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Diocese Hires Married Priest

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The Associated Press

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 27, 2008

MILWAUKEE - The Archdiocese of Milwaukee has hired a married Roman Catholic priest with children from Florida - a first in the archdiocese's history.

The Rev. Michael Scheip and his wife have juvenile and adult sons and are moving from the Diocese of Venice, Fla..

Although no married priest has served in Milwaukee, about 100 married priests have been ordained in the United States since the late Pope John Paul II created an exception in 1980 that allows married Lutheran and Anglican or Episcopal priests who have converted to Roman Catholicism to become priests, Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan wrote in a letter to priests and deacons recently.

Scheip entered Catholicism in 1988 and was ordained in 1993 for the Archdiocese of Newark, N.J., by now-retired Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington, D.C., Dolan's letter said.

Scheip is also a former Lutheran minister.

Dolan is working on a placement for him, archdiocesan spokeswoman Julie Wolf said on Friday.

In his letter, which some priests received by e-mail and mail on Thursday and Friday, Dolan said, "I am writing to you to elicit your help in welcoming Father Scheip to the archdiocese.

"Would any of you be willing to accept his service to your parish as an associate pastor? How can I, as your archbishop, be of help to you and to your people in this regard?" Dolan said.

In his letter, Dolan provided a series of questions and answers that the archdiocesan chancery office prepared.

The first question is: "We were always taught that married men could not be ordained Catholic priests. How is it possible that we could have a married Catholic priest here in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee?"

The answer notes that celibacy has never been required of priests in the church's Eastern rite, though it is practiced universally in the West.

"Although it is highly valued, Pope Paul VI states that celibacy 'is not, of course, required by the nature of the priesthood itself. This is clear from the practice of the early church and the traditions of the Eastern rite churches,'" the answer said.

"Much has been said about practical reasons for celibacy, such as giving the parish priest more time to dedicate to the children of God, etc. When all is said and done, however, we must understand it as a powerful sign of the presence of the kingdom of God. It is not essential to the priesthood, but it is a radical witness to the reign of Christ in the world," it said.

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