is supported by the enormous weight of many centuries of tradition.
4. There is the possibility that its abolition would lead to serious problems for the Church.
5. The denominations that allow their ministers to marry don't have any more vocations than the Catholic Church.
6. If priests are allowed to marry, those who do not marry might be suspected of homosexuality.
7. Having to deal with a family would make priests less free and less willing to dedicate themselves completely to God's kingdom.
8. It would be far more costly. How could the Church provide for not only the priest but also his family?
9. The priest is never alone. He always has the company of God, the Virgin and the faithful.
10. Like Christ, he loves them all equally.
11. Their absence can be compensated for with celebrations of the Word, presided over by lay people.
12. But other clerics would be shocked and the Church must always avoid the danger of scandal.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
More from Miami...
I usually don't care to report these types of cases but I do it to drive home a point: If you are a priest and you are going to get involved with a woman and make babies, PLEASE try to pay some child support because it is the failure to do so that most often sheds a very bright and unwelcome light into your private life. Also because it is the morally and legally correct thing to do.The priest, the stripper, and their baby
By David Ovalle
Miami Herald
9/18/09
She was an exotic dancer at a Miami strip club called Porky's. He showed up wearing a Hawaiian shirt, eager to share a night in the VIP lounge.
They began a torrid, on-and-off love affair that ended for good in January, after she gave birth to a daughter she says is his. Now, she wants child support and has filed a restraining order against him.
It might be a routine, if tawdry, court case if not for respondent David Dueppen's job: Catholic priest with the Miami Archdiocese.
The sordid story line inflicts another black eye on an Archdiocese already embarassed in May, when popular Miami television priest Alberto Cutié admitted to an affair with a woman, whom he quickly married.
Dueppen, 42, who once served at the same Miami Beach parish as Cutié, is now on leave from his associate priest position at St. Maximilian Kolbe Church in Pembroke Pines.
Former stripper Beatrice Hernandez filed the restraining order last week, claiming that an argument over paternity and child support escalated when Dueppen began ``grabbing her by the throat and choking her.''
``He is the devil,'' said Hernandez, 42, of Miami, who provided DNA test results naming Dueppen as the father. ``He is the devil dressed as an angel.''
The couple's past relationship was well-known to the church. Three years ago, the archdiocese paid Hernandez a settlement stemming from their long-running affair, which started seven years ago.
Within the last year, Hernandez says, Dueppen -- still a priest -- unexpectantly showed up to rekindle their romance.
The result, she says: Her baby, Marilyn Epiphany Hernandez.
Dueppen, a former Miami-Dade middle-school teacher who became a priest 10 years ago, says his lawyer advised him not to comment.
``I can't talk with you,'' Dueppen told a Miami Herald reporter Friday, adding that Hernandez's version is ``going to have a lot of inaccuracies.''
Dueppen, at his own request, is on indefinite administrative leave, said Archdiocese spokeswoman Mary Ross Agosta, meaning he cannot perform church services or appear in priest garb.
Dueppen requested the leave for ``personal reasons'' during a meeting with Archbishop John C. Favalora in mid-August, she said.
Agosta could not say if Dueppen had revealed the baby's existence to the church, but she was unaware of the allegation. ``This information, if it's accurate, is very disappointing,'' she said.
Dueppen, looking to fulfill a spiritual void, turned to the cloth in 1999. He told The Herald at the time he had wrestled with giving up women and his dream of a large family.
``I sit down and ask Him that He give me the strength and the gifts to be able to serve His people,'' he said in an interview then. ``I am following what I believe is the will of God for me.''
A decade earlier, as a student at the University of Miami, Dueppen criticized the school's decision to install condom vending machines on campus.
``It will increase pressure for students to have sex, especially among freshmen. The only safe sex is abstinence,'' he told The Herald in a story on the controversy.
But abstinence was not in the cards when he met Hernandez, according to her account.
