Posted on 12/12/2010 3:30:55 PM PST by SmithL
Jeff Henry's long journey of faith has brought him full circle, not only back to the church in which he was baptized as an infant but also back to serving God. When he's ordained at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament on June 4, he will become the Sacramento Catholic Diocese's first converted, married priest.
"This will be new for us," said Bishop Jaime Soto. "I announced it to our priests on Monday, and they're very excited. They were curious but very welcoming of the idea. I think it will be an adventure not just for Jeff and his wife but for us."
With Peg, his wife of 26 years, at his side, Henry called their grown daughter when he learned two weeks ago that the Vatican has approved his application to become a Roman Catholic priest.
"I said, 'Guess what? I'm going to be a father again,' " said Henry, 51, a former Lutheran minister who lives in Vacaville.
Under pastoral provision, Catholic canon law since 1980 has allowed former clergy from other faiths – primarily Episcopal – to be ordained into the priesthood. About 100 currently serve in this country, including a handful of former Lutherans and one converted Baptist. Few of them, according to Mary Gautier of Georgetown University's Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, or CARA, are assigned as parish priests.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
Yes. Do you have any evidence that he is not a double minded man?
I sincerely think other Lutheran pastors may follow and we might see what is now happening in the Anglican Church happening in the Lutheran Church.
I would agree that in those cases, it the ECLA is not much better than the Church of Satan. That being said, I don't think the Catholic Church has a special dispensation for men who are married and leave the Church of Satan to become Catholics. Would they be eligible to become Catholic Priests?
**Yes. Do you have any evidence that he is not a double minded man?**
The evidence that he is NOT double-minded is that he continued to seek the truth, and as a result, converted.
So are you saying that all converts are double minded?
Would someone with no religion who converted to your church be called double-minded by you? Or would you rejoice that he had found the truth as you know it?
He also began a course of study at St. Patrick's Seminary in Menlo Park [2005], and with the guidance of Weigand and, in turn, Soto, he began the long application process for pastoral provision.Okay, he started schooling in 2005, but his application wasn't accepted until two weeks ago? I'm not hip to the process of becoming a priest I don't think. I thought once you entered a seminary, provided you finished still wanting to become a priest, you were guaranteed a position somewhere in your diocese. But Harry still had to apply? Why would he go through all that schooling if he wasn't being assured a position?
the screening for seminarians now has grown very STRICT. That’s all I can say. Psychological two day exams, extensive questions, schooling, innumeral personal character references, and then think of all the other screenings that go on by non-church authorities. I’m sure you get my drift.
I guess that's the road to take. Leave the Catholic Church, become a Lutheran pastor, then get married, then return to the Catholic Church and you can be a married priest.I guess I'm going to have to be "sour grapes" too, because I tend to agree with you. Not only that, but coming back as a married priest, you are completely taken care of financially. You, your spouse, any young kids, etc.
pulpit=altar
His head, hands, etc. would be consecrated by the Bishop at his Catholic Ordination in the Sacrament of Holy Orders.......so I’m not understanding your reluctance here.
We have had two married priests in our Archdiocese. One recently died at a Priest’s retreat.
Hi Dave, and thank you. I’m fresh off a TLM today, so I’m all up about the amazing respect that is so evident there. And it comes natural to me, while in attendance, to pray for the boys serving, yet, when there are girls serving as well at an English NO, for example, while my prayers still continue, they are of a different variety, not so much focused on vocations.
P-Marlowe:
Actually, that would not be allowed for someone like me for example, a Baptized, First Holy COmmunion and Confirmation received in the Catholic Church who then leaves the Catholic Church and becomes an Anglican-Episcopalian or Lutheran Clergyman, who is married, and then returns to the Catholic Church and gets ordained.
P-Marlowe:
I don’t think this man was a Baptized Catholic who left and became a Lutheran Pastor.
For example, the Primate of the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC), Hepworth, is in fact a former Catholic who left and became an Anglican and then left the Church of England along with other Catholic leaning ANglicans to form TAC. He is involved with the group of Anglicans wanting to come into Full Communion with the Catholic Church via Anglicanorum coeitibus.
However, from what I understand, he will not be ordained under the Pastoral Provision that this former Lutheran Clergyman was ordained under.
Hepworth is a former RC priest. AC goes to great lengths to prevent RC priests from using it as a way to marriage.
I did not see anything in this article where this man, through his own volition, left the Catholic Church. If his parents left the Church while he was an infant or a child, that is another thing altogether.
Canon 1041 says:
Can. 1041 The following are irregular [NB: Irregular means perpetually impeded] for receiving orders:
…
2/ a person who has committed the delict of apostasy, heresy, or schism;
So do you have some other source that indicates that he left the Catholic Church as an adult (or even as an older youth)?
WhoHuhWhat:
I new he was a former Catholic but could not remember whether he was also a Catholic Priest. THanks for the information
The author of the article is incorrect. Only former Anglicans/Episcopalians are ordained under The Pastoral Provision. Converts from other protestant denominations are ordained with a dispensation from the discipline of celibacy. In all cases, the candidate for ordination must agree that if their spouse precedes them in death they will then adopt the discipline of celibacy for the remainder of their life. No agreement, no ordination.
An urban legend perpetuated by the ignorant.
What is this? The 1300s?
Why not educate yourself? 21 of the 22 Churches sui juris which comprise the Catholic Church ordain, as a norm, married men.
That's why I have you.
The author is mistaken. Only Anglican/Episcopalian converts are ordained under The Pastoral Provision. Henry is being ordained under a dispensation from the discipline of celibacy.
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