# Catholic Priest questions **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 25, 2012, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catholic-priest-questions/610627 "2012-01-25T19:36:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shinna\_Minna\_Ma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@Shinna\_Minna\_Ma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shinna_Minna_Ma)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2012, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catholic-priest-questions/610627/1 "2012-01-25T19:36:32Z")
A question from a nice Jewish boy - can a Catholic priest decide he doesn’t want to be a priest anymore and just walk away? If so, does he remain in the Catholic church? If he decides to become a minister in another Christian denomination, would his ordination be recognized, or would he have to go back to seminary? ---
**Author:** ![florez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b9e5f3/32.png) [@florez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/florez)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2012, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catholic-priest-questions/610627/2 "2012-01-25T19:47:27Z")
> [@Shinna\_Minna\_Ma](#): > > A question from a nice Jewish boy - can a Catholic priest decide he doesn’t want to be a priest anymore and just walk away? If so, does he remain in the Catholic church? If he decides to become a minister in another Christian denomination, would his ordination be recognized, or would he have to go back to seminary? I grew up in the catholic church, and have a priest in my family. From what I know, a priest can just walk away, and generally will not remain in the catholic church, but will not be forbidden to attend catholic mass, but cannot receive sacraments. If he decides to become a minister in another christian denomination, he can do this, but would not go back to a catholic seminary. ---
**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2012, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catholic-priest-questions/610627/3 "2012-01-25T19:52:40Z")
Well, [the discussion from a couple weeks](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=637331) ago still holds. To summarize, Holy Orders cannot be undone, but one can certainly choose no longer to undertake public ministry. That, for instance, is what happens when a priest retires, a perfectly ordinary eventuality. Whether other denominations will recognize the ordination or require further education depends on the receiving denomination. I’d suspect all denominations require a little bit of preparation. That is, a RC priest couldn’t approach the ELCA and say I want to be a Lutheran minister and expect to be instantly approved for public ministry. I doubt a total do-over of seminary would be required however. Anglicans/Episcopalians will accept Roman Catholic ordinations (although, again, to become an Anglican parish priest would require a transition period where the church could evaluate the convert’s fitness). Under [_Apostolicae Curae_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostolicae_curae), the Romans would not accept Anglican ordination. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2012, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catholic-priest-questions/610627/4 "2012-01-25T20:01:05Z")
> [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](#): > > Under [_Apostolicae Curae_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostolicae_curae), the Romans would not accept Anglican ordination. However, if a married Anglican priest does convert to the Roman church and is accepted as clergy, he may stay married and serve as a priest. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2012, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catholic-priest-questions/610627/5 "2012-01-25T20:09:44Z")
> [@StusBlues](#): > > However, if a married Anglican priest does convert to the Roman church and is accepted as clergy, he may stay married and serve as a priest. So there are currently married priests in the the RCC? I didn’t realize that. Seems like a hell of a loophole and it obviously creates a huge double standard. So where does the wife live and what is her title in the Church? ---
**Author:** ![robinson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/848f3c/32.png) [@robinson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robinson)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2012, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catholic-priest-questions/610627/6 "2012-01-25T20:10:34Z")
To Kimmy’s post, I add that Roman Catholic priests are generally well-educated. Should a priest desire to become an Episcopalian (often occasioned by the desire to marry) I think he is presumed to have thought through the theological and practical issues in coming to his decision. I have known several former Catholic married Episcopal priests, and have found them to be articulate and well educated. Also, many former Catholics are now Episcopalians, and I have found them to be more aware of theological concepts than the cradle Episcopalians. Unsurprisingly, there are cultural differences and differences of emphasis, but we can work through those. Any who were confirmed in a former denomination who come to the Episcopal church are “received” rather than re-confirmed. Converting priests have to be confident types, as they can expect to be shunned by their former denomination. ---
**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2012, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catholic-priest-questions/610627/7 "2012-01-25T20:13:31Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#): > > So there are currently married priests in the the RCC? I didn’t realize that. Seems like a hell of a loophole and it obviously creates a huge double standard. So where does the wife live and what is her title in the Church? “In the rectory” and “the priest’s wife,” respectively. At least that’s how it’s always been at my Episcopal parishes, and I would presume it would be similar in Anglican Use RC parishes. It’s not automatic, and I’d surmise that the Romans do try to figure out whether or not you sought Anglican ordination and ministry for the purposes of doing an end-run around the RC celibacy requirement when applying for the Pastoral Provision under the Anglican Use or personal ordinariate or whatever it is these days. I don’t think it’d be a particularly searching inquiry though, because it does seem a little far-fetched. ---
**Author:** ![robinson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/848f3c/32.png) [@robinson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robinson)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2012, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catholic-priest-questions/610627/8 "2012-01-25T20:16:11Z")
Celibacy has not been universal in Roman Catholicism. The wife lives with her husband, of course. In all denominations, the position and role of the pastor/rector’s wife is a sensitive one. In theory, she is just another member of the congregation. In practice, she usually takes on a low key role as a social leader. She may have a talent or vocation of her own (I have known a couple that were both priests) and many rector’s wives have musical training or take on a role in Christian Education. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2012, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catholic-priest-questions/610627/9 "2012-01-25T20:28:47Z")
> [@Shinna\_Minna\_Ma](#): > > A question from a nice Jewish boy - can a Catholic priest decide he doesn’t want to be a priest anymore and just walk away? If so, does he remain in the Catholic church? If he decides to become a minister in another Christian denomination, would his ordination be recognized, or would he have to go back to seminary? A Catholic priest can certainly just walk away from it, and there’s nothing the Church can do to stop him, or punish him. It gets more complicated when a man who is a faithful Catholic, and a priest, decides that he can no longer serve as a priest, but can’t just walk away from the whoe thing, because, after all, he believes in it. Then there’s a whole laicization process. As to married priest within the Catholic Church, there are some exceptions to the rule of celibacy, as pointed out above. Also, the uniate churches (Maronites and eastern rite Catholics and so on) permit their priests to be married. ---
**Author:** ![florez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b9e5f3/32.png) [@florez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/florez)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2012, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catholic-priest-questions/610627/10 "2012-01-25T20:37:11Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#): > > So there are currently married priests in the the RCC? I didn’t realize that. Seems like a hell of a loophole and it obviously creates a huge double standard. So where does the wife live and what is her title in the Church? I too have never heard of this being the case, but if you could cite a few examples, and not of other denominations but of a catholic church only, I would appreciate. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2012, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catholic-priest-questions/610627/11 "2012-01-25T20:41:09Z")
Re: moving between the Anglican/Episcopal Church and the RCC. It’s not uncommon, and my priest friends refer to is as “swimming the Channel” or “swimming the Tiber” respectively. Assuming the priest leaves his originating church in good standing, and the receiving church is satisfied with the priest’s good faith, there is rarely an issue. There have even been Anglican bishops who convert to Roman Catholicism, although I’m not sure that any have been received as bishops in the RCC. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2012, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catholic-priest-questions/610627/12 "2012-01-25T20:42:25Z")
> [@florez](#): > > I too have never heard of this being the case, but if you could cite a few examples, and not of other denominations but of a catholic church only, I would appreciate. [Cite.](http://catholicism.about.com/b/2009/11/19/reader-question-are-there-married-catholic-priests.htm) ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2012, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catholic-priest-questions/610627/13 "2012-01-25T20:42:42Z")
I went to a Catholic high school, and two of the priests who were my teachers then later left the priesthood for the secular life. In one case, he married soon after (so I suspect that was at least part of the motivation). In the other case, he had gone into the priesthood at least in part due to his mother’s desire to have one of her sons do so (he had gone to high school with my father, and so, I knew him pretty well). After his mother died, he left the priesthood pretty quickly. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2012, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catholic-priest-questions/610627/14 "2012-01-25T22:32:49Z")
Since married priests are clearly allowed by the RCC I have a hard time understanding why they don’t just make celibacy an option for priesthood. Either it’s important enough to have an ironclad rule or it isn’t. Having rules that only apply to some priests under certain conditions seems unnecessarily cruel and inhumane. Are there other rules that the RCC bends in this way? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2012, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catholic-priest-questions/610627/15 "2012-01-25T22:37:21Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#): > > Having rules that only apply to some priests under certain conditions seems unnecessarily cruel and inhumane. And, it’s been argued that it’s led to shortages of clergy in the U.S. and other western countries. That said, the rules allowing married priests really are corner-case rules; 99.9+% simply don’t qualify – and, as they know it going in, it’s simply a choice. At any rate, despite a fair amount of interest in changing the rule among American Catholics, I’ve never heard anything from the Vatican suggesting that they’d even be willing to start a discussion on the topic. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2012, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catholic-priest-questions/610627/16 "2012-01-25T22:45:16Z")
Just to clarify: They only make the exception if the Anglican priest is already married. An unmarried Anglican priest would not be allowed to marry after converting. And a married priest whose wife died would not be allowed to remarry. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2012, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catholic-priest-questions/610627/17 "2012-01-26T00:04:42Z")
> [@](#): > > At any rate, despite a fair amount of interest in changing the rule among American Catholics, I’ve never heard anything from the Vatican suggesting that they’d even be willing to start a discussion on the topic. Well, they are at least clear that they’re more likely to consider it than they would be to consider female priests. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2012, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catholic-priest-questions/610627/18 "2012-01-26T00:14:29Z")
It’s also a compromise between making the Anglican priest give up his calling and allowing him to divorce his wife. ---
**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2012, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catholic-priest-questions/610627/19 "2012-01-26T00:18:11Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#): > > Since married priests are clearly allowed by the RCC I have a hard time understanding why they don’t just make celibacy an option for priesthood. Either it’s important enough to have an ironclad rule or it isn’t. > > Having rules that only apply to some priests under certain conditions seems unnecessarily cruel and inhumane. Well, console yourself with the knowledge that a _lot_ of them aren’t really looking for lady wives anyhow. I’m told that back when he was the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Ratzinger was known as “the Cardinal herself.” ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2012, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catholic-priest-questions/610627/20 "2012-01-26T01:01:07Z")
> [@florez](#): > > From what I know, a priest … will not be forbidden to attend catholic mass, but cannot receive sacraments. I’d compare this to a military officer who resigns from the service and returns to civilian life, only to lose is right to vote. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/catholic-priest-questions/610627.md?page=2)