A Divorced Father of Two Becomes Seattle’s Newest Priest

The Deacon's Bench ^ | June 30, 2013 | Deacon Greg Kandra

[NYer]

Amazing but true. Details:

There aren’t a whole lot of priests in the Latin Church with two grown sons, but the Archdiocese of Seattle’s newest priest, Father Mark Kiszelewski, is one of those few. He was ordained to the priesthood June 8 by Archbishop J. Peter Sartain at St. James Cathedral.

From an early age, Father Kiszelewski, now 58, felt a tug toward the priesthood, but his path to ordination was obviously not a direct one.

From seminary to ‘real world’

Growing up in Merrick, N.Y., he admired the priests at Cure of Ars Parish, where he also attended the parish school.

“I oftentimes got called out of the classroom to serve Masses and funerals and things,” he said. “There were a lot of good priests in my parish that were very holy men, and I think they gave good example to a number of us.”

He was soon on track to become one of them. He graduated from Pius X Preparatory Seminary in Uniondale and Cathedral College of the Immaculate Conception in Douglaston, Queens, and even did a year of theology training at the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in Huntington, on Long Island.

But in the post-Vatican II ’70s, many seminarians were encouraged to “step back” and experience the “real world,” he said.

He decided to take some time off, and was soon enjoying the excitement of working and dating in New York City. But “I still thought that I would go back” to the seminary, he said.

He worked in paper sales, and job transfers took him to California, but he always planned to return to the seminary eventually — until he met the woman he would marry.

A divorced priest?

Father Kiszelewski got married in 1984 and had two sons, Alex and Andrew, now 24 and 21, respectively.

More job changes led his family to Seattle, where he worked as a financial adviser and became a member of St. Therese Parish. Eventually, his marriage ended in divorce, and he received an annulment in 2001.

His advocate in the annulment process was his pastor, Father Paul Magnano, now pastor of Christ Our Hope Parish.

“After the annulment was over, (Father Magnano) asked me, ‘So now what?’ And I said, ‘In my prayer, some things keep coming back up about serving the church in some form or another.’ And he said, ‘Well, keep praying about it,’ and I decided to pursue it further.”

Find out what happened next.

Meantime, congratulations, padre — and ad multos annos!

[RginTN]

Ok. I was always curious about that.

[pbear8]

No it does not. The parents had a civil marriage, the Church is dealing only with the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony.

[RginTN]

So why offer religious annullments if there are children from the marriage?

Again I am curious. I’m not a Catholic and just want info.

[utahagen]

I do not think for a minute that this is a “Kennedy Annulment” and I certainly don’t judge this man; I didn’t even opine that he should not be ordained. Further, I didn’t imply he had done anything sinful. For argument’s sake, let’s assume he was the innocent party in a marriage that was sacramentally invalid through no fault of his own. I simply said I wished his personal history were not public because it is confusing to see a priest who has been divorced. It is because this is undoubtedly a good, devout man that it is troubling: people in troubled marriages see in a position of authority a manifestly good person whose marriage failed, but who went on to good life without his spouse. It may be demoralizing to married people.

[Vermont Lt]

Fair ‘nuff.

I should have cleared your name out of the reply to. My response looked as though I was addressing you, when I was speaking in general.

I apologize for any confusion this may have caused.

[pbear8]

Originally there were only a couple of grounds for the Church to annul the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony. The three that I can think of were homosexuality, impotence and being too closely related by blood (degree of consanguinity).

In the 70s, in this country, liberals came up with all sorts of fake reasons to annul, the favorite being 'lack of discretion', lack of maturity to make a sound decision about marriage. Naturally that made a joke of the sacrament and they were ordered by the Vatican to tightened things up. Things are better and they are no longer passing annulments out like M&Ms, but these actions cannot be pleasing to Our Lord.

Why offer them if there are kids? There may be a good reason in a rare case here or there, but I cannot think of any. Recall how scripture says that our hearts would become hardened. Ultimately this is all due to our sin and that is the bottom line. Remember though, the right of the children to inherit, etc. are not affected by the annulment of the parents. The children are innocent victims.

[utahagen]

No problem!

[RginTN]

Thank you.

[married21]

Ok, if you want to put it that way. That’s kind of a mean slur on innocent children, though. The parents were also considered married according to the civil laws of the state, so the kids are not the children of unwed parents under the civil laws.

[Salvation]

No

[RginTN]

Sorry. Old school lingo slipped out.

But how does the Catholic church view children from marriages they annulled? That has me curious.

[RginTN]

Thanks.

[married21]

The Church doesn’t have a particular view of them that is different from any other kids. The kids of parents who have had an annulment are going to church, attending Catholic school, etc., as far as I know, without any stigma.

The folks at the diocesan marriage tribunal tell me that every year, when adult converts are getting baptized at Easter, there are some annulments of prior marriages that are completed in time for the baptism. I doubt any of those converts are experiencing any stigma toward their kids from their annulled marriage, or they would not be so eager to join the church.

[veritas2002]

Babies don’t seem intrinsic to marriages these days when 50% of all children are born out of wedlock. Contraception helped promote the hook-up culture and that’s why marriage is in a free-fall. It’s only the Catholic Church that has the consistent teaching about what marriage is and what marriage is not. Sticking your dick into some someone and popping out a baby does not constitute marriage.

[RginTN]

Ok you answered my question.

Thank you!

[SuziQ]

Does this make the children bastards in the church which annulled the parents marriage?

NO, it does not. Legitimacy for children is imparted by the STATE by way of the marriage license. If a couple has children and is divorced legally, that doesn't make their children 'bastards', so why should the statement of nullity of a Sacrament, which had nothing to do with 'legitimacy' of any children born in that marriage?

[Hieronymus]

The cause of the annulment needs to exist at the time of the putative marriage—something that springs up out of nowhere after the wedding day (e.g. a change of mind about kids) doesn’t suffice.