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Date:         Tue, 26 Jan 1993 09:08:38 -0600
From:         Roger L Rainwater <RAINWATER1@LIB.IS.TCU.EDU>
Subject:      married priests

    Last week there was some discussion of married Episcopal priests
    who convert to Roman Catholicism.  I finally found an article which
    ran in the local newspaper concerning such a priest in the diocese
    of Fort Worth, Texas.  I thought it might be of interest.

    Roger Rainwater
    RAINWATER1@LIB.IS.TCU.EDU

==========================================================================
Married Episcopal priest joins move to Catholicism

By Jim Jones
From 14 September 1991, Fort Worth [Texas] Star-Telegram

FORT WORTH -- The Rev. John Gremmels of Fort Worth is part of a growing number
of married Episcopal priests in the United States who are leaving their church
to be ordained as Roman Catholic priests.

Gremmels, who served 11 years as an Episcopal priest,  will become a Roman
Catholic priest today during an ancient laying-on-of-hands ceremony at St.
Patrick Cathedral in Fort Worth.

Gremmels, who has  three children, will become the first married Episcopal
priest to serve as a Catholic clergyman in the 28-county Catholic Diocese of
Fort Worth. Fort Worth  Bishop Joseph Delaney will lead the ordination
ceremonies.

Leaving the Episcopal Church was painful and cost him friends, Gremmels said,
but it was worth it.

"I decided there was no way I was going to die and not be a Roman Catholic," he
said.

 About 55 other married Episcopal priests in the United States have switched to
the Roman Catholic priesthood under a special provision approved in 1982 by
Pope John Paul II.

The priests cite many reasons for the change. They say that decisions of the
Episcopal Church -- such as the ordination of women as priests and bishops and
the ordination of gays and lesbians --  contradict traditional church teaching.

But Gremmels says he is motivated by a burning desire "to be in communion with
the successor of Peter [the pope]."

 National  Episcopal officials say they are not alarmed by the conversions.

"I don't see any sign of a trend here," said James Solheim, a spokesman at the
national office. "There's no move toward Rome."

Another married Episcopal priest in Tarrant County, the Rev. Allan Hawkins of
Arlington, says he also plans to seek permission to become a Roman Catholic
priest.

Hawkins is rector of St. Mary the Virgin Episcopal Church in Arlington, which
recently voted to seek affiliation with the Roman Catholic Church. The
congregation's decision was partially prompted by church members' views that
the Episcopal Church is straying from traditional church teachings, Hawkins
said.

The Episcopal Church is a part of the worldwide Anglican Communion, which began
when the Church of England split from Rome in the 1500s.

Hawkins and Gremmels  said they are strongly supportive of efforts of Anglicans
and Roman Cathlics to reunite but realized that Episcopal decisions such as the
ordination of women are moving that church further away from the Vatican.

Gremmels' wife, Tracy, and their three children, Becket, 8; Alban, 5; and
Hanna, 1, also have had to adjust to the change.

The most suspenseful part of the process, Gremmels said, was waiting for more
than a year before he received a document signed by  John Paul  giving him a
special exemption from celibacy.

But if Gremmels' wife dies, he won't be allowed to  function as a priest if he
remarries.

"Tracy is going to be the best-cared-for woman in the world," Gremmels said.