Jeg leste nettopp følgende om gifte katolske prester (av Damian Thompson, hos Daily Telegraph):
Recently, I was at a dinner party attended by a distinguished monsignor. The elegant red-haired lady sitting next to me introduced herself. “I’m Gill,” she said. “The monsignor’s wife.”
Gill Newton, a schoolteacher, is married to Mgr Keith Newton, who holds the title of protonotary apostolic – the highest rank of monsignor in the Roman Catholic Church. As head of the Ordinariate, the structure set up by Pope Benedict for ex-Anglicans, he is almost a bishop: he wears a mitre and conducts confirmations. He and Gill have three grown-up children.
The Catholic Church in England has been ordaining married ex-Anglican clergy in significant numbers since 1992, when the C of E voted for women priests. It’s no longer much of a novelty for a parish to have a married man in charge, though he can’t technically hold the title of parish priest. There are well over 100 Catholic priests’ wives in England – and, on the whole, folk in the pews are happy. …
Resten av stykket er litt mindre på sin plass, etter min mening – for 1) det var den skotske kardinalen O’Brien som nylig foreslo at sølibatskravet kanskje burde modereres kraftig, rett før han ble presset til å gå av 2) og Damian Thompson argumenterer litt for sterkt mot den ærverdige sølibatstradisjonen.
Men det er interessant for meg – i Norge er jeg på 14. året fortsatt den eneste gifte presten, og fortsatt er min posisjon ganske uklar rent praktisk – å se hvordan de har ordnet rent dette praktisk i England