# Percentage of married Latin Rite priests **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 9, 2014, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-married-latin-rite-priests/697947 "2014-09-09T11:01:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2014, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-married-latin-rite-priests/697947/1 "2014-09-09T11:01:01Z")
It’s well known that priests in the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church aren’t permitted to marry. It’s less well known that it’s sometimes possible to become a priest _after_ getting married. This special dispensation is normally granted only to married priests who converted from a Protestant church where clerical marriage is allowed. I’d be interested in knowing what percentage of Latin Rite priests are married, either worldwide or in some particular area. I know that in absolute terms there may be [eighty](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/07/us/married-roman-catholic-priests-are-testing-a-tradition.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0) to [one hundred](http://atheism.about.com/od/romancatholicism/a/celibacy_2.htm) such priests in the US alone, but I don’t know how this compares with the total number of Latin Rite priests in the same area. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2014, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-married-latin-rite-priests/697947/2 "2014-09-09T11:30:01Z")
There are other Latin rite priests. I know a woman who grew up in Berout, neither Maronite nor Muslim but Greek Catholic. This is a smallish sect that recognizes and is recognized by the Pope, but whose priests have always married. AFAIK, there may be others. Just to emphasize, they are not Greek Orthodox. ---
**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:** [September 9, 2014, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-married-latin-rite-priests/697947/3 "2014-09-09T11:36:40Z")
That’s not the Latin rite. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2014, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-married-latin-rite-priests/697947/4 "2014-09-09T20:19:09Z")
In the U.S. there are [38,275 Roman Catholic priests](http://cara.georgetown.edu/caraservices/requestedchurchstats.html). To all intents and purposes, that’s the entirety of the Latin Rite in the U.S. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2014, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-married-latin-rite-priests/697947/5 "2014-09-09T20:45:18Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > That’s not the Latin rite. Specifically, she was likely from the [Melkite Church](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melkite_Greek_Catholic_Church), which uses the Byzantine Rite. It also refer to other churches, less common in the area, but all are Byzantine Rite. Those priests can be married. Even then, many (if not all) Latin and Eastern Rite churches, but also including Orthodox churches do not allow priests to _marry_. They allow married men to _become_ priests. A small but important distinction. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-married-latin-rite-priests/697947/6 "2014-09-10T03:28:32Z")
Married Episcopal priests who wish to convert to Catholicism can remain priests within the Catholic church. They have to already be both priests and married for this to occur. According to [this article](http://www.uscatholic.org/church/2012/06/how-i-met-your-father-married-episcopalians-becoming-catholic-priests) in US Catholic, there are about 75 men who have done this. Usually the reason is that they are more conservative than the Episcopal Church. The liturgies and beliefs are quite similar. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-married-latin-rite-priests/697947/7 "2014-09-10T09:07:10Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > In the U.S. there are [38,275 Roman Catholic priests](http://cara.georgetown.edu/caraservices/requestedchurchstats.html). To all intents and purposes, that’s the entirety of the Latin Rite in the U.S. No, it’s not the entirety for the intent and purpose of my question, which was to distinguish between the Latin Rite, where clerical marriage is prohibited, and the Eastern Rites, where it’s usually permitted. I know that there are many more Latin Rite than Eastern Rite priests in the US, but there are many hundreds—perhaps even thousands—of the latter serving the American eparchies and parishes. I know that in the US there are at least 640 priests in the Ruthenian and Ukrainian Greek Catholic churches alone, which is already nearly 2% of the figure you quoted. That percentage could get much higher if we count the priests from the 20 other Eastern Rite churches. ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-married-latin-rite-priests/697947/8 "2014-09-10T10:11:56Z")
I’m looking at an [article](http://www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/article8368922/Verheiratete-katholische-Priester-nicht-so-selten.html) from 2010 in a German news newspaper about married Protestant clergymen who convert and become Catholic priests. According to the article, the Church is reluctant to provide numbers, but it is estimated that in Bavaria (which is still mostly Catholic), there have been about 30 such cases from 1980 to 2010. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-married-latin-rite-priests/697947/9 "2014-09-10T14:31:57Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > No, it’s not the entirety for the intent and purpose of my question, which was to distinguish between the Latin Rite, where clerical marriage is prohibited, and the Eastern Rites, where it’s usually permitted. I know that there are many more Latin Rite than Eastern Rite priests in the US, but there are many hundreds—perhaps even thousands—of the latter serving the American eparchies and parishes. I know that in the US there are at least 640 priests in the Ruthenian and Ukrainian Greek Catholic churches alone, which is already nearly 2% of the figure you quoted. That percentage could get much higher if we count the priests from the 20 other Eastern Rite churches. Please define your terms. You asked what percentage of “Latin Rite” priests were married. In the U.S., that includes Roman Catholic, Anglican, Franciscan and Carmelite rites – and as I said, nearly all of those are Roman Catholic. Ruthenian and Ukranian Greek Churches, along with other eastern european churches are _Eastern_ Rite churches, not Latin Rite. If your question was meant to be “how many married priests recognize the primacy of the Pope” or something like that, please phrase it that way. ---
**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:** [September 10, 2014, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-married-latin-rite-priests/697947/10 "2014-09-10T14:59:14Z")
Which is exactly why he phrased the question how he did. He meant to ask about the Latin Rite, so he asked about the Latin Rite. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-married-latin-rite-priests/697947/11 "2014-09-10T15:29:56Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Please define your terms. I asked what percentage of Latin Rite priests are married, either worldwide or in some given area. In order to compute this, we need two pieces of information: (1) the total number of Latin Rite priests, and (2) the total number of Latin Rite priests who are married. For the US, I already provided the second number (80 or 100, depending on which source you believe). All you provided was the total number of Catholic priests in the US, without distinction as to whether they follow the Latin or Eastern Rites. In order for your number to be useful for my question, we need to subtract from it the number of Eastern Rite priests. This is what I was taking a first stab at doing. ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-married-latin-rite-priests/697947/12 "2014-09-10T15:39:23Z")
