Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Married, former Protestant minister preparing for Catholic priesthood
CNA ^ | 5/20/2010

Posted on 05/20/2010 7:15:15 AM PDT by markomalley

As former Protestant minister Scott Caton prepares for his ordination as a Catholic priest in 2011, his wife and six children are prayerfully offering their support. As a priest, he hopes to focus on reconciling men and women with God and to “break down” any misunderstandings between Protestants and Catholics.

“My wife and children have been incredibly supportive and I could not do this without their love and prayer,” Caton told the Diocese of Rochester, N.Y.

In 1980, the Vatican created a Pastoral Provision allowing married Lutheran, Anglican and Episcopal ministers to enter the priesthood after their conversion and theological-catechetical formation. 

Caton has been married for 28 years and is a former Protestant minister.  Twelve years ago, he converted to Catholicism, but recognized that God was calling him to more.

According to the Rochester diocese, Caton remarked that he has “always felt this tug, this inner true desire to continue with my vocation, in conjunction with my academic work.”

“The inward drive to become Catholic was related to my study of Scripture, theology, and the Church’s rich history, but also the beauty and the power of the Eucharist, and my need and desire for it.  And as time went on, I increasingly felt the need to be a part of giving not only myself, but also the Eucharist, to people in the way that only a priest can do.”

Caton spoke with Bishop of Rochester Matthew H. Clark about his desire to become a priest and began undergoing preparations. 

Bishop Clark expressed his excitement and pleasure at Caton's decision to become a priest saying, “Scott is a man of strong faith and keen intellect, with a wonderful personality. He’s a good man and will be a good priest.” 

Caton also received permission to be ordained from both the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and Pope Benedict.

He will be ordained a transitional deacon on June 5 by Bishop Clark.

Caton emphasized that he is excited to “reconcile women and men with God, to help bring people to their Creator, to closeness to God and closer to each other. And in some way, because of my background and my perspective, perhaps too I can help break down any walls of misunderstanding between Protestants and Catholics.”

According to the Office of Pastoral Provision, since 1983, over 70 married men have been ordained in the United States under this provision.



TOPICS: Catholic
KEYWORDS: catholic; catholicism; romancatholicism
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-65 next last
To: RnMomof7
So I assume he was a Lutheran , Anglican or Episodical PRIEST ..

Episodical?

He was a Baptist minister, actually. This may be the first time the Pastoral Provision has been applied to a former Baptist clergyman.

The question is was this guy ever saved ?? Doubt it

I'm always amused at how "once saved always saved" flies out the window as soon as someone becomes a Catholic. "Nothing can snatch me out of God's hand" really means "nothing except the Pope of Rome," apparently.

21 posted on 05/20/2010 9:17:33 AM PDT by Campion
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: RnMomof7; Campion
A saved man would never convert to Catholicism

Who died and made you God?

I actually feel very sorry for you.

22 posted on 05/20/2010 9:20:56 AM PDT by markomalley (Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: markomalley

Scottt Hahn ? No one can find evidence that the man was ever ordained.. One thing for sure he found an audience that protestants would never give him.

Protestants like sound exegesis


23 posted on 05/20/2010 9:21:56 AM PDT by RnMomof7
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: markomalley

Not as sorry as I feel for you Mark..Saved men look to Christ..Catholics look to the church..


24 posted on 05/20/2010 9:22:51 AM PDT by RnMomof7
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: Campion

I believe in the preservation of the saints, one must already be saved for God to keep you

Mat:13 25But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. 26But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. 27So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? 28He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? 29But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. 30Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.


25 posted on 05/20/2010 9:26:10 AM PDT by RnMomof7
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: RnMomof7
Scottt Hahn ? No one can find evidence that the man was ever ordained.. One thing for sure he found an audience that protestants would never give him.

Sorry. Not a big Scott Hahn fan here.

He's a little too folksy in in writing for my taste.

26 posted on 05/20/2010 9:28:43 AM PDT by markomalley (Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: RnMomof7

**The question is was this guy ever saved ?? Doubt it..**

I’m so glad you can see into other people’s hearts and souls. It must be wonderful to know everything about other people you’ve never even met and never be wrong about anything, even your own opinions.


27 posted on 05/20/2010 9:29:09 AM PDT by nanetteclaret (Unreconstructed Catholic Texan)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: RnMomof7
Not as sorry as I feel for you Mark..Saved men look to Christ..Catholics look to the church..

OK, goddess, since you are such an expert I'll have to take your word for it.

28 posted on 05/20/2010 9:29:45 AM PDT by markomalley (Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: nanetteclaret; Campion
So nanette & Sir Edmund,

Tell me what you think about this:

3 1 But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of stress. 2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 inhuman, implacable, slanderers, profligates, fierce, haters of good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding the form of religion but denying the power of it. Avoid such people. 6 For among them are those who make their way into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and swayed by various impulses, 7 who will listen to anybody and can never arrive at a knowledge of the truth. 8 As Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of corrupt mind and counterfeit faith; 9 but they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men.

So do you think that the "last days" might have begun around 1535 in Basel, Switzerland?

I just thought of that passage this morning, for some unknown reason...

29 posted on 05/20/2010 9:35:11 AM PDT by markomalley (Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]

To: nanetteclaret

We are told to be fruit inspectors.. but Catholics don’t believe that doctrine anyway.. so my opinion should mean nothing to you..obviously if he embraced Catholic theology he doesn’t believe he is saved either


30 posted on 05/20/2010 10:21:52 AM PDT by RnMomof7
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]

To: markomalley

As a former Catholic you can go to the bank with it


31 posted on 05/20/2010 10:22:50 AM PDT by RnMomof7
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: markomalley

He also make things up as he goes along ..his theology is not traditional or biblical ...it is his

Actually his writing style appeals to women more :)


32 posted on 05/20/2010 10:24:37 AM PDT by RnMomof7
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: RnMomof7
No one can find evidence that the man was ever ordained

Trinity Presbyterian Church, Fairfax, Virginia, 1982. Even the screed "The Lost Soul of Scott Hahn" admits that he was a Presbyterian pastor.

33 posted on 05/20/2010 11:10:24 AM PDT by Campion
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: RnMomof7
I'm entirely familiar with Mt 13; it's why the Protestant doctrine of an "invisible church" is false and unbiblical.

one must already be saved for God to keep you

Why is it that these "saved" people keep raising "unsaved" men to the pastorate? Apparently nobody can really tell if they, themselves, are saved, much less decide about anyone else.

Unless, of course, they turn into faithful Catholics. Then you know they were never "saved" to begin with.

34 posted on 05/20/2010 11:14:19 AM PDT by Campion
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: RnMomof7
We are told to be fruit inspectors.

It's a poor "fruit inspector" who looks at the fruit, sees "Catholic" stamped on it, and declares it to be rotten without ever examining it further.

For example, this fruit has been quite helpful to me, personally. I don't find it "rotten" at all.

35 posted on 05/20/2010 11:17:17 AM PDT by Campion
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: Campion
He was never ordained BY THE DENOMINATION ... He says another Pastor ordained him ... he was never ordained by the denomination he now proudly says he left

"The Presbyterian Church of America (PCA) had no record of his ordination or any record of Trinity Presbyterian Church, the church where he had been a pastor. Mr. Hahn acknowledged these facts but offered an explanation. Trinity Presbyterian was an independent church with an average attendance of 30 when two of its elders laid hands on him in a private ceremony in 1982. He served as their Associate Pastor for about two years. The church remained independent until its closing in 1986. Mr. Hahn told me the reason for his private ceremony was because he did not feel he was very qualified to serve as an elder at age 26, but needed the ordination to take the pastor's exemption from Social Security."
4 Proclaiming the Gospel Newsletter, quoted at:www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/2594/news98.htm

So one more time, he was never an ordained Presbyterian minister

36 posted on 05/20/2010 11:40:45 AM PDT by RnMomof7
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]

To: Campion
Why is it that these "saved" people keep raising "unsaved" men to the pastorate? Apparently nobody can really tell if they, themselves, are saved, much less decide about anyone else.

pretty much for the same reason Catholics keep ordaining homosexuals and pedophiles

37 posted on 05/20/2010 11:42:48 AM PDT by RnMomof7
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: RnMomof7
He was never ordained BY THE DENOMINATION

That makes a difference, why, exactly?

So one more time, he was never an ordained Presbyterian minister

Only PCA ministers are "ordained Presbyterian ministers"? How do OPC members feel about that? Does the PCA have exclusive claim to making "ordained Presbyterian ministers"?

38 posted on 05/20/2010 12:18:40 PM PDT by Campion
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]

To: RnMomof7
pretty much for the same reason Catholics keep ordaining homosexuals and pedophiles

You mean Presbyterians, or Baptists, or whatever ... are just as lost as Catholics?

39 posted on 05/20/2010 12:19:27 PM PDT by Campion
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]

To: RnMomof7

Scott Hahn also taught at Chesapeake Theological Seminary, which (according to their own website), was founded by the PCA.


40 posted on 05/20/2010 12:22:46 PM PDT by Campion
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-65 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson