Earlier this year, Father Alberto Cutié, a popular radio and television personality in Miami, found himself the subject of tabloid headlines when he was photographed relaxing on the beach with a woman who turned out to be his longtime girlfriend. Shortly afterward, he announced that he was leaving the Catholic Church to become an Episcopal priest, and in June he and his girlfriend were married in a civil ceremony. The reasons Cutié gave for his conversion to the Anglican Communion were not theological in nature; his primary motivation seemed to be to free himself from the celibacy requirement that the Catholic Church demands of its Latin Rite priests.
How unique is Cutié’s story? How many other Catholic priests have left the church for another denomination in order to marry? Could Cutié’s conversion signal the beginning of another wave of men leaving the priesthood? Until November 2008, when I completed my dissertation on the transition of celibate Catholic priests into married Protestant ministry, it would have been impossible to address these questions. The data I collected over the course of a year allowed me to conduct the first-ever analysis in this field.
Though many social scientists (including my granduncle, sociologist Joseph Fichter, S.J.,) had studied the phenomenon of priests leaving ministry since the late 1960s, I could not find a single research project that dealt with this specific subset. Not even the most elementary demographic data were available. How many Catholic priests chose to become Protestant ministers? From which branch of the priesthood (diocesan or religious) did they originate? What Protestant churches did they choose to join? All of these questions were unanswered.
Fifty or Five Thousand?
In his 1961 book Religion as an Occupation, Fichter noted that some “ex-priests” chose to continue their pastoral work in Protestant ministry, but cited only two examples. In Married Catholic Priests: Their History, Their Journey, Their Reflections (2004), Anthony Kowalski writes of “many” who have married and now serve in mainline churches but mentions only five Episcopalians and two Lutherans by name. Certainly there are more but no one seems to know exactly how many. Are there 50, 500, 5,000?
Thanks to information gathered from the research offices of the five mainline Protestant Churches (Congregational, Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian), I was able to identify 414 such men in the United States. Following the advice of the late Dean Hoge, I did not contact the Baptist Church or any of the hundreds of small Protestant denominations, presuming that very few Catholic priests would be inclined to join them.
Nearly one-third of the 414 former Catholic priests now serving in Protestant ministry agreed to participate in my survey. Of the 131 respondents, 105 (80.2 percent) became Episcopalian, 15 (11.5 percent) Lutheran, eight (6.1 percent) Congregationalist, and three (2.3 percent) Methodist. I found a 40-year age range: the youngest was 42 and the eldest 82. Their mean age was 62.8 while the median was 64.
The “typical” participant in my study, therefore, was born around 1944. If we divide his life into seven 9-year periods, we find him immersed in Catholic devotions and rituals during the first two timeframes. His service as an altar boy and the encouragement he received from the nuns facilitated his entry into the seminary at the age of 18 in 1962. He dedicated the third period of his life, during the heyday of Vatican II, to preparing for ordination at the age of 27 in 1971. He spent the fourth phase in active Catholic ministry and struggled with his commitment to celibacy. At the age of 36 in 1980, at the beginning of the fifth period, he resigned from ministry, got married, worked for a few years in a non-ministerial job, and eventually began his journey to his new denomination. From 1989 to 2007, he served as a married Protestant minister, twice the amount of time he spent as a Catholic priest.
‘An Agonizing Decision’
Many respondents spoke at length about the critical decision-making juncture of their lives. Most described it, as did Alberto Cutié, as a heart-wrenching process. A former diocesan priest, who now serves as a Congregationalist minister, said:
I had such a nervous encounter with my bishop and with my parents. It was a period of constant headaches. It was a very difficult decision. I was so torn between Sally (pseudonym) and celibacy. When I finally resolved the dilemma, the headaches stopped… It truly was an agonizing decision. I still recall how poorly the bishop treated me. I felt that he really didn’t care about me. I remember my mother saying, “But you are one of the good ones!” I told her that I just couldn’t do it anymore. In the end, both of my parents were very supportive; I was blessed with two great parents. It was an agonizing decision especially after spending eight years in the seminary and nine years in ministry.
Once they began to doubt their commitment to celibacy, most participants began weighing the choices before them. One was to “bite the bullet” and remain a celibate Catholic priest. A second option was to seek a dispensation and thereby enter into a Catholic marriage, but in the process forfeit their beloved ministry. The third alternative, the one that Cutié and the survey respondents chose, was to renounce their Roman Catholic affiliation in order to enter ministry in another domination.
When asked why they made the transition, six out of ten respondents cited celibacy. “I joined the Episcopal Church because I wanted to have the option of being married,” one participant wrote. Some conveyed a deep attachment to the Catholic Church: “My only reason was so that I could get married. Otherwise, I would have stayed.” For the majority, becoming Protestant only occurred after they married. In general, the respondents did not resign because they disliked ministry or had failed at it. Had the pope allowed them to marry, many would have stayed. Three of the respondents stated that they would return to the Catholic priesthood today—if they could bring their wives along with them.
The Congregationalist minister above spoke about his time in Catholic seminary as “the best eight years of my entire life.” He described the monks in charge of his formation as men of great kindness, role models who provided him with a solid theological education and a positive spiritual foundation. His problems began during his first assignment:
I was doing really well in my ministry, but rectory life was killing me. The pastor, who was great with the parishioners, had this notion that you need to treat the young priests harshly. He was really hard on us. He made all the rules. There was no discussion. I began to lose weight. I asked the bishop for a transfer. My second pastor was an alcoholic. Besides that, he had his ‘boyfriend’ over at the rectory so often that it made me feel uncomfortable. I asked the bishop for another transfer and this time I was assigned to a truly great pastor. He was so kind to me, and he was someone that I deeply admired. I have often thought that had Father Michael (pseudonym) been my first pastor, I might still be a Catholic priest today. . . . My main issue was with celibacy, however. I always thought that it was unjust, especially when the Pastoral Provision (permission that Pope John Paul II granted in 1980 to Episcopalian ministers to serve as married Catholic priests after their conversion) came through. I thought that such a decision was a double standard. I was battling loneliness. . . . I think that I would have stayed as a Roman Catholic priest if celibacy had been optional.
Other respondents spoke about their dislike for specific tenets of Catholic dogma. Many pointed to the publication of Humanae Vitae as a major turning point in their lives. One former diocesan priest, who is now 80 years old, said, “Humanae Vitae pushed me off the edge. I saw that act as the refusal of the Roman Catholic Church to enter the modern world.”
One of the Episcopalians in the study clearly presented what I categorized as the two main motivating factors: the pull of the “heart” issue (falling in love) and the demands of the “head” (doctrinal dissent):
During my first three years of ordained ministry as a priest, I fell in love with a woman who was the youth minister at my parish. Even though I had questioned the discipline of celibacy before, I began to seriously question and struggle with it. I began to feel that God was calling me in a different direction, that celibacy might not be my calling. Coupled with the struggle over celibacy, I seriously questioned the Roman Catholic Church’s treatment of women, laypeople and homosexuals. The establishment in Rome was becoming more rigid and moving the church backwards. The reforms of Vatican II came under fire. It came to the point where I could not imagine being happy in 20 years if I remained in ministry in the Roman Catholic Church. I felt God was calling me to pursue something else. I dreamed of finding a denomination where I could continue to minister with my wife, a gifted youth and family minister.
New Church, Familiar Liturgy
When asked why they chose their current denomination, the majority of respondents spoke of the strong similarity between their present church and the Catholic Church in terms of liturgy, ministry and theology. This was especially true for the Episcopalians and seems to explain why so many of the survey respondents gravitated to the Anglican Communion. Most of those who joined the Episcopal Church said that with only minor adjustments they “felt at home” from the beginning and that they found comfort in the fact that they could hold onto their core beliefs in the Resurrection and the Eucharist. Over time they modified their views on other subjects, such as papal infallibility and women’s ordination, but many of them had already begun to question the validity of those doctrines.
