Expert: Tom Schott - 1/6/2006

Question
Do you think the Roman Catholic Church will follow the example of Anglican Churches and ordain women priests?  Although this does seem highly unlikely, the fact that the Roman Catholic Church ordained MARRIED priests surely shows there is a possibility for reform?  Do you personally feel that women should be ordained as priests in the Roman Catholic Church?
Also, as you are a married Catholic deacon yourself, it would be interesting to know if there a large number of married priests/deacons in the Catholic church as i thought that they had to be celibate?
I look forward to hearing your views on these issues. Thank you,
Sophie  

Answer
Sophie,

  Yes, I think the Church will eventually reverse its current position on women priests, but not in our lifetimes. It took it 500 years to apologize to Galileo for being right. I don't think it's possible to maintain the fiction that there is equality for women in Church until they are allowed to be ordained. Personally, I believe women should be able to practice any ministry in the Church, including ordained ministry.

  Well, I can tell you this, almost all of the deacons in this country and western Europe are married. I don't know about other countries. It may not be as true in Third World countries. Deacons do not have to be celibate. We promise not to remarry if our spouse dies. And whether you know it or not, there are some married Catholic priests. Guys who converted from Episcopalian denomination who were already married priests there are married in the Roman Catholic Church, too. And there're always a few regular priests who are secretly married. We had one in this diocese, who had been a pastor for over 20 years. His parish knew about his wife, but when the bishop found out . . . boom, he was gone.

God bless,
Deacon Tom