I went to a bar to see a married priest

This week Rocky and I went to the DC Theology on Tap night. It was held at James Hoban's Irish restaurant and the speaker was a married priest. I enjoyed my bangers and mash (a soft, very mild sausage with mashed potatoes made with beer) and my iced tea. Rocky had a burger and fries. The service was quick and efficient but management demanded a credit card before our meals arrived. I suspect they've been stiffed by large dinning groups before but I really didn't like having our card in the waitress's pocket all evening.

Fr. Scott Hurd seems like a very nice man and is an amusing speaker but the whole talk made me feel as if I'd rolled in kudzu--just a little bit uncomfortable. He was an Episcopalian priest (hence the wife and kids) and converted after a few years of pastoring a small church in Texas. It was not deemed necessary for him to attend a Catholic seminary after his Episcopalian training. There are a handful of married priests in the DC diocese and we may get a few more in coming years.

Fr. Scott's story of the long and winding road that led him to the Church is interesting and he is in a unique situation but I don't see it as an answer to the vocations crisis. A married priest can not give his full attention to the vocation, something that Fr. Scott was gracious enough to acknowledge. As St. Paul said, a married man must be concerned with the world and pleasing his wife. If he fails in this, there will be trouble. That trouble could spill over into parish life.

A large subclass of married priests is a can of worms that we don't need to open. I guarantee you that one day some married priest will get a divorce, fall in love with another woman and will demand the "right" to marry again. More likely than not a group of lay fools will rally behind him.

As I said before, Fr. Scott struck me as being a very nice gentleman and I'm not picking at him---God bless him and keep him, his wife, and the little ones too, but I find myself very, very wary.