I’m a Catholic Priest and I Am Married

Father Simon Chinery has been married for 35 years. He is also a Catholic priest.

I am sitting in the immaculately clean living room of his house, where he explains how things happened.

After spending years working as a scientist and then as a computer expert, Chinery became a priest in the Church of England, when he was over 40 years old.

• Amazonian Synod: the Catholic Church debates the ordination of married priests
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But, he tells me, “a few years after I was ordained in the Church of England, Pope Benedict XVI came out with this offer.”

The proposal he refers to is to allow Anglicans who felt uncomfortable with certain issues – such as the ordination of women as priests – to integrate into the Catholic Church.

If they did, they would be allowed to preserve some of their traditions and liturgies. A very important detail was that Anglican ministers who were married at the time of the conversationthey could keep their marital status as Catholic priests.

Papal offer

On October 20, 2009, Pope Benedict XVI announced the establishment of a special structure within the Catholic Church to welcome Anglicans who would like to integrate.

“My wife and I were celebrating 25 years of marriage in Istanbul when my son sent us a message that said ‘connect to the internet fast,’” says Father Simon.

“We watched the news together and I knew it was something I had to consider. Then we discussed it with our friends and with the clergy,” he adds.

Two years later, a special section was created in the Catholic Church, the personal ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, which Simon joined.

I ask him how his wife Joan felt about the decision.

“My wife had a great role in this discussion. I would not have been ordained as a Catholic priest without your express consent. She had to write a letter to the Holy Father (Pope Benedict XVI) expressing his agreement with the decision. We did the whole process of moving to the Catholic Church together after many conversations and prayers, “he says.

Celibacy as a “pattern for the priesthood”

When talking to him, it seems to me that Father Simon and his wife are equal partners when it comes to making decisions about their home.

Then, I ask him: why did the fact that women assume leadership positions – like the office of bishop – generated such discontent as to leave the Church of England?

He insists that this was not the reason he left, but also points out that has “important doubts about whether it is correct for women to be ordered, since the priests are like another Christ, and Christ was a man. “

Rather, he says, he was driven by the desire to see the reunified Church.

“In the 1970s and 1980s there was much hope that there would be a reunification between the Catholic Church and the Church of England“, he tells me.

“Unfortunately, during these years those hopes have not been fulfilled. In fact, the churches have separated even more,” he says.

“When Benedict made us that generous offer to join (the Catholic Church) while maintaining some of our Anglican traditions and practices, I was totally delighted and gladly accepted,” he adds.

But what about the issue of celibacy? I ask.

“Celibacy has always been seen as the pattern to be followed by priests,” he says.

“Christ was celibate and devoted himself entirely to his work. A priest must place himself in the place of Christ on the altar and represent him in the best way, “he adds.

At the same time, it highlights the fact that in the traditional Eastern Catholic Church priests are allowed to marry when there are “good pastoral reasons.”

Married priests in the Amazon?

But what does Father Simon think of the proposal to allow married men living in the Amazon to be ordained as priests?

This is an idea that Pope Francis was evaluating and that in the end was dismissed.

• Pope Francis closes the door for married men to be ordained priests in the Amazon

To some towns of that region only a priest arrives once a year.

Only a priest can consecrate the Eucharist, which is a key part of the Mass, which in itself is a vital part of the spiritual life in Catholicism.

The idea was to be able to order men who are highly respected and preferably members of the indigenous communities they would serve.

These men could have wives and families.

Those who support this initiative that has just been discarded by the Vatican say that it is preferable to the alternative that people cannot attend Mass.

Celibacy Support

Simon says he recommends “caution.”

“The gift of celibacy is a very valuable gift for the Church and I would think that whatever is done that could weaken it needs to be thought carefully, “he says.

“If people believe that if they get married then they will have the opportunity to become priests, will that make young people (single) avoid being ordained?” He asks.

“I think it’s too soon and this hasn’t been thought enough,” he says.

“But that is my opinion. The ordinariate does not have a position as such about married priests. We do not believe that this is our role. We are part of a larger Catholic Church.”

I question him if he perceives any contradiction between the arrangement that was made to welcome married priests who were in the same situation and their position on the proposals on the Amazon.

“In my case and in the case of those in the Western Church It has always been very clear that what was done was an exception. It would be different if this became the norm, “he says.

“How long would it be before other areas where priests are also missing began to ask themselves: ‘If it’s okay for the Amazon, why not for us?’ I think there would be pressures to extend it to places where it may not be so justified, “he adds.

I ask him if he sees any kind of double standards in his posture.

“I am a married priest, it would be silly of me to say that there are no circumstances in which it would be appropriate for married men to become priests,” he says.

It indicates that what is important is “discern if in places like the Amazon the needs are so pressing to overcome the importance of celibacy“.

“It’s a difficult decision,” he adds.

So do you think something has been lost, given your belief in celibacy as a gift?

“Well, yes,” he says.

But, he adds, “I have had the joy of being married and having a family, something that would not change for anything in the world.”

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