A fruitful blessing - Congregation embraces married father who 4 will become a Catholic priest

When Archbishop Michael J. Sheehan celebrated Mass last month at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in Rio Rancho, a slim, dark-haired man in military fatigues read the lesson from the Old Testament.

``Your people don't seem to mind,'' Sheehan later remarked to Monsignor Douglas Raun, the parish's pastor.

``If Rome approves, my people will accept it,'' Raun replied.

The lector that day was Jeffrey Whorton, an Army captain and former Episcopal priest -- and the married father of four -- who is seeking to become an ordained priest in the Roman Catholic Church under a 27-year-old program approved by the Vatican.

This Easter Sunday, he is a pastoral assistant at St. Thomas Aquinas, New Mexico's largest church (5,000 families), where he serves at the celebration of Mass and teaches catechism.

If His Holiness Benedict XVI agrees, as early as this fall, Whorton could join about 80 other Episcopal clergymen in the United States and dozens of Anglican clerics in Great Britain who have become Roman Catholic priests.

In the next month, Eric Bergman, a married father of four, will be ordained in Scranton, Pa., and Bill Lowe will become the first married priest in the history of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

Whorton has left a church that is deeply divided over issues such as ordination of gays and lesbians, the blessing of gay unions and even the election of the church's first female presiding bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori.

Earlier this year, Daniel W. Herzog, the retired bishop of the Diocese of Albany, N.Y., became a Roman Catholic. According to the Episcopal News Service, Herzog disagreed with decisions of the church's General Convention, including its 2003 affirmation of an openly gay bishop in New Hampshire.

Whorton said his own conversion was not a reaction to specific issues dividing Episcopal congregations in the United States.

``My decision was not to leave a church but to join the church that I believe was founded by Jesus and the Apostles. I think the distinction is an important one, that is, I for one, felt moved to become a Catholic rather than leave something else. I know that many who leave the Episcopal Church leave in reaction to various problems they see with the direction of the national church. That would make another interesting interview, providing another angle; but I do not really fit that bill.''

Whorton said he also became convinced that the Protestant doctrine of ``Sola Scriptura'' (the idea that Christians are obliged to follow the Scriptures only in matters of faith and morals) was ironically not scriptural. ``I see that holy tradition and the Holy Scriptures, interpreted through the Magisterium (the teaching office of the church) are of equal importance in defining the faith,'' he explained.

After reading ancient letters, he came upon in the library of a retired priest. Whorton said he was moved by the deference to the Church at Rome and, ``If these early believers looked to the Church at Rome to help define the faith, why wouldn't I do the same 2,000 years later.''

And, he joked, his back was tired of the hard landings he made as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division. ``The pope has yet to ask me to exit a C-130 aircraft,'' Whorton said.

Special dispensation

Whorton will be affiliating himself with a church struggling with a shortage of clerics. There are 64 million Catholics nationwide, but only about 42,000 priests, of whom just two-thirds serve the country's parishes.

Sheehan, who has petitioned Rome for the special dispensation, or rescript, to allow Whorton to become a Catholic priest, said, ``I believe that Jeffrey will do a fine job and serve the people well as a priest, although his duties as father and husband will make it impossible for him put in the number of hours that our diocesan priests put in the service of the church. Our priests understand that they have made a commitment that they continue to follow and they are happy to have additional priests like Jeffrey to assist them in the work of the Church.''

The special dispensation Whorton is seeking is called the Pastoral Provision. It was issued in 1980 by Pope John Paul II to reconcile Anglican Christians to the ``Mother Church.'' The document provides for the ordination of married, former Episcopal priests and the creation of ``personal worship communities'' that are allowed to retain elements of the Anglican liturgy.

Whorton is the first Episcopal priest to seek this dispensation in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe.

For Episcopal priests, the process usually takes two years. They are not required to attend seminary but study history, liturgy, canon law, theology and other subjects on their own. Whorton gestured to a five-shelf bookcase in his church office and said, ``This is what I have to read.'' One of the tomes is The Book of Divine Worship, a beefed-up version of the Episcopal Church's Book of Common Prayer.

In September, he and six other former Episcopal priests from around the country will take daylong written and oral examinations in seven different subjects. The men grading them will be professors from Immaculate Conception Theological Seminary at Seton Hall University in South Orange, N.J.

Although the program is more than two decades old, even cradle Catholics are surprised when they hear about Pastoral Provision priests. Whorton's mother-in-law, Vicki Caldwell of San Antonio, a devout Catholic, said the wife of a deacon in her church said, ``Could you repeat that?'' when Caldwell announced, ``I'm going to become a priest's mother-in-law.''