Before I began the interviews, I hypothesized that diocesan priests would be overrepresented in my sample because they seem to be at greater risk for loneliness than religious order priests. (Most religious live in community, while diocesan priests often live alone in rectories because of the shortage of priests.) The survey results support this hypothesis. Based on the historical ratio of American diocesan clergy to religious, one would expect to find 61.5 percent diocesan priests in this sample; in fact, 72.3 percent of the respondents had served in diocesan ministry. (Recall that Cutié was a diocesan priest.)
Where Cutié differs from most of the men I surveyed is in the historical timing of his decision. The majority of respondents began their journey to a new church in the period from the late 1960s to the early 1980s. It seems unlikely that Cutié’s example will spark another wave of priestly resignations. According to research conducted by Dean R. Hoge and Jacqueline E. Wenger in Evolving Visions of Priesthood: Changes from Vatican II to the Turn of the New Century (2003), young priests today are more theologically conservative than their immediate predecessors and are more likely therefore to embrace the church’s traditional teaching on celibacy. Questions remain, however, about how many young Catholic men have chosen lay or Protestant ministry over the Catholic priesthood because of the demands of celibacy—a fitting area of inquiry, perhaps, for another curious sociologist.
Your article is interesting, and as Lutheran clergy I have a few comments about your term minister as applied to Protestant clergy. As a Lutheran Pastor, I am also a priest. All the baptized in my tradition are ministers. It is not a term reserved for the ordained. As an unmarried Lutheran Pastor I am also required to be celibate.
It is my understanding that Episcopalian clergy are also referred to as priests not ministers. The person pictured in your article, Rev. Bill Lowe is a married Episcopal priest who became a Catholic priest under the pastoral provision and is not mentioned by name in your article nor are the circumstances by which you chose to use his picture mentioned.
The Roman Catholic church seems to want exclusive use of the word priest to refer to its ordained and that is inaccurate.
Thank you for your interesting article. The Rev. Lynn Enloe
As a retired Scottish presbyter spending some time each year in the USA I am astounded at the too common alienation between US presbyters and their bishops who seem to have adopted the lifestyle and attitude of the worst of the First World which the US democratic egalitarian culture has largely abandoned ( except for the new Lords of the milti-million dollar Manors who sank the world economy in recent years). An overhaul of the clericalization of the structure is called for and then you could see what new model could be exported as you gave the world the separation of powers that the Church badly needs from My Lords, Excellencies and Eminences who seem to forget they are Shepherd Fathers not Kings with Swords choppong heads. WWJD_ probably head to the loo and throw up. My sugested change which calls for conversion can offer more support for lone-ranger clergy and build a support system for celibacy which would help somewhat if not solve the ancient struggle every age faces for every man and woman whether vowed to celibacy or married and feeling called to change status or stay in minitry or marriage.
Perhaps the problem is not so much with celibacy but the clergy seeing themselves as merely community leaders. If that is the case, then why not marry? All community leaders and psychiatrists are married.
Once the sacrificial character of the priesthood has vanished - and it did in the sixties. The celibacy and purity of the clergy was lost. It is true with all things once their purpose has been destroyed in the minds of men.
God help Catholic priests remain celibate. It is part of their noble calling. Remember what St. Paul says, that those who dedicate themselves to virginity have chosen the better path and, unlike the married man, can offer a better sacrifice to God.
"He that is without a wife, is solicitous for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please God. But he that is with a wife, is solicitous for the things of the world, how he may please his wife: and he is divided." (Cor 7: 32-33) Such is the man married, and the man unmarried. If I need a priest, I would go to one who's heart is not divided between pleasing his wife and pleasing his God.
As I told a fellow Episcopal priest just yesterday, I consider myself almost defined by the reality of being priest. I resigned and accepted the fiction of laicization only in order to be in the good graces of the church when married clergy were invited back into service in ordained ministry. Until it became apparent that John Paul II wasn't about to recognize the church's need for married clergy, I never seriously considered ministry in any other communion and I began to think of that other branch of Catholic Christianity, the Anglican Communion. But before considering that it might become a home to me and accept my priestly ministry, I recognized the prophetic role of the Episcopal Church in its decision to ordain women to the priesthood in 1976.
