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1. Married Catholic Priests in Post-War Germany

Introduction: In his book The Pastoral Provisions: Married Catholic Priests, Joseph H. Fichter considers many issues surrounding the ordination of about 40 married, formerly Episcopalian, American priests, who had converted to Catholicism in the late 70's and the 80's. Catholic Bishops were authorized to confer priestly ordination on these married men by the Pastoral Provisions, which was given to American Bishops by the Holy See for this purpose. The following quote describes similar events in Germany, prior to these ordinations in the United States:

"It is not as though the Bishops were experimenting with something brand new. The papal willingness to accept married priests was demonstrated thirty years earlier by Pope Pius XII. He granted an indult to Bishop Alberto Stohr of Mainz, Germany, in favor of Rudolf Goethe, a married Lutheran pastor who was ordained a Catholic priest on his seventy-first birthday in 1951. In the following year, two younger Lutheran ministers, Eugen Scheytt and Otto Melchers, also made the transfer. Then, in December 1953, Martin Giebner became the fourth married convert to minister as a Catholic priest in Germany.

"There is apparently no historical or ecclesiastical reason why the post-War German hierarchy felt free to make these requests of the Holy See. So-called 'liberal' prelates, like Cardinal Cushing of Boston and Cardinal Ritter of St. Louis, are known to have turned down such requests. In the next decade, several Americans who were rejected by bishops in this country turned to Germany for help. Ernest Beck, a married Lutheran minister, was advised by Monsignor Hellriegel to seek ordination from the Archbishop of Mainz in 1964. Another appeal to German Episcopal influence was made in 1966 by Father Louis Sigman, who got the intervention of Abbott Lorenz Klein, at the Benedictine Abbey of Trier, Germany. He proved that his Episcopal ordaining prelate had been consecrated by a Polish National Catholic Bishop who in turn had been consecrated by the Archbishop of Utrecht. Asked if he was willing to accept ordination, _sub condicione_, he was the first to be ordained conditionally at the hands of an American Bishop, John Franz, of Peoria." (p. 69)

From The Pastoral Provisions: Married Catholic Priests, Joseph Fichter. Kansas City: Sheed & Ward, 1989.

2. About the Pastoral Provision

In 1980 the Holy See, in response to requests from priests and laity of the Episcopal Church who were seeking full communion with the Catholic Church, created a Pastoral Provision to provide them with special pastoral attention. The Pastoral Provision is under the jurisdiction of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith whose Delegate directs the working of the Provision. Under the Provision the ordination of married Episcopal priests was made possible1. It also authorized the establishment of personal parishes in dioceses of the United States in response to the request of former faithful of the Episcopal Church in which they may retain certain liturgical elements proper to the Anglican tradition. The special liturgy was subsequently approved by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Committee for the Liturgy of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops. The Pastoral Provision is a service rendered to the bishops of the United States by which former Episcopal ministers who have been accepted as candidates for priestly ordination receive theological, spiritual, and pastoral preparation for ministry in the Catholic Church. Since 1983 over seventy men have been ordained for priestly ministry in Catholic dioceses of the United States; seven personal parishes have been established and the Book of Divine Worship has been authorized. Correspondence should be addressed to: The Pastoral Provision Office Cardinal's Residence 2101 Commonwealth Avenue Brighton, Massachusetts 02135 tel. (617) 782-2544 1 Cf. PAUL VI, Sacerdotalis coelibatus, no. 42.