Celia McCulloch one of 44 people who were ordained this weekend
Posted on 07/01/2008 9:41:43 AM PDT by NYer
The Bishop of Manchester, the Right Reverend Nigel McCulloch, has ordained his wife at Manchester Cathedral.
Celia McCulloch is to serve as a full-time stipendiary curate in the parish of Cheetham, north Manchester.
She was one of 44 people who were ordained this weekend in three services held in the Diocese of Manchester.
"The day of ordination represents the end of one part of a journey and the start of another," Bishop McCulloch said.
"It is an honour for a bishop, and in my case a special honour for a husband, to be part of that journey.
"I hope the many communities across Greater Manchester, that will welcome these new clergy, will pray for them as they begin their work."
Mrs McCulloch said: "Like my fellow ordinands, I am looking forward to working in my new parish.
"All of us have responded to God's call to serve those in need, to lead people in prayer and teach and encourage by word and example."
The couple have been married for more than 30 years.
It was just a matter of time.
The article doesn't say, but the stole worn diagonally indicates that.
. . . but isn't there some sort of conflict of interest here? Although I've heard of ECUSA bishops ordaining their SONS . . . .
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Ah, the return of the Nepotarian heresy once thought to have been successfully suppressed in the fifth century, it now makes a comeback.
Did she make a promise to obey him and his successors? This will create more problems than it solves, esp. in her dealings with other diocesan clergy, who'll always regard her differently.
Does devout Nepotism somehow involve bad haircuts? If so, I think you are on to something.
No problem, really. He had no apostolic succession to hand down, anyway. Let them “minister” to each other. Based on recent events, they probably have no flock outside of their parsonage.
That the bishop should a) have a wife in the first place and b) that he should decide to ordain her in the second place, is a Monty Python-esque Christian satire of the first order.
A real knee-slapper and all for the price of five words.
Indeed! As always, your wisdom supercedes the ignorance often exhibited in postings to the forum. Thanks! And .... kudos! I always enjoy your postings even if I don't comment on them.
Hoo boy. This will hasten the demise of the Anglican church.
I believe it was St Paul who said one qualification for being a bishop is that the man have one wife.
As the Douay-Rheims translation of the Bible sets out the requirements for a Bishop:
"It behoveth therefore a bishop to be blameless, the husband of one wife, sober, prudent, of good behaviour, chaste, given to hospitality, a teacher, Not given to wine, no striker, but modest, not quarrelsome, not covetous, but One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all chastity.
1 Timothy 3:2-4.
Well I suppose the good news is that one is male, the other female. Of course, that could change to same sex soon enough.
And one wonders why something like 3% of the Brits attend church regularly.
This IS a matter of news!
An Episcopal bishop with an FEMALE wife!
Well, St. Peter was married. But I doubt he tried to ordain his wife!
Second, in any case, your quote of 1 Timothy is hardly a proof-text for your assertions, since St. Paul himself, a bishop AND Apostle, was unmarried!!! See 1 Corinthians 7:8,25,32-34. I trust you see that he could hardly insist that bishops be married - as you assert - while simultaneously refusing to take on the mantle of "husband" himself?
Yes, but he was quite likely a widower. This is evidenced by his mother-in-law serving Christ and the other disciples when she was healed. Had St. Peter's wife been living, it would have been her task.
Airtight, no. But this is the likely situation.
Not dispositive of the issue. Paul may well have been a widower. For example, 7:8 could have as easily have been penned by a widower as by one who was never married. And, where the scriptures are not clear, we should turn to where they are, in order to interpret the whole. And the requirements for a Bishop are quite clear.
And, don't forget, even in the Catholic church, married popes were known for over half of its history.
Even if he were a widower (and no contemporary or subsequent source ever claimed St. Paul was a widower), the tenor of the passage in 1 Corinthians is that it is better to serve the Lord as a single person because one can dedicate one’s life fully to His service. Certainly, a bishop is in a position where this is doubly true.
1 Corinthians 9:5 does provide evidence that Peter and at least some other Apostles were married within the timeframe of their ministries: “Do we not have the right to be accompanied by a wife, as the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?”
But it doesn’t matter that some of the Apostles might have been married. St. Paul says one clearly puts himself in a better position to serve the Lord when he remains single, the trend toward celibacy was already established in the 2nd Century, and was very nearly universal in its application among bishops by the 3rd Century. Upstarts whose theological patrimony doesn’t even begin until thirteen centuries later are hardly in a position to know the heart and mind of the early Church, and would do well to emulate it, even if “not every word” is found in the Bible per se. Those early Christians knew the heart and mind of the Church and knew Scripture and divine Tradition worked in harmony. Those who completely ignore extra-biblical truths out of a misguided zeal for the alleged goal of “Biblical purity” miss out on much that the early Christians enjoyed the fruit of.
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