In 1989, desiring to be married to my second and present wife [in consecutive, not simultaneous bigamy], with her I approached the Episcopal Church, we received pre-marital instructions, I was received into the Episcopal Church, we were married and I entered into the process which ended with my being received as a priest nearly 15 years ago. Called back into 'official' ordained ministry at 59, I've mostly assisted in parishes as a volunteer but have served as interim pastor in three dioceses while also making the church present in the civic life of my community.
I have no statistics but I think there are a lot more of us serving in the Episcopal Church than Fichter discovered, with two former diocesans, a Benedictine and myself right here in Tucson.
Frankly, I've tired of these "Vatican II priests". Give me the witness of men like John Paul II, Walter Ciszek SJ, St. John Neumann CSsR, and Peter Maurin rather than priests who will not fulfill their vocation or who have 'boyfriends'. I am hopeful as these "60s priests" are replaced by theologically conservative, service driven priests.
Mr. Barker rightly states that "God alone will judge". However, as these "John Paul II priests" begin to run the church, we will hopefully never again suffer the disgrace of pedophile priests, priests-in-crisis, and moral cowards for bishops/cardinals.
In our small state, two young priests left to become very effective married Episcopalian priests. They were great losses. The ordinary treated one shamefully. I firmly believe celibacy will be gone when availability of the Eucharist is seriously compromised by a priest shortage.
I have heard complaints about Episcopalian priests who become Catholic priests - too authoritarian, and not at all inclined to welcome lay initiative.
My daughter became Episcopalian, and both her pastor and his wife are priests. It's a wonderful partnership.
I raise these questions because of my own experience prior to my calling and during the early stages of preparation to enter the seminary (novitiate) at the age of 25. The year before I entered the novitiate, I spent at St. Philip Neri Preparatory Seminary, which was located in Haverhill, MA. There were twenty-five of us devoting serious thought and educational time to beginning studies for the priesthood. During that year, we often shared, amongst ourselves, the reasons for and experiences, which led to "trying out" the possible invitation by God to enter into the priesthood.
Several of my confreres, who were older, experienced their call for a long period of time. One could compare their experience to Gerard Manley Hopkins pome "The Hound of Heaven." Others like myself were more of a sudden revelation, followed by a year of discernment with the help of a parish priest counseling me during this time.
Then there others who made the decision, almost upon completion of high school studies.
What is important is the remote and proximate experience and circumstances surrounding the person at the time of their decision. There were five of us ordained forty+ years ago. In less than ten years the other four confreres left and married? We were all in a religious community? All of them were graduates and very bright of the junior seminary? There are times I wondered about their decision. My decision to stay is even a greater mystery than their departure?
In no way do I intend to question or doubt the sincerity of their motives. As we all know only God can fully explain motives for human action on all levels. All motives are a mixture of the Holy Spirit and the person.
Finally, a word about my own attitude towards celibacy and the religious life/priesthood. During my years at the seminary college level (1962-1965 - Vatican II era), I said repeatedly to others and myself, when the subject of a married priest arose in our informal discussions, that I would either be a priest or a married man. I would not try to do the two at the same time. All of us in studies, during the years of Vatican II were talking about the possibility of a married clergy and other items discussed at or a result of Vatican II discussions.
Celibacy is not a law, it is a gift. We can accept it or reject it. Celibacy opens your life to all of creation in a very unique way, just as a married or single life - but differently. No matter what choice we make, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit it is difficult to bring the Kingdom of God into that existence. Each of us in our own way must struggle with fantasies and sinful dangers presented by our culture. This temptation is no different than the experience of our "first parents" in the Garden of Eden.
Celibacy is a wonderful gift, but only meant for those to whom it is offered - not all. It is a painful decision to reject the intimate companionship offered by married life. Yet, as we all know marriage is it's own cross.
Several days ago, I con-celebrated at the funeral Mass of a good friend. He was ninety when he died. His spouse of 60 years, sat in a wheel chair next to the coffin during that Mass. It pained me to be aware of the grief his wife was experiencing at this holy moment. Sixty years is not just a long time, it is a time of profound deepening love and relationship. It is an eternity! Also, their lives were a great witness to the presence of God in the lives of two people.
As a celibate person, you experience many times a loving relationship, with all of God's creation, especially the ultimate divine creation the human person. But, this is not the same loving relationship as married life. Some are called to it. Many others are not called to that relationship. Should these two very unique relationships be entered upon by one person? I am not sure?
Is there an anomaly in being a married Catholic priest? Yes, indeed. One way to understand is by noting that at every Mass in the Eucharistic prayer, we pray for the unity of the church. We proclaim it in the Creed. We offer it in the unity of the bishops and faithful with the See of Peter. The Pastoral Provision which is a step toward reconciling the third largest group of Christians after the Catholics and the Orthodox, is a gracious gift for which many Anglicans are deeply grateful. Celibacy is discipline of great value to the ordained ministry, but it is not of the essence of the church. But the unity of the church is the heart of the matter. Celibacy is not easy. Marriage is not, either, and protestant ministry is littered with failed marriages at the same or higher rates than among the laity. I am told that younger priests are deeply committed to the discipline of celibacy and are much less likely to be in favor of ordaining married men.
A married priest is an anomaly in the Latin rite, and in this anomalous place, it is certain there will be misunderstandings and hurt feelings. To all of those who may be offended by my presence in the Catholic Church, I say that I am deeply sorry, deeply grateful for the opportunity to be of service as a Catholic priest, and even more deeply grateful for the privilege of being Catholic.
When I converted, I put my priesthood on the altar. If it seemed good to God that I leave it behind, I would have been sad, but it is a sacrifice I would have made for the privilege of being Catholic, in unity with the Catholic Church's witness to life and justice, and the depth of faith which makes that witness possible. If ever this anomalous position becomes a scandal to my brother priests and to the lay faithful, then my offer to God still stands. Priesthood must remain on the altar, because it is not mine, but God's.
Perhaps those laicized priests who married and remain Catholic did something similar by making their priesthood an offering to God as I did mine. If so, they are offering the very best they have. Sometimes an offering is returned for a time, as in my case. Sometimes God accepts the offering and does not return it.
One's theological argument...to be 'kosher' ought to at least reflect 4 'angles of attack'. One, scriptural precedent. Two, the witness of Church history across centuries and cultures. Three, the witness of 2,000 years worth of mystics, saints, and doctors on the question or any theme related (to see what the Spirit has been saying across centuries, cultures, etc.) and finally, four, whether the argument in favor of the change can be made to analogous situations.
I find nothing in Old or New Testaments that points to Our Lord looking kindly on men freely making vows to do something...but then unilaterally deciding it's too hard. Parting the Red Sea or walking on the sea of Galilee were "hard". Monogamy for the sake of the Kingdom and celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom are surely difficult, but hardly heroic. Do we doubt the sacramental grace of state's ability to supernaturalize our free commitments?
How many Church councils, mystics and saints can be marshalled to this cause? Few, I believe. But then perhaps those enamoured with "progress" don't care about the past. Fine. How about the future applicability of this proposed change (allowing currently vowed celibates to 'opt out') to other commitments freely entered into? Like government, business, and marriage oaths, contracts, and covenants? It would seem logically necessary to allow the gander to have as many 'rights' as the clerical goose.... but, like the famously irony-impared 'dissenters' who brook no dissent from THEIR teachings, I doubt those in favor of unilateral change will be open to others taking similar liberties with THEIR commitments!
It would seem then that the common thread is a lack of vocational discernment prior to ordination.... how many of these men were hastily ordained before having experienced human affection? How many had female friends, romantic experience prior to seminary life?
In addition to lack of discernment, it also seems that many were ordained without full knowledge/consent for a life time commitment of service.... much like a man will "marry" a woman out of momentary infatuation for the sake of sex and not because he understands or accepts the concept of monogamy for life. If the latter is grounds for many an anulment, it seems likely many of the former are grounds not so much for laicization as much as questioning whether they were really ordained or not!
So the 'solution' is not necessarily to make celibacy optional (inasmuch as the clerical state itself is entered into voluntarily!) but to help men make their life-time choice with greater knowledge and freedom, and then, once having made the choice and received the sacraments to support their choices with proper peer support, community life, and spiritual guidance.
I say Voluntary celibacy is a great gift to the Church and always will be. As I stand among my five sons I marvel at what a great sacrifice it is. However, is mandatory celibacy going to continue down its crooked path until the Vatican walls crumble? In sports, politics, business .crafts, music . arts. etc. fathers have passed down the DNA charisms to their sons and we have all been blessed by this aspect of God's design . Yet this manatory celibacy is yoked around our collective heads and this mandate is celibrated as a blessing. Some of the 17000 married deacons await their full ordination or 1000 more inner city/rural parishes will close. Basta Basta
See: http://messianicgentiles.blogspot.com/2009/05/black-pope-did-you-know.html
I would love to see future studies in this regard and I appaud those who joined other churches knowing the pain they must have endured.
Second, for all of you Protestant ministers who insist on being called "priests" by Catholics -get over it! We'll define that term as we wish. Feel free to call yourselves whatever you want. You all certainly have no qualms about putting Catholics and others into categories of your own choosing and naming. Respect our right to do the same.
Third, it was an interesting article. What would also be interesting to learn through a survey is how many Protestant ministers would become Catholic, were it not for celibacy, or the rigors of getting a waiver. I have met many who are totally discouraged by their own denominations; denominations who stand for nothing except for "radical hospitality" and "speaking truth to power."
I find something missing in C.Canton's comments. Is it not possible that at one time or another the Spirit will call a person to a different state? God can do ANYTHING, that is, after all, the primary requirement of being God. Who are we to tell someone, or even God, that the call to do this or that might not be superseded at some later time by a call to do or be something else? Why should vows not be amended in that case?
Making the reasonable assumption that the person making the vow is sincere at the time, it would seem to be most uncharitable to conclude that they hadn't really discerned their vocation properly if at a later time they discover another calling.
Based on the stories presented in this article, these were not easy decisions for most these priests. We shouldn't trivialize the matter or treat these men as moral failures.
Some are looking for an easy way out, sure, but any structure that has some room for compassion will see some abuse. It's the nature of the
human beast. Let us judge not. For the rest, I can't help but think we should be careful about telling God what to do. Or not do....
C. Canton
who can at the same time speak ill of me. For whoever is not against us is for us.'
Oops, I forgot: those marriages never existed.
Talk about a ready source of vocations!
And they are a close-knit, loving family who all minister to their fellow parishioners on a regular basis.
So -???
+ Dear Readers:
First of all, I am very grateful to all of you who read this article. While I would like to respond to all the postings, I only have time to respond to three: # 2, 10, and 26.
Concerning Fran Abbott’s question, as I pointed out in my dissertation, it is hard to know the exact number of priests who have resigned from active Roman Catholic ministry during the last 40 years. (I apologize for not having figures for deacons but that was not the focus of my research.) For priests, estimates range from 12,000 to 25,000 in the United States alone. Personally, I have found the 16,000 figure calculated by the late Dean Hoge to be the most reasonable number. If that number is used, then the 414 men whom I identified for my research project represent 2.6 percent of the total.
Michael’s posting (#10) asks the same question but in reverse. The answer, therefore, is that 97.4 percent of priests who resigned did not enter other denominational ministries. I hope that this is clear. Please contact me again if you desire further clarification.
Finally, I would like to thank C. Canton for letting me know what fond memories he has of my granduncle, Father Joseph Fichter, S.J. If anyone else has stories to tell about him, know that I would be delighted to receive them at fichter@earthlink.net.
God bless you all!