Saturday, December 16, 2006

a few questions on my mind

An Anglican priest converted to the Faith and was recently ordained as a Catholic priest. A lot of people across the Catholic blogosphere are delighted and I guess I should be but I have a few questions.

The new Father has a wife and kids. Who is supporting his family? Obviously he's got to make more than the average priest so he can keep his family decently. Where will he live? He can't live in the rectory unless the parish is going to kick any other priests in residence out. If he's living in his own home who is paying his mortagage? Will his wife be able to keep up her previous standard of living? Suddenly going from shopping at department stores to thrift shops could be pretty demoralizing. If his wife divorces him will the archdiocese have to pay child support and alimony? What will his wife's role be in the parish? The wives of Baptist preachers are expected to be both servants and queens to the congregation. Will Mrs. Priest be running the parish or will she just show up at Mass with the kids on Sunday? If she becomes depressed (many preacher's wives suffer from depression) who will pay for therapy? Speaking of the kids is the archdiocese responsible for sending them to college? If Fr. dies before they all turn 18 will the parish or the archdiocese be forced to take care of them until they reach maturity?

I hate to be the skunk at the garden party but it sounds to me like married convert priests might be a costly decision for the church.