On re-reading the article I cited earlier, I find that the author also gives a number of 300 (legally, i. e. with consent of the Church) married Catholic priests worldwide (as of 2010). I guess it is implied that this refers to priests in the Latin rite. ---
**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:** [September 10, 2014, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-married-latin-rite-priests/697947/13 "2014-09-10T20:00:34Z")
Actually, the total number of Roman Catholic priests is useful for finding the answer. While it’s true that not all Roman Catholics are Latin Rite, the vast majority of them are, such that the number of Roman Catholics is a very good approximation to the number of Latin Rite Catholics. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-married-latin-rite-priests/697947/14 "2014-09-10T23:01:41Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Specifically, she was likely from the [Melkite Church](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melkite_Greek_Catholic_Church), which uses the Byzantine Rite. It also refer to other churches, less common in the area, but all are Byzantine Rite. Those priests can be married. > > Even then, many (if not all) Latin and Eastern Rite churches, but also including Orthodox churches do not allow priests to _marry_. They allow married men to _become_ priests. A small but important distinction. Sjhe told me that they are a Roman church and not an Eastern church. They recognize the pope as the head of their religion and the pope recognizes them. When they recognized the pope they specifically received and got permission for their priests to marry. If that makes them not Latin rite, so be it. Just saying. ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2014, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-married-latin-rite-priests/697947/15 "2014-09-11T01:31:14Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > Sjhe told me that they are a Roman church and not an Eastern church. They recognize the pope as the head of their religion and the pope recognizes them. When they recognized the pope they specifically received and got permission for their priests to marry. If that makes them not Latin rite, so be it. Just saying. Yes, they are a Roman Catholic church. The vast majority of the Roman Catholic Church is the Latin Rite, but there are 22 other Eastern churches. From what I gather, the split between the Orthodox and Catholic churches was gradual, and many groups developed on their own but but still more on the Catholic side of things, or left and came back (or deserted later, I guess, depending on your perspective). ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2014, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-married-latin-rite-priests/697947/16 "2014-09-11T01:33:24Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > Sjhe told me that they are a Roman church and not an Eastern church. They recognize the pope as the head of their religion and the pope recognizes them. When they recognized the pope they specifically received and got permission for their priests to marry. If that makes them not Latin rite, so be it. Just saying. Yes. They are not Latin Rite. The Roman Catholic church has twenty-something rites, of which the Latin Rite is by far the largest. Your friend’s church does not in fact allow priests to marry. What it does is to ordain married men. All of the twenty-something different rites in the Roman Catholic church allow this and always have done, except for the Latin Rite which alllows it only in very limited circumstances. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2014, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-married-latin-rite-priests/697947/17 "2014-09-11T01:46:51Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > I asked what percentage of Latin Rite priests are married, either worldwide or in some given area. In order to compute this, we need two pieces of information: (1) the total number of Latin Rite priests, and (2) the total number of Latin Rite priests who are married. > > For the US, I already provided the second number (80 or 100, depending on which source you believe). All you provided was the total number of Catholic priests in the US, without distinction as to whether they follow the Latin or Eastern Rites. In order for your number to be useful for my question, we need to subtract from it the number of Eastern Rite priests. This is what I was taking a first stab at doing. Well, according to [this article](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/11/catholic-married-priests_n_5474937.html) (dated 2014) there are about 750 Catholic priests from the various Eastern rites in the US. Subtracting that from the figure for total priests that kunilou gives in post #4 suggests that, in round terms, there are about 37,500 Latin rite priests. Mind you, the article I link to says that there are 40,000 Catholic priests in the US. Possible the figures are compiled on different bases - e.g. one includes priests incardinated in US dioceses or attached to the US provinces of religious orders but currently outside the US studying, or on mission, or whatever, while the other does not. And, for the number above the line, we’d need to clarify whether the 80 or 100 figure refers to the number of married priests in ministry (or in ministry or retired) in 2014, or the total number who have been ordained since the dispensation was introduced. If the latter, the number of current married Latin Rite priests is presumably somewhat smaller. All in all we’re clearly not going to get precision to six signficant figures here. But taking the figures we have and assuming they are comparable, it’s probably fair to say that between one-fifth and one-third of one per cent of Latin Rite priests in the US are married men. (And I note that the gap between the low estimate of 80 married LR priests and the high estimate of 100 married LR priests is far more significant that the difference between total Catholic priests in the US and total LR priests in the US. If our top line can vary between 80 and 100, it hardly matters whether we adjust the bottom line to exclude Eastern Rite priests.) ---
**Author:** ![fisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@fisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fisha)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2014, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-married-latin-rite-priests/697947/18 "2014-09-11T02:33:15Z")
The 100+/- refers to Latin rite in the US who are currently ordained. I actually thought it was about 180+/-, but that was a while ago maybe things have changed., I’m friends with one of them, he converted from Lutheranism, which is even more rare. It was a long and arduous process for him and his family, even though he had been a pastor for years prior. At the heart of it, he believes in full communion, transubstantiation. Great guy.