Some exceptions in Catholic rules

By Peter Smith  • August 25, 2008

The Roman Catholic Church has required priests to be celibate since at least the 12th century, but there are exceptions.

So-called Eastern Rite churches, for example, are loyal to Rome but follow many Eastern Orthodox traditions, including the married priesthood.

And beginning in the 1950s, popes began approving the ordinations of married former Lutheran pastors who had converted to Catholicism. In 1980, Pope John Paul II approved a "Pastoral Provision" outlining procedures for ordaining married priests who had converted from the Episcopal Church.

Nearly 100 former Episcopalians have been ordained under the provision, said Monsignor William Stetson of the national Office of the Pastoral Provision. Among them was the Rev. Jeffrey Hopper, who was ordained as the Archdiocese of Louisville's first married priest in 2006 and serves as an assistant pastor at St. James Church in Elizabethtown. The Vatican has processed similar requests from married ministers who converted from other Protestant denominations, although it has no formal policy or office to oversee them.

Researcher Frederick J. Luhmann, author of "Call and Response: Ordaining Married Men as Catholic Priests," has tracked 13 such priests from Lutheran, Methodist and Presbyterian backgrounds -- but no Baptists.

Married priests cannot be parish pastors -- a recognition that the heavy workload would interfere with family life, Stetson said. But they can help administer parishes and preside at Mass and other sacraments. (courier-journal.com)