Desperate Catholics find "rent-a-priests" online
ALBANY,
N
Y
,
Aug
31:
Some
are
Catholics
who
see
their
church
as
stuck
in
the
past.
Others
are
believers
who
happen
to
be
divorced,
pregnant
before
marriage
or
gay.
A
few
just
can't
find
a
priest
when
they
need
one.
Some are Catholics who see their church as stuck in the past. Others are believers who happen to be divorced, pregnant before marriage or gay. A few just can't find a priest when they need one.
They
turn
to
http://www.rentapriest.com,
a
Web
site
with
2,500
Catholic
priests
in
a
national
database
known
as
''God's
Yellow
Pages.''
Virtually
all
the
priests
in
the
database
have
left
their
official
clerical
ministries
due
to
the
Roman
Catholic
Church's
mandatory
celibacy
rule,
but
they
continue
to
conduct
weddings,
usually
for
a
fee,
while
performing
baptisms,
last
rites
and
funerals
for
free,
in
keeping
with
the
practice
of
officially
recognized
priests.
''We are doing Jesus' work and apparently the church isn't,'' said Louise Haggett, director of Celibacy Is The Issue (CITI) ministries, which runs the site and helped arrange 3,000 weddings last year.
The group also is working to change the Catholic church's ban on married priests.
Haggett said the Internet is a popular source for rent-a-priests because there is a shortage. Twenty-seven per cent of U S parishes lack a resident priest, according to a U S Conference of Bishops study.
Priests are ageing, churches are closing and fewer priests are being ordained. The church knows there are fewer priests than decades ago, but there are plenty to meet the spiritual needs of the faithful, said Ron Menty of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany.
''Sometimes the reason why people go to this source concerns the rules, regulations and expectations of the church,'' Menty said. ''Sometimes a priest outside the community feels freer in providing services.'' The going rate for a wedding in New York is about 500 dollars, cheaper in other states.
FAITHFUL TO JESUS, NOT RULES
Haggett founded the site in 1992 when her mother was in a nursing home and unable to find a parish priest. CITI locates, recruits, certifies and promotes married or gay Roman Catholic priests. Haggett said 21 canons in church law validate married priests.
But the church does not recognise these priests because they violated their vows, said Ken Goldfarb, spokesman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany.
The church does recognise some married Protestants who became priests later in life.
''These rent-a-priests have already taken their vows, then married. That's the distinction,'' Goldfarb said.
Richard Hasselbach, who married after he was a priest for 13 years, says many people are turned off by what he calls the inflexibility and rigidity of ''the corporate Catholic Church.'' He routinely marries people who are divorced, pregnant or gay and counsels people who were sexually abused by Roman Catholic priests. He celebrates Mass in his home and performs marriages outside of church buildings. The Roman Catholic Church does not allow wedding ceremonies to be held outside.
Jim and Mary Ann Graves of Batavia, Illinois, were married in their backyard by Bob Scanlan, whom they found on the Web site. Both were raised Catholic, married for the first time in the church, and then divorced. Together they have eight children.
''We never considered an annulment because it's a real hassle,'' Mary Ann Graves said. ''We were looking for something different than the first time, but we wanted a religious and spiritual ceremony.'' Faith is a relationship with Christ and not about rules and dogma, Hasselbach said. ''Once you're a priest, you're always a priest,'' he said. ''If I fail to respond to the call to minister, I do at my own peril.''
REUTERS