Married Priests

Now the U.S. will have a few

Back in 1534, Henry VIII broke with Rome and created the Anglican Church because he wanted to get rid of a wife and the Pope would not let him. Now, nearly 1,000 former Episcopalians, breakaways from the American branch of Anglicanism, have won permission to sign up with Rome again, and under special conditions. They had broken with the U.S. Episcopal Church, mainly over its recent decision to ordain women priests. Among the dissident Episcopalians were 65 ministers, many of them married. But how could they become Roman Catholic priests in the U.S. and still stay married?

Though the Vatican is against marriage for priests, a position that Pope John Paul II has lately been at pains to reinforce, outside the U.S. there have always been exceptions to the rule. Some priests have been, in fact, ministers from other religions who had converted. In some Eastern Rite Catholic churches, married men can become priests, though almost never bishops. In the U.S., by contrast, married priests, converts or not, are virtually unknown. But last week Archbishop John Quinn, president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, announced a startling decision. The ex-Episcopal priests will be individually evaluated by the Vatican, and if widowed, they will not be permitted to remarry, but they can become Catholic priests and remain married.

The announcement set off some sniping among Episcopalians about "stealing other people's sheep." A number regarded the decision as a setback in the negotiations to bring the Anglican and Roman churches together again; Rome had not consulted much with the Anglican or the Episcopal Church on the issue. But, said an Anglican spokesman in London: "I don't see any unusual ecumenical problems being created."

From an ecumenical standpoint, the most provocative aspect of the matter was the National Conference of Bishops' statement that these converts could become Catholics while keeping "some elements" of the Anglican tradition. Just what that might mean has yet to be worked out. To some the phrase seemed to hint at their retaining the use of the 1928 Episcopal Book of Common Prayer. Vatican sources told TIME, however, that the Book of Common Prayer could "scarcely be used in the Mass." But the concession might refer to such services as morning and evening prayer, which are not part of regular worship for Roman Catholic laymen. Historically, the church has permitted exceptions to the Roman rite of the Mass when they derive from traditions of great richness and antiquity.

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