Welcoming parish

But at St. Thomas Aquinas, where weekday Mass is well attended and the faithful have to line up to make confession, members have welcomed Whorton and his family.

Carey Moots, a lifelong Catholic, said if he had been asked a couple of years ago what he thought of married priests, he would have said, ``I think (the priests) better remain celibate and concentrate on their jobs.''
But now, Moots said, ``I've done a complete 180, no doubt about it.''

Others also were cautious at first, Moots said. ``I talked to a number of people who felt like I did. Should we really have married priests? But without exception, everyone who met him, even hard-core Catholics, their hearts melted. They feel this is a special individual. They've accepted him.''

Whorton's experience as a husband and father is an asset to his ministry, said Moots, who also is married with children. ``I just feel very at ease speaking with him about family problems, marital problems, kid problems. He knows where I'm coming from.'' Priests are sympathetic, Moots added, but ``they obviously don't have the experience.''

The downside of a married man in the pulpit is the divided heart. Being a husband and father takes up a huge chunk of the day, Moots acknowledged. ``The biggest problem he'll have is that people expect priests to be available 24/7. They figure (priests) don't have anything else to do,'' he said, adding, ``This is something Catholics love.''

Penny Torretto said that while a married priest would be something different for this archdiocese, when she and her husband, Rick, lived in San Antonio, there was a Pastoral Provision priest at their church. ``Rick and I have seen it work,'' she said. ``At first people looked at him like, whoa. But he has been a fruitful blessing for his people.''

Torretto, who describes Whorton as ``very sincere, sweet and serious,'' said that because the archbishop has given his blessing to Whorton, ``it frees all of us to be the same way.'' A daily Mass-goer who ``hobnobs with churchy folk,'' Torretto said the entire community at St. Thomas Aquinas has been ``loving and receptive'' to Whorton, and, ``if the Lord wants this, then we're all going to rejoice.''

The young people at St. Thomas Aquinas are taking the whole thing in stride, according Justin Bucalo, the director of youth ministry. When Whorton first arrived, Bucalo asked him to talk to about 70 teenagers during their worship night and share his story. ``They had no idea about (the Pastoral Provision). He explained it to them, and it was, `Cool, we didn't know that.' Teens love him. He can relate to people. He's so down to earth,'' Bucalo said.

Bucalo, also a father of four, described Whorton's journey as ``amazing, bold,'' and said, ``I was moved by his sacrifice.''

He also has an idea of what's in store for Whorton trying to serve both the church and family. As a youth minister, Bucalo works at the church several evenings a week and gets phone calls in the middle of the night from teens in crisis.

Priests' demands

In conversations, Moots said, Whorton ``never once told me he was angry at the Episcopal Church. That's good. There are people who will go somewhere out of anger, and I don't ever see them at peace.''

Nor did Whorton give parishioners any indication that he was ``trying to get away from the wackiness in the Episcopal Church,'' Moots said.

``He never made a comment like, `Hey, I got to get out -- they're letting gays do that, they're letting women do this.' Jeff is not freaking out, having prayer meetings.'' His message, Moots added, is ``I feel this is the place I belong.''

Moots said he believes the Pastoral Provision represents a short span in church time and raises the possibility of a married priesthood. ``Celibate priests will be the norm in our lifetimes, but this opens the door,'' he said.

Whorton, however, doesn't believe Pastoral Provision priests like himself are going to change the priesthood. ``It's not like everybody who's a priest is going to be married. Some might think I won't be as good a priest as one who is celibate, and that's fine.''

And, he added, ``The further I go into this, the more I believe in the celibate priesthood. I have seen the demands parish life puts on the priest, and I am in awe of the work they do. I can see the wisdom of the undivided heart.''

Contact Anne Constable at 995-3845 or aconstable@sfnewmexican.com.

With that being said I would not oppose married clergy in the model of the Orthodox Churches and the Eastern Rites of the Catholic Church.

As most of you know, I am a Roman Catholic practicing my faith in the Maronite Church, an Eastern Catholic Church that allows for a married priesthood. My Lebanese pastor's grandfather was a priest - and inspired him to pursue the priesthood. My pastor chose the celibate priesthood. The Maronite Church, while allowing married men to become priests, does not send them into service in the diaspora (which, if you were not aware, is quite extensive - USA, Canada, Australia, Mexico, Africa and South America.

In October 2005, bishops from both the West and East convened at the Vatican for a Synod. At that time, the topic of priestly celibacy surfaced, as it often does at these meetings. After much discussion on the pros and cons, it was the Patriarch of the Maronite Church, Nasrallah Pierre Cardinal Sfeir who gave the most informed response.

Curiously, the most serious criticisms of ordaining married men came from exponents of the Eastern Rite Churches, in which married priesthood is the norm.

Cardinal Nasrallah Pierre Sfeir, patriarch of the Maronites of Lebanon, said:

“Half of our diocesan priests are married. However, we must admit that the marriage of priests, even if resolving one problem, also creates other serious problems. A married priest has the duty of taking care of his wife and children, to ensure their education, to secure for them a certain social standing. The priesthood was also a means of social promotion in Lebanon. Another problem arises for a married priest, that of not having misunderstandings with the parishioners. Despite this, it can be the case that the bishop cannot transfer him, due to the impossibility of his family to move with him.”

In essence, married priests make their first vow to wife and family, followed by their 2nd, priestly vow, to community. The Patriarch acknowledges the additional problems posed by that first vow. In assigning a married priest to a parish, it must be a good fit in order for them to support the priest and his family. Once situated, it is not easy to re-assign them to another parish for that entail uprooting not only the priest but his wife and children, as well. Hence the decision to keep all the married priests in Lebanon.

There is a place in the church for both celibate and married priests but within the Catholic Church, the demands made upon the priest are much greater than in the Protestant Churches as even the subject of this post, has recognized.

As a very happy member of a parish of the Pastoral Provision (liturgically known as the “Anglican Usage”), you can imagine that I am very pleased to see such good men like Mr. Whorton coming into the priesthood. We are especially looking forward to Eric Bergmann’s ordination this April, and the full functioning of his community (St. Thomas More) as an Anglican Usage community.

I will add that I, too, was initially like the man in the story: coming over from a very traditionalist background, I at first thought I would only tolerate our married pastor, but it did not take long for me to really appreciate and come to love him and his family. There are a lot of very favorable intangibles in the equation. It has been very edifying for us layfolk to see our pastor with his own loving family, and to share, in a very real way, in the growing up of his children (and now their marriages—the father celebrated the marriage of two of his daughters—it was a sight to see). They provide in a certain way a kind of instant example for us all. Then there is confession: with all due respect to our many wonderful celibate priests, I still feel a special sense that my married confessor understands when I confess some anger, say, with Her Honor, and he says, “yeah, I know...” and then goes on to give such good counsel, and penance.

I am not advocating a change in the Church’s discipline, but just remarking that the exceptions can prove mighty interesting. Another story: when I asked the legendary local Dominican priest once whether he knew Fr. Christopher Phillips, in San Antonio, pastor of Our Lady of the Atonement (www.atonementonline.com), he said, “Why yes, I have concelebrated Mass with him,” and then he giggled and said “And his sons were our altar servers.” He distinctly got a kick out of it.

2007 Easter Sermon preached by Fr. Phillips at Our Lady of the Atonement

Posted Monday, April 9, 2007 - 01:45 PM

I would imagine nearly every one of us has experienced the death of someone we love, whether grandparent, parent, spouse, or perhaps even a child. We have prayed for their souls, we have commended them to God, and very likely, at some time after the burial, we have gone back to the grave. We look at the stone, and perhaps we run our fingers over the name, and we look at the dates engraved there. We want to see the final resting place of the mortal remains, and we experience a certain sadness, a sense of finality, the closing of a chapter of life. Because most of us have experienced that, we can understand what those had been closest to Jesus during His earthly life were feeling as they made their way to His grave on that Sunday morning.

It was very early in the morning, after Passover was finished. The women who had been closest to Jesus and His Apostles went to finish preparing the body of Jesus for its permanent burial. They had witnessed from a distance the brutal death of this One whom they loved. They had mourned Him as His lifeless body was taken down from the Cross and was carried the short distance away to the borrowed tomb. Hurriedly, before the beginning of the High Holy Day they had helped to wrap the linen bands around Him, knowing that it would “have to do” until they could see to the burial in a more permanent way. Their hearts had broken as they saw the stone rolled over the tomb’s entrance to guard against animals or theft. There was no time to think about how they would get the stone away again when they would return after the Passover to finish the burial.

Mary Magdalene, early in the morning on that first day of the week, went on ahead of the others. She had been forgiven so much by the Lord, and was so moved by her grief, that she wanted some time alone to mourn the death of the man who had shown her such kindness while He was alive. As she came closer to the tomb she saw that the stone was off to one side. As she came to the opening of the grave, she saw that the body of Jesus wasn’t there. In a confusion of emotions, she naturally assumed that someone had taken the body of Jesus, and so she ran back to tell Peter and the others about it. When they heard this very disturbing news, Peter and John ran to the tomb to see for themselves. John, being the younger one, reached the tomb first. And it was just as Mary Magdalene had said: the stone was off to the one side, and when John stooped down to look inside, he saw the linen which had been used to wrap the body after they had taken Jesus down from the cross. But he didn’t go in — at least, not yet. The sorrow he felt in the aftermath of Jesus’ death, and the sorrow that he felt when he saws that the body was now missing, must have been overwhelming – he was absolutely desolate. His beloved Jesus was dead, and now there wasn’t even a body over which to mourn. For the time being, he could only stand and stare at the place where they had laid the body just a few days before.

And then Peter arrived, no doubt a little out of breath. He saw what the others had seen; but from his years with Jesus, having witnessed the many miracles at the hands of the Lord, having listened so many times to the Lord Jesus speak of how He would die and rise again, Peter went into the tomb to see for himself exactly what had happened. And as he went into the Sepulchre, he saw the evidence.

It was obvious to him that no one had stolen the body. There was no disarray: the linen cloths were in exactly the same position as they had been when they had enfolded the body of Jesus. The separate piece of linen which had covered the lifeless face of Jesus was just where it should have been; the long shroud was laid out upon the stone slab, but now with no evidence of a body within it. And as they would soon fully realize — indeed, as the picture was even now forming in their minds — the followers of Jesus began to understand the amazing fact that He had risen from the dead.

Of course, if Peter had remained outside as John did initially, he would have had no reason to believe in such an unreasonable thing. It would have seemed evident that the body had indeed been stolen. But, Peter went in. He wasn’t satisfied to stand outside and wonder. He went into the tomb, and he saw the evidence: the undisturbed grave-clothes; the complete absence of the body. And by going in, by actually seeing, the Easter faith began to germinate in the heart and mind of Peter, the Rock upon which the whole Church would ultimately be built. And here is one of the facts that comes to us on this day: that we’ve actually got to go in. The fact of the resurrection is one that we need to embrace, and enter into. It’s been rightly said that “it’s not that the Christian faith has been tried and found wanting; rather, it has never been tried.” There are so many who, when it comes to the Faith, don’t “go in.” They stand outside — confused, unsure, unwilling to enter into the fact of Jesus’ resurrection.

Too many people are all too eager to watch the television specials that always come out at this time of year, claiming new evidence that Jesus’ body has been found intact in a tomb; that He was married with children; that the idea of His divinity wasn’t thought of until centuries after His death. Every crackpot theory is gobbled up by people who seem to be willing to swallow anything and everything – except when they’re confronted with the actual truth. When the simple evidence is put in front of them, they hold back. “It seems so unreasonable,” they think, “that a man from Nazareth could indeed have been Almighty God.” Of course, they’ll believe anything else, but to them, it seems somehow unreasonable to think that He rose from the dead. To them, it seems so unreasonable to think that He still lives today, reigning eternally with the Father and the Holy Spirit, even though there are myriad generations of believers who have gone before, who have willingly given their lives for this truth, even though the most brilliant minds in history have embraced these facts.

For those of us who are willing to go in to see for ourselves, it isn’t at all unreasonable. We see the evidence: we see it in the Church — that living Body of Christ, forever witnessing without ceasing to the power of the Risen Lord, with her Bishops standing in an unbroken chain of ministry from those first Apostles. We see the evidence in our own lives: where through Baptism and Confirmation we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, in whom we are able to grow closer and closer to God. We see the evidence in the confessional, where even our blackest sins can be forgiven. We see the evidence in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, where Jesus is perpetually with us in the Holy Bread of eternal life, and the Cup of everlasting salvation.

But we would never have seen the evidence — we would never have come face to face with the Risen Jesus Christ if we had stayed outside, lingering at the mouth of the tomb. Remember what the angel asked? “Why seek ye the living amongst the dead...?” Because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ we are able to enter into the Holy of Holies with boldness and with faith, and in so doing, the glory of salvation is ours. To remain outside, shaking one’s head, saying “I can’t believe it,” or “It just doesn’t seem reasonable,” is to refuse to examine the evidence.

The Lord Jesus Christ is risen from the dead — not in some spiritual way; not in some philosophical way — but really, corporally, actually. Jesus Christ is risen from the dead because He is more powerful than death. Death held Him only for an instant, like a small thread tied around a man’s wrists might hold him for an instant. But just as it’s easy to break a thread, so Jesus broke the bonds of death, and in so doing, He defeated any hold death might have had on us. Death couldn’t keep Jesus, and death cannot keep us. As Jesus rose from the dead, so will we... because we have seen, and we believe.

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