Hernandez says she met Dueppen while stripping near Miami International Airport. Her stage name: Lisa.
She spent a Sunday night with Dueppen -- who had shed his priest collar -- drinking wine in the VIP room. Soon, Hernandez says, Dueppen was visiting the club twice a month, and she began visiting him in the Keys, where he started out as a priest at St. Mary's Star of the Sea.
He later transferred to St. Francis de Sales Church in Miami Beach. They lived together in her West Miami-Dade town house for more than three years.
``He talked about having kids and marrying me,'' said Hernandez, who also has an older daughter from a prior relationship.
Hernandez said the relationship ended in 2006 over sexual differences.
Hernandez hired lawyer Jeffrey Herman, who threatened to sue the church under the claim that Dueppen abused his position of power by sleeping with Hernandez, and threatening her and her adult daughter with ``evil spirits'' if Hernandez left him.
The church settled out of court in July 2006, according to a Herald article at the time.
Hernandez says she and her daughter were paid $60,000. As a condition of the settlement, Hernandez and the priest were ordered to stay away from each other, she said.
According to church spokeswoman Agosta, Dueppen then went on leave to come to terms with his ``very public vow of celibacy.'' He returned after 13 months, she said.
``We are a forgiving church. He was addressing the issues and we were assured the issues had been resolved,'' she said.
Hernandez's current lawyer, Michael Feiler, said the church knew Dueppen was a problem and should have done more to ``police its ranks.''
``Instead of taking actions to correct his behavior, they just moved him 15 miles up the road,'' Feiler said.
By early 2008, Hernandez had quit her stripping job and opened a dollar store in Miami. One day, Dueppen showed up, she said.
``He has been looking for me everywhere, in every strip club,'' she said. ``A friend of mine ended up telling him the address of the store.''
They renewed their romance. ``He started talking about having kids again. He wanted to start fresh with me -- and I'm still in love with the guy, and I fell for it,'' she said.
Then, Hernandez discovered she was pregnant.
Dueppen ``refused to believe he was the father and repeatedly told [Hernandez] that she was crazy,'' according to the restraining order.
The priest, she said, finally relented to a paternity test after she threatened to tell the Archdiocese. Despite results showing Dueppen was the father, he refused to pay child support and threatened her into staying quiet, she said.
``Any movement you do -- you call the cops, you call the Archdiocese -- we are powerful,'' Hernandez, in the restraining order, quoted Dueppen as saying. ``You know what I will do. I will take this child away and you will never see this child again.''
Hernandez will be seeking child support and a permanent restraining order, said Feiler, who will represent her at a hearing in Miami-Dade family court on Thursday.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Culture Notes: The First Annual Grand Prairie Rabbit Festival
A new novel on our favorite subject to be released on 12/29/2009 for your holiday reading. Here's the pre-release review from Publisher's Weekly:The First Annual Grand Prairie Rabbit Festival
by Ken Wheaton
Kensington,
$15 paper (320p)
ISBN 978-0-7582-3852-8
Authentic Cajun touches (and recipes) spice up Wheaton's delightful debut yarn about faith and the yearnings of the flesh. Fr. Steve Sibille, the reflective protagonist, is re-evaluating his vow of celibacy after being tempted by Vicky Carrier, the sinfully conceived but beloved daughter of St. Peter's church's former padre. Father Steve considers the repeated advice of his family friend Miss Rita, a scene-stealing African-American centenarian who tells Father Steve that what he needs is a woman. Things get stickier for Father Steve when his gay friend, Fr. Mark Johnson, quits the priesthood and the Rev. Paul Tompkins attempts to woo St. Pete congregants to his Pentecostal church, leading to a big showdown and the festival of the title. Wheaton writes with an infectious energy, and his affection for the characters and culture is authentic without being overbearing or cheesy. Do the bon temps rouler? In Wheaton's hands, they sure do. (Jan.)
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