[A.A. Cunningham]

rewriting rules that have been in place for 800 years is no easy task.

More revisionist history.

The church accepts ministers who convert from other faiths, even if they are married at the time.

The Pope grants dispensations for ordination to some married Protestant ministers, mostly Episcopalians, who convert to Catholicism. Approximately 200 in North America since the Pope began granting dispensations in 1980. Those who are ordained agree that if their wife should precede them in death that they will then adopt the discipline of celibacy until their own demise.

[Investment Biker]

I have been to mass with this priest. I think that the article has some things wrong.

For example the Reverend actually is attached to the St. Louis diocese. He married a Catholic woman, I believe, that was originally from Cincinnati that is how he wound up in the Cincinnati Diocese.

[ventana]

And BTW, there has been an across the board decline in vocations in all faiths; this is true for those who allow marriage. Where Diocese are conservative, and a fair degree of orthodoxy is maintained, vocations are on the rise. The many Protestant sects are having an extremely difficult time attracting ministers: low pay, less then desirable housing allowances, and the pressures of having to answer to a congregation which may be overbearing are all named as causes of the decline, that and the secular nature of today's society. It's just the Catholics everybody talks about; go figure! V's wife.

[sinkspur]

Those who are ordained agree that if their wife should precede them in death that they will then adopt the discipline of celibacy until their own demise.

Like permanent deacons. And, the permanent diaconate is the only vocation that has been growing in the Latin Rite Church.

20,000 men, mostly married, have been ordained since 1980, in the United States.

That's 830, every year, on average.

That puts the lie to the argument that Catholic men are not willing to serve the Church.