Very recently, I attended, a Roman Catholic wedding ceremony in London. It
was between the daughter of a close Managlorean friend and her English
groom.
At the church service, the English priest seemed remarkably humorous in his
advice to the couple and he also seemed incredibly well informed about
sexual matters and the ups and downs of married life. My wife and I simply
assumed that as a celibate, he was perhaps particularly well read on such
matters.
However, at the wedding reception we learned that the priest was indeed a
married man. Apparently, he had been so for many years, as an Anglican
minister with a family but had now opted for Catholicism and had been
accepted through special dispensation/permission by the Vatican to practise
as a Catholic priest.
I now wonder if there are many more married priest practioners in the
Catholic Church, in Goa and across the world. Personally, I have always
wanted Catholic clergy to be able to live normal lives as married persons as
was the case in early Christian times. There are many reasons for this view
but which I will not spell out for now, but hopefully, Goanetters will
respond to my view as stated above. I am also keen that women should be able
to become priests in the RC Church.
My bigger question is to ask why the Catholic Church is seemingly secretive
about the matter of married priests?
Cornel DaCosta, London, UK.
