Married man to be ordained (RC) priest [Ecumenical]

Waldo Emerson "Knick" Knickerbocker, a married former Episcopalian minister, will be ordained as a Roman Catholic deacon at 11:15 a.m. Sunday at St. Theresa Church in Junction. The ceremony will be conducted by Bishop Michael Pfeifer, OMI .

A month later, on Jan. 28 at Sacred Hearth Cathedral Church in San Angelo, Knickerbocker will be ordained a priest for the Catholic Church.

Knickerbocker will be the first married man to be ordained a priest for the Diocese of San Angelo, according to a news release.

In 1993-94, Knickerbocker and his wife, Sandie, became members of the Roman Catholic Church. After review and prayer, Knickerbocker asked to become a Roman Catholic priest in September 2005. Knickerbocker taught church history and Christian spirituality for 32 years on the faculty of the Memphis Theological Seminary, a Cumberland Presbyterian school in Memphis, Tenn.

After becoming a Roman Catholic, Sandie Knickerbocker worked for Catholic Charities, then served on the staff of the seminary in the Doctor of Ministry program .

Knickerbocker's ordination to the diaconate and priesthood is in accord with the 1981 decision by the Holy See to make an exception to the general rule calling only non-married men to priesthood. The "Pastoral Provision," which was established by Pope John Paul II, was adopted especially for use in the United States and has also been extended to England and other countries where bishops have requested special permission to ordain married former Anglican or Episcopalian ministers to the Roman Catholic Church.

"I came to a conviction that the fullness of truth was to be found in the Catholic Church," Knickerbocker said of his decision. "It's not that other Christian communions don't have truth, but I became convinced that the fullness of truth was in the Catholic Church."

Knickerbocker's realization was a long route, starting with his ordination as a Methodist minister in 1966. In 1972, he completed his doctorate in church history at Emory University in Atlanta. In 1973, he began teaching at Memphis Seminary.

Knickerbocker said that it was teaching church history, as well as other factors, that led him to the Episcopal Church and, ultimately, the Catholic Church.

The decision to allow married Episcopalian clergy to serve as priests in the Roman Catholic Church respects not only the decision of their conscience that requires them to profess a fully Catholic faith in the Catholic Church, but also their call to ministry, accepted in good faith, in their tradition that permitted a married priesthood.

In providing this exception to individual married clergymen, the pope and the bishops of the United States wanted to make sure that everyone understood that celibacy remains the normal tradition for priests in the Western Church.

Pfeifer, bishop of the Diocese of San Angelo who has worked for several years to prepare Knickerbocker to become a Roman Catholic priest, stated: "I am very happy that finally my good friend can be ordained a deacon and priest of the Roman Catholic Church. It pleases me to know that he and his wife have sought to use the special 'Pastoral Provision' of Pope John Paul II to become, not only members of the Roman Catholic Church, but that Knick can become a priest of the Roman Catholic Church.

"There is no finer candidate for the diaconate and priesthood than Knick Knickerbocker. I ask God's blessings upon him and his good wife."

Knickerbocker's duties will be sacramental in nature; he will not be designated the pastor of a church but will assist in both Junction and Menard. His diaconate ordination comes on his 70th birthday.

You wrote:

“You wish to make distinctions between the Byzantines, the Melkites, the Eastern-Rite Catholics, that’s fine.”

No. First Byzantines were brought up. Then Melkites were brought up. Now Uniates. Make up your mind as to what you want to talk about. To say that they are all just Uniates to you is rediculous since they are all different. They are from different regions of the world, came back into commune with the Church at different times and in different ways. Even how they relate to the Orthodox is very different. To lump them together as if they are interchangeable - even though they’re not - makes no sense. If you picked the example and it didn’t work out for you, then deal with it.

“They are all just Uniates to us.”

They’re all Catholic Christians to us.

“Sorry that we don’t appreciate your distinctions.”

Your Churches do. If you think the Orthodox relate to the Melkites the same way they would to the Byzantines, then you are seriously mistaken.

“You said only one married Priest, and that was proved wrong.”

Nope. So far, not in the least. I also said I knew of only one. Name the other married Byzantines REGULARLY ordained in America. Go ahead. How many can you name? I know of only one and so far you have yet to disprove that. And even if you found two, or three or even a few more that wouldn’t disprove my point - it isn’t happening REGULARLY in America in the Byzantine Church. By the way, the priest at the Byzantine parish I attended many moon ago was married.

“How many married priests do I have to cite as being in Union with Rome to prove you wrong?”

Cite as many as you like. None of it will disprove what I said. If you don’t believe me then look at the seminarians at the Byzantine seminary over the last 30 years and tell me how many are REGULARLY ordained as married men in America. How many?

“Oh wait, only one more than one, as I have done.”

No. Again, you keep claiming you did something that you didn’t do.

“You drew that line, you live with it.”

I am living with it just fine, but it is apparently killing your phony argument. Again, show me that the Byzantines are REGULARLY ordaining married men in America. Show me or stop making silly claims.

“Shout that you are still right all you want; we’ll try not to laugh too hard at the egg on your face! LOL!”

Again, show me where I was wrong. To do that you must show that the Byzantine Church REGULARLY ordains married men in America. You can’t do that because it isn’t happening, has never been happening and might not happen for quite some time. Those are the facts and they are undeniable.

Melkites have their own Patriarch: http://www.melkite.org/PatriarchWritings.html

The Byzantine Catholics, as they are commonly referred to in the US, are Ukrainians, Ruthenians and Slovaks from Eastern Europe, while the Melkites are exclusively (originally of course) from the Middle East. They share essentially the same liturgy, but then again, so do most Eastern Christians. There are several churches which are lumped together as “Byzantine” because of their Greek basis and liturgical background: Melkite, Romanian, Ruthenian, Russian, Slovak, Ukrainian, and Italo-Greek (Old Albanian?).
Again, however, the Melkites have their own jurisdiction, and their own patriarch.

When you see a “Byzantine Catholic” parish it is not going to be a Melkite parish. That would be listed as a Melkite parish: http://www.melkite.org/

Example: Melkite: http://www.melkite.org/parishinfo.html

Byzantine: http://www.stannbyz.org/
and the same name, but different county in Pa. is a St. Anne’s that 25 years ago was called “Byzantine” but now is said to be “Ukrainian Catholic”: http://www.stanneukrainiancc.com/

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