University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

Meet Los Angeles' married Catholic priest

(USC Thesis Other)

Meet Los Angeles' married Catholic priest

PDF

Download

Open document

Flip pages

Download a page range

Download transcript

Copy asset link

Request this asset

Transcript (if available)

Content

MEET LOS ANGELES’ MARRIED CATHOLIC PRIEST

by

Lilly Ana Fowler

A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF ARTS
(PRINT JOURNALISM)

May 2008

Copyright 2008 Lilly Ana Fowler

ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract iii

Introduction 1

Before Catholicism 3

Conversion to Catholicism 5

The Discipline of Celibacy 7

Father Bill’s Ordination 9

The Future of the Church 13

Leaving Padre Serra Parish 15

Bibliography 17

iii
ABSTRACT

The Catholic Church today is in dire need of priests. Many suspect allowing married
men to enter the priesthood would help combat the shortage. Yet, Rome refuses to act on this
suggestion. There is, however, a little-known pastoral provision that is already allowing married
men to be ordained as Catholic priests.
Created by Pope John Paul II, the pastoral provision is intended specifically for married
Episcopal priests who wish to enter the Catholic Church. William Lowe is the first to take
advantage of the provision for Los Angeles’ Catholic archdiocese – the largest Catholic diocese
in the nation. The question is whether Lowe and the Los Angeles’ archdiocese can serve as
examples of why more married men, not just former Episcopal priests, should be allowed to
become Catholic priests.
1
Introduction
For weeks I had hounded Father Bill. I wanted to learn more about what the press had
described as the first married man to be ordained a priest by Los Angeles’ Catholic archdiocese –
the largest Catholic diocese in the country. I had had, however, little luck. Phone call after phone
call remained unanswered. Finally, I resolved to make the drive to Camarillo, California, a city
located about 50 miles from downtown Los Angeles, to meet the man who had proven to be so
elusive.
Standing before him that day, I learnt that Father Bill wasn’t, as one might have expected
after so many unreturned phone calls, unreceptive to my visit, but rather, in front of parishioners
both young and old, he apologized for ignoring my calls. He even prostrated himself before me,
saying, “You must be a saint,” as we both laughed at his antics. He went on to explain that he
had been hit with guilt every time he received a message from me but hadn’t been sure he wanted
to talk to another journalist just yet. There was a possibility, he told me, that he would no longer
be functioning as Padre Serra Parish’s second resident priest, and he feared speaking to a member
of the press would make that information public before the matter had been settled.
Despite his hesitation in meeting with me, however, Father Bill had had enough
experience with the media to know the precise nature of my visit. With little prompting --
looking at me with a mile-wide grin and a boyish eagerness he would come to exhibit time and
time again – he said, “The church is so ready for it.” And with that, I realized he was prepared to
discuss the possibility that one day soon the Catholic Church would make priestly ordination an
option for married men.
The widening of the church’s vocational doors is now, as it has been for years, a topic of
interest because of the dwindling number of Catholic priests. But the sexual abuse scandal that
recently rocked the church has added an even greater sense of urgency to the church’s
predicament. Men contemplating the priesthood today must do so under the diminished morale
2
of the church, a spirit that has been faltering ever since thousands of victims of sexual abuse have
stated publicly that Catholic priests betrayed their trust. According to the Center for Applied
Research in the Apostolate, or CARA, over 3,000 parishes in the United States had no resident
priest last year. In 1975, the number had been only about 700. In short, the priest shortage
problem has grown bigger than ever.
Last year, the Los Angeles archdiocese alone agreed to pay $660 million to 500 sexual
abuse victims. In addition to affecting the economic and emotional welfare of the church, the
sexual abuse scandal has also caused some to argue that the church’s celibacy requirement is
directly connected to the inappropriate sexual behavior demonstrated by a surprising number of
Catholic priests. According to a 2004 survey by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, more
than 4,000 priests were accused of sexual abuse between 1950 and 2002. Yet, despite these
circumstances, the church continues to expect men to answer the call to the priesthood as
celibates.
There is, however, a beacon of hope for married men, which priests like Father Bill
represent: the pastoral provision. Created in 1980, the pastoral provision is the Catholic Church’s
way of extending a hand to its Episcopal neighbors. There are now nearly 100 married former
Episcopal priests serving as Catholic priests in the Catholic Church in the United States. Almost
everyone, however, is quick to note that the provision was never crafted so that priestly
ordination may be made available to any and all married men. Rather, it was intended
specifically for married Episcopal priests -- though married men from other Protestant
denominations have also served as priests for the church. Priests like Father Bill, however, who
are already living out their lives both as members of the clergy and as husbands, call into question
the restrictive nature of the church’s policies.
When the Lowes first met, however, neither could have predicted that they would -- as
husband and wife – become so intimately involved with the largest Catholic diocese in the nation.
3
Before Catholicism
Bill and Linda Lowe fell in love when they were still only teenagers living in Southern
California. Father Bill had grown up in a conservative Baptist household while Mrs. Lowe had
been raised as a Presbyterian. As youngsters both decided one day to attend a pool party, or as
they describe it now, a “Bible party.” Shortly after arriving, Father Bill spotted a girl in a zebra-
striped bathing suit and promptly asked a friend to introduce her to him. His friend, however,
mistakenly brought over the woman who would later become Mrs. Lowe -- instead of the girl in
the eye-catching suit. “It all worked out,” Father Bill says, who today sports a thick, grey beard.
As soon as he saw Mrs. Lowe’s large blue eyes, Father Bill says, he forgot all about that other
girl. In fact, for years, Father Bill would ask his wife about that zebra-striped bathing suit, until
one day they both realized he was actually referring to someone else entirely.
After that party, the Lowes continued to date for seven years before getting married and
having three children. They have now been married for 45 years and are the grandparents of five
grandchildren. Perhaps part of the key to their marriage has been their shared religious
experience. The Lowes have always managed to stay in tune with each other’s religious leanings.
Father Bill refers to his ministry as a “team” effort. Initially, the Lowes’ joint spiritual ventures
included the decision to leave their religious upbringings behind in favor of the Episcopal
Church.
But when Father Bill joined the Episcopal Church, he never intended to remain a member
of the laity; he already knew he wanted to become a priest. But it took years of preparation
before Father Bill could formally become a member of the clergy. It wasn’t until 1969, at the age
of 30, that Mr. William Lowe became Father Bill for the first time.
Once ordained, the Episcopal Church made good use of Father Bill, at one point making
him the pastor of not one but two parishes: “St. John’s Church” and “Parish of the Messiah.”
Both churches are located in Newton, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. Throughout most of
4
their period in Boston, Mrs. Lowe, on the other hand, helped support the family by working as an
administrator at MIT.
Michael Shirley, a retired Episcopal priest, worked with Father Bill for about three years.
The two men oversaw the two parishes for which Father Bill was initially responsible. As
assistant priest, Shirley helped Father Bill take care of the needs of the parishioners: when one
priest was celebrating Mass at one parish, the other was doing the same at the other church.
“Father Bill was a very intense fellow,” Shirley recalls. Shirley told me about the day he
sat in his Volkswagen, struggling to shift it into reverse. Shirley says he was unable to move the
gears and that he was in a lot of pain when he tried. A doctor later informed him that he had a
broken rib and asked if he remembered doing anything that could have caused the injury. Shirley
says the only event that stood out in his mind was that earlier he had celebrated the Eucharist with
Father Bill. The Mass had been particularly meaningful as it was intended as a kind of farewell
for Shirley, who was about to leave to become rector of his own parish. Shirley says that after
taking part in the Eucharist, Father Bill hugged him with the kind of exuberance that could have
crushed a rib. Referring once again to Father Bill’s personality, Shirley said, “That’s the kind of
intensity I’m talking about.”
In time, Father Bill alone became responsible for “Parish of the Messiah,” acting as its
pastor for nearly 30 years. David Nelson, a congregant of the parish, knew Father Bill for
approximately his last 13 years as an Episcopal priest. But Nelson says in Newton, it wasn’t just
people associated with the church who knew Father Bill. Close to everyone in the public sector
knew him because of his work for social justice, says Nelson. Father Bill, