MARRIED PRIESTS IN COMMUNITY CHURCH TRADITION

by Bishop Serge A. Theriault, Ottawa, ON

Serge A. Theriault is Superintendent of the Canadian Section of the International Council of Community Churches (ICCC) and Bishop of its Christian Catholic Rite (CCR). I invited him to write an article on the ministry of married priests in this tradition and on the benefits the church gets from it. Bishop Theriault has a Th.D. degree from the University of Berne, Switzerland, and a Master of Pastoral Studies from St. Paul's University in Ottawa. Bishop Theriault has been edited slightly in the interests of space. Full text with footnotes is available from The Journal.

Chris Diamond

   We have in our Community Church tradition – called The Christian Catholic Rite - married priests of both sexes having families and civil careers. They are a team ministry with myself, their bishop. I am married to Diane and we have three children, John and his wife, Shylah; Melanie; and Justin. We are also grandparents of Veronica. In civil life, I work as a Medical Psychotherapist and Mediator. We provide pastoral services that include parochial work, counselling to couples and families, and marriage services. The latter work is done through an ecumenical and interfaith organization called the Marriage and Family Institute, centered in Ottawa.
Among the clergy are religious who belong to the Society of the Precious Blood (SPB). Father Willard, 51, is one of them. He is a public servant and married to Suzanne; they have two sons, aged 22 & 21. Also in the membership of SPB is Father Jean, 61, retired from the public service and curate at St. Bernard & St. Gregory, Gatineau. His wife, Ghislaine, 59, is a secular priest. They have raised two sons; the oldest is married with a child. Another religious cleric is Bob, 56. His wife, Gynette, 55, is also a religious (SPB). She is on the ecumenical team of counsellors at City Hall Silence Centre. They have two sons, aged 25 and 17.
CCR clergy and religious are licensed under the Episcopal Ministry Committee of the Canadian Chapter (CCICCC). They interact with married ministers of other traditions who are licensed under the Non- Episcopal Ministry Committee. Ministers of the two Committees are found on the pastoral team of the Marriage and Family Institute (MFI) which respects each member’s religious traditions in its approach. In most of the Canadian Provinces, MFI has registered Marriage Officiants, including Rev. John Balfe in Ontario (North Bay), Rev. François Brassard in British Columbia (Ladysmith), and Rev. Neil Parado in Manitoba (Winnipeg).
Benefits of Married Priests
As married priests living in the light, we introduce one another to the kingdom of what is eternally true and good, so that salvation becomes a reality that is recognized and liked. Our first bishop, Rene Vilatte, said that "the primary responsibility of pastors is to awaken the conscience of believers and to facilitate their illumination so that salvation is an authentic reality in human existence". Church leaders who deceive others with their nonsense and upset families (Titus 1,10-11) can claim that they know God but their actions deny it. They are not fit to do anything good (Titus 1,16). The unnatural environment created by man made compulsory celibacy for priests in the Roman Catholic (RC) Church is seen by many as leading to varied sexual deviations, the most grievous of which is sexual molestation of children. The exposure of these abuses has left a trail of emotional destruction and mistrust that has shaken the very foundations of the Church. "If anyone, says the Lord, should cause one child to lose faith in me, it would be better for that person to have a large millstone tied round his neck and be drowned in the deep sea" (Matthew 18,6).
The quality of marital counseling is often mentioned as a valued benefit of having married clergy. Another benefit is the strength brought to church decision making by the priests, men and women, and their families. Also the courage shown in living with their decisions. The church is spared frustrated bachelors. There is less damage done to the ‘gene’ pool by celibacy. And thank God, we are spared pedophilia scandals that disorient and scandalize children and their families in RC parishes in the United States and in Canada. We are also spared the problems that seem to erode respect for clergy in the RC church: professed sex-less priests, gay or straight having on-going sexual relationships. Finally, having women in the ministry absolves us of being seen as a bastion of patriarchy which will fall to the equality of women.