{"id":1183,"date":"2009-01-20T06:04:00","date_gmt":"2009-01-20T06:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2009\/01\/seattle-welcomes-its-first-married-priest.html"},"modified":"2009-01-20T06:04:00","modified_gmt":"2009-01-20T06:04:00","slug":"seattle-welcomes-its-first-married-priest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2009\/01\/seattle-welcomes-its-first-married-priest.html","title":{"rendered":"Seattle welcomes its first married priest"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Washington state, another married man has been ordained to the priesthood — and he chatted with the local paper<\/a> about his exceptional journey: <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Tom McMichael had been a Lutheran pastor. The day after his ordination as a Roman Catholic priest, Father Tom McMichael stood in front of the altar at Assumption Church after Sunday Mass, while members of the congregation raised both hands in a gesture of welcome and blessing.<\/p>\n

The welcoming of a new priest is a special moment for any church, but this one was extraordinary: At McMichael\u2019s side was Karin McMichael, his wife of 23 years.<\/p>\n

McMichael, 48, is the first married priest in the Archdiocese of Seattle, which includes all of western Washington. He and his wife have two sons, aged 19 and 21. McMichael expects to be working at Assumption part time at least until this summer, while also celebrating weekend Masses at Skagit County churches.<\/p>\n

The Jan. 11, event was no surprise to the parish. McMichael had been a seminarian and deacon there for several months, the culmination of a process that began in November 2005. That was when McMichael informed his congregation at Lynden\u2019s Hope Lutheran Church that he was resigning to become a Catholic.<\/p>\n

McMichael took that step with no assurance that he would be able to continue the religious vocation he loved.<\/p>\n

\u201cPerhaps the most difficult part of this was giving that up, and not being sure if I would be able to continue,\u201d he said. \u201cThere was no guarantee that this door would open.\u201d<\/p>\n

While priestly celibacy remains the rule in the Roman Catholic Church, there are exceptions. In the 1950s, McMichael said, the Roman church allowed some married Lutheran pastors in Germany to be ordained after conversion. And some small Eastern-rite churches that accept the authority of the Pope have a long tradition of married priests.<\/p>\n

In the U.S., Pope John Paul II approved the ordination of converted, married clergymen from other denominations in 1980, according to information on the archdiocese\u2019s Web site.<\/p>\n

If some Catholic priests can have wives, why not all?<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not a question I can answer,\u201d McMichael said.<\/p>\n

McMichael and every other would-be priest in his situation must apply to the Vatican for permission to be ordained and must undergo seminary training in Catholic doctrines.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey make it very clear \u2026 that this is the exception,\u201d McMichael said. \u201cThe rule, if you will, in canon law is celibate clergy. But they also acknowledge the possibility of exceptions.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are around 100 such priests in the U.S., McMichael said. He doesn\u2019t think he and others like him are paving the way for the general acceptance of marriage for priests.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a step toward married clergy as the norm, and I think that\u2019s made very clear throughout the process,\u201d McMichael said.<\/p>\n

As McMichael tells it, his transition from Lutheran to Catholic, and from Lutheran pastor to Catholic priest, was a lengthy one.<\/p>\n

He was born into a Swedish-rooted Lutheran congregation, where pastors and congregation are, in his words, \u201cvery comfortable with Catholic forms, with the Eucharist, with vestments, with a high view of the clergy. \u2026 That was the kind of Lutheran I was, and the kind of Lutheran religion I was attempting to live.\u201d<\/p>\n

He got his religious training in a seminary that included other young men training for the Catholic priesthood, and he always felt comfortable with an inclusive view of the Christian faith. As he saw it, reunification of all Christian churches was the ultimate goal, and the reunification of Lutherans with Catholics was part of that.<\/p>\n

The Catholic Church has taken significant steps in that direction in the past 50 years, McMichael said, shifting to celebration of the Mass in local languages and working to smooth out theological differences over the role of faith, good works and divine grace in human salvation.<\/p>\n

But as McMichael saw it, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America was moving in a different direction in the years leading up to his decision to leave, away from the traditional liturgy and becoming more \u201cProtestant,\u201d more concerned with maintaining a separate denominational identity.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of us had to deal with the question of whether we belonged,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>McMichael and his wife decided they didn\u2019t. Both made the conversion to the Roman Catholic Church, and both had to submit to \u201ca stack of paperwork\u201d as the first step toward McMichael\u2019s Catholic ordination.<\/p>\n

\u201cRome, and the Archdiocese of Seattle, wanted to have a sense of who I was, and why I was coming,\u201d McMichael said.<\/p>\n

He acknowledges that not everyone in his new church, or his old one, may be supportive of what he has done. But he has received support aplenty. Some former parishioners at Hope Lutheran went to Seattle for his ordination, and members of Assumption also have been welcoming, he said.<\/p>\n

He said he especially values the diversity of the Catholic Church: The Assumption congregation is a rainbow of ethnic groups, income levels and theological viewpoints.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been especially gratifying to be received by people who are coming from very different theological perspectives,\u201d he said. \u201cI just rejoice in the gathering for Eucharist with this incredible diversity of people. \u2026 This is the one thing that would bring them together.\u201d<\/p>\n

He hopes that his own ministry will further unite, rather than divide.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot everyone can do what I did or would want to,\u201d he said. \u201cI would hope that it would encourage better relations between Lutherans and Catholics.\u201d <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You can read more about Fr. McMichael right here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Top hoto: by Danny Gawlowski \/ The Bellingham Herald<\/i><\/span>
Bottom photo: by Terry McGuire \/ Catholic Northwest Progress<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Washington state, another married man has been ordained to the priesthood — and he chatted with the local paper about his exceptional journey: Tom McMichael had been a Lutheran pastor. 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