The Gift of Married Priests

THE TABLET
02/07/2005

The gift of married priests

John Crowley

After 40 years as a priest, the Bishop of Middlesbrough hopes for a mixed, celibate and non-celibate clergy. Access to Mass, rather than marital status, matters

RECENTLY it has been my happiness to celebrate 40 years of priesthood. On the actual anniversary date itself I was able to offer a Jubilee Mass of Thanksgiving in our cathedral, together with many of my brother priests, deacons and lay faithful. It was an intensely joyful experience which touched me more deeply than I had anticipated. On the eve of that celebration I was interviewed on local radio on a whole range of issues which included a question about my view on married priests. I expressed the personal hope that within my lifetime the Church might more generally allow married priests. Subsequently that remark has produced some lively debate, not least in some parts of the Catholic press. That is all to the good, but it might be helpful to put my remarks into their wider context, and The Tablet has kindly allowed me the space to do so.

[To read the piece, click here.]
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