Former priest to marry mother of his child, daughter of adviser to Pope Francis

[LiberalElite]

Source: NY Daily News

VATICAN CITY — Thomas Williams, the onetime public face of the disgraced Legion of Christ religious order who left the priesthood after admitting he fathered a child, is getting married this weekend to the child’s mother, The Associated Press has learned. The bride is the daughter of former U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Mary Ann Glendon, one of Pope Francis’ top advisers.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/priest-marry-mary-ann-glendon-mother-child-pope-advisor-article-1.1538820#ixzz2meqzsSHO

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/priest-marry-mary-ann-glendon-mother-child-pope-advisor-article-1.1538820#ixzz2meqdQX7Q

[MADem]

1. All in the Family, I guess.....

Doesn't he have the looks of an Arrow Shirt model, though?

?6

And here's the happy bride four years ago, a pretty hard core Catholic, apparently...except for that schtupping priests bit, by the looks of it:



http://communio.stblogs.org/index.php/tag/liz-lev/

Will he stay in the RC club, I wonder, or will he pull a "Father Cutie?"

He jumped ship to the Episcopalians....!

[Beacool]

9. Those are two hot looking priests.

I can see why women were attracted to them.

[MADem]

12. Father Cutie (yes--his name is really CUTIE) was a HUGE scandal.

People who don't speak Spanish may have missed it, but he was photographed making out with his girlfriend on the beach. That led to his resignation.

The reason the scandal was so HUGE is because he had a HIT television show on Telemundo, where he was like a religious Oprah or something. The little old ladies in the black dresses and rosaries would SWOON over him. He was a massive money machine...

He wrote a book about how he tried to resist temptation (I think it was called Dilemma or something on those lines) --as you can see by the magazine cover, he wasn't too successful!

He really is a poster boy for allowing priests to marry.

[Beacool]

18. Yes, I remember the story.

He's now married and has two sons.

It was a scandal because he hadn't quit the priesthood before he was caught kissing his girlfriend on the beach ala "An Affair to Remember".

[LibDemAlways]

2. Priests leaving the priesthood and marrying is

not all that uncommon. The man who conducted Hugh Hefner's wedding back in 1989 was a priest who had served at a church attended by my family. After he left the priesthood, he married and had a large family. Another priest my family knew married a parishioner. Many of these guys become counselors and serve as "rent a priests" for weddings and funerals.

Hard to understand the church's strict prohibition against a married clergy when they allow married Episcopal priests who convert to serve in the Catholic priesthood.

[No Vested Interest]

5. Correct - not at all uncommon.

The priest who performed the ceremony for my spouse and me subsequently left and married. I always said that was my "out" if I ever needed or wanted one. (I didn't need or want.) That was 50+ yrs ago. I just heard recently that he is active in the Quaker church locally.

I do think, though, that it's preferable to take one's leave before the baby arrives.

[IdaBriggs]

10. It started because of money. Priests with families mean two things -

they need money to support them, and the children/spouses would be eligible to inherit.

I believe the rules were changed when having a second/third child given to the priesthood with a substantial endowment was common. If that man married, the endowment didn't go to the church, but was eligible to go to his wife and children.

The problem was solved by declaring all priests (including those married before the order went into effect) "no longer married and their children bastards with no right of inheritance." Also, the church then got all the money.

Problem solved, and the Church hierarchy in Rome got MUCH richer.

[Xithras]

15. My grandfather left the priesthood to marry my grandmother.

He had just been ordained when WW2 broke out, and he volunteered as a chaplain and marched with the troops across Europe. After the war ended and he came back to the U.S., he was assigned to a small church for a while, but later said that his "heart just wasn't in it anymore". When he met my grandmother, the last piece fell into place and he left the priesthood for good.

I'm pretty happy he did...I wouldn't be here otherwise

[joshcryer]

19. The Pope could change it instantly.

Snap of a finger.

I'm guessing the Church doesn't change because ... fast change is unpredictable and challenging to it. First married Priests? Then women Priests. Can't have that.

[LibDemAlways]

20. My husband, who was raised Catholic, has lately

been attending an Episcopal church where two female priests are also both from Catholic families. They didn't let their gender get in the way of what they perceived to be their calling. The Church is missing out mightily by being stubborn on this issue.

[joshcryer]

21. Francis is really bad on choice and women issues.

Though he thinks they should be part of the Church he still sees them as subservient. It's a shame really.

Regarding marriage for Priests he does seem like he's open to changing it. But only in so far as I can tell as if it becomes a problem (ie, more and more men choose not to be Catholic priests because they want to be married).

[Plucketeer]

3. Abstinence...

it just ain't natural!

[davidpdx]

7. One-handed, it's not just for preists

[onehandle]

4. The Church should allow Priests to marry, as it was hundreds of years ago.

DUers who hate the Catholic Church should 'pray' this doesn't happen. It would invigorate the Church like nobody's business.

[YOHABLO]

6. So what the hell do you think Episcopalians are for?

[Sognefjord]

24. Or Lutherans.

[AtheistCrusader]

13. You realize most opponents of the church are actually opponents of its dogma, right?

This church COULD become a non-issue to me, if it undergoes some actual reforms, and I'm not talking about marriage for the priests, though that would be a good step in it appearing more 'normal'.

[bitchkitty]

8. Too too Thornbirds. n/t

[hedgehog]

11. !

[idwiyo]

14. Father belonged to Legion of Christ founded by drug addict & pedophile.

The saga of the Legion of Christ represents one of the most egregious examples of how the Vatican ignored decades of reports about sexually abusive priests as church leaders put the interests of the institution above those of the victims.

The Rev. Marcial Maciel founded the cult-like Legion in 1941 in Mexico and oversaw its growth into a large and prominent congregation despite credible reports that he was a drug addict and child molester. After Maciel’s death in 2008, the Legion admitted that he fathered three children and sexually abused his seminarians.

...

The Legion scandal has been particularly damaging to the Vatican because Maciel was held up by Pope John Paul II and his cardinals as a model for the faithful, with the order admired for its orthodoxy and ability to bring in money and new priests.

[Orsino]

16. Interesting. I wonder whether the ceremony will include amy vows? n/t

[freshwest]

17. Pope Francis reveals he used to be a nightclub bouncer in Buenos Aires, Argentina

By Lee Moran - December 3, 2013

God's enforcer on Earth used to be a nightclub bouncer.

Pope Francis I has revealed that, years before becoming pontiff, he sorted out rowdy troublemakers in backstreet bars in his home city of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The 76-year-old head of the Catholic Church made the astonishing announcement on Sunday...

The Catholic News Service reports that he mentioned his former career while talking to parishioners in a working-class neighborhood in Rome....

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/pope-francis-nightclub-bouncer-article-1.1535865

From link at first article. Wish I could get the picture to post. He has a impish grin.

[Paula Sims]

23. I can just see the reaction of some of the guys he bounced. . .

They wake up one morning, hung over, turn on the TV, and shout "Dude, that's the guy that tossed me out of bars 40 years ago!!!"

[freshwest]

25. That would be mind boggling for them, I bet!

[Paula Sims]

22. The Byzantine (Eastern) Rite Catholic church has married priests but . . .

. . . they have to be married BEFORE they become Deacons and then Priests. And once the wife dies, they cannot remarry or they must leave their position in the church. Roman Catholics won't accept that view because it leads to more of a link between East and West and there are parties on both sides that would rather die than see unification.

John Fugelsang's parents were both of the cloth -- his father was a Franciscan Brother and his mother a nun. They both left their offices and got married to each other. It happens. . .