Women Priests and Married Priests: What’s the Difference?

We know that some of the apostles were married. (Peter had a mother-in-law)

We know that there were married priests in the early church. We know that the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Rite churches have married priests.

Married priests is therefore a discipline of the church and not a doctrine. It is something which the church does have the authority to change.

Exceptions can be made to the rule of celibacy. Such an exception was made for me and for other former Protestant ministers.

Furthermore, Rome could change this discipline tomorrow, do away with it completely or bring in some new expression of the discipline of celibacy.

Catholics should therefore understand that married priests and women priests are not connected.

They seem to be connected because of the cultural spectacles we wear, but when we look closely we can see that they are two separate issues.

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