First married Catholic priest ordained in Buffalo, NY under papal celibacy exception rule

@ ScottMcGowan: Great truth in the first part of yr post but the second bit regarding women priests is unfortunately just a never-achievable aspiration for many of us lay Catholics – a true test of our humility before God’s judgement against our own wishful human-equality thinking. As for Mary Magdalene, who was called the “Apostle of the Apostles” by St. Thomas Aquinas, you have to remember that “Apostle” means Messenger. St Mary Magdalene was the one who carried the message of Christ’s Resurrection to the others… she was the Messenger (of the Resurrection) to the Appointed Messengers to the world, the ones that our Lord appointed to “Go tell everyone…” That appears to have been His choice and I, and every one else as well, have a say in that choice, not even the Vatican and other Catholic Popes have either. In fact, she was the “Apostle TO the Apostles”. (More…)

Like all Catholics, I welcome the prospect of John Cornelius being a fully ordained priest within the RCC. He has truly, at last, seen “The Light” of the full Truth in Christ within the Catholic Churches, of which the RCC is the primary See (or seat) of the primary Apostle of Christ. May many more like him do so, is my prayer.

We had a former Episcopal priest in San Antonio, Texas ordained in thelate 80's and he is Fr. Christopher Philips or the Church of Our Lady of the Atonement, set up by the Archdiocese of San Antonio for former Episcopalians. Their liturgy is beautiful. Happy to see the formation of the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter.

For at least the first half of the history of the Church, married clergy were the norm. Indeed, even in the monasteries of Ireland there were married priests and nuns. It is time to return to our original roots - and necessary, given the shortage of priests. I welcome this ordination(reordination?). I also look to forward to the time when the Church finally admits women into the priesthood. the argument has been that Christ's apostles were men only but can we be sure that the first person to view the empty gravesite of Christ was Mary M. - perhaps another Apostle!?! The Catholic Chuch consists of about 17 different rite with only the Roman rite not allowing marriage among the clergy. Not sure if my stats. are correct but the bottom line is that even the apostles were married! Scott McGowan

Although this is a step in the right direction, more is in order. Do you know that if someone like myself became a deacon, I would not be permitted to get married? Presumably, dating women would be frowned upon, as well. If, however, I resigned as a deacon, I could then get married, in the Catholic Church. For priests, it is downright discriminatory to allow Episcopal converts to enter the Catholic priesthood, while married, but to allow unmarried converts in, under the premise that they would be prohibited from marrying! It is high time that the Church permitted married men, AND SINGLE MEN, WHO MAY SOMEDAY MARRY, to enter the priesthood. Furthermore, the single seminarian/priest should be able to go out with gals from his own school, or parish. I am referring to those girls who may work for the seminary, in a secular capacity. BTW, I recently heard that a late pastor from my church DID go out with a woman, while he was a seminarian. I was told that, as he escorted her back to her residence, a sister (nun) called out: "That man has no power over you"!!

This is incorrect. Father Doug Lorig converted to Catholicism in 1979. Since he was already a married Episcopalian priest, the Catholic Church approved his ordination despite his marital status, making him one of the few Roman Catholic priests to be married. He has four children, fifteen grandchildren and an appreciative flock at St. Maria Goretti in Scottsdale, Arizona, where he lives with his wife, Nancy. Father Lorig was our Pastor at St. Anne's Catholic Community in Gilbert Arizona before transferring to ST Maria Goretti. I traveled with a group in 2000 to Rome led by Father Lorig and I served as both a EM and Sacristan while he was our Pastor. There are less than 100 such priests in the US.

Great to hear it has been around. Now to ordain the the women too. We should also encourage men who are married in the church already to become priest.

Not new here in South Carolina, we have two that I know of. The first one was at least 20 years ago and he's still a pastor at a Catholic Church that was once Espiscopalian. In fact 1/2 of the congregation became Catholic also... he kept the Church.

Of course, marr‎ied priests but not women priests! The President's inaugural address "Our journey is not complete until our wives, our mothers, and daughters can earn a living equal to their efforts." President Barack Obama.

Ooops. Forgot to proofread.

Nothing new about this. I don't understand how former Evidently, Episcopalian priests are able to perform their priestly duties while married, but Catholic priests would not be able to do so if they were married. It sounds like a double standard - a church so desperate for priests that they'll gladly bend the rules for a select few.

So the new Catholic dictum states you ARE allowed to get married and have a family---but only if you are an Episcopalian? Interesting.

. Cardinal Egan, while Bishop in Brigeport, Connecticut ordained an Episcopalian Priest who became the Chaplin at St. Brigitta's, Darien, CT. .

He is not the first. Here in St. Louis, there was an Episcopalian convert, John J. Highes, some twenty years ago.

He's not the first in NY. Years ago, there used to be a British priest who was the chaplain of Burke Catholic HS in Goshen. He also was a former Episcopalian priest, and had a wife and children. He came to our parish in Maybrook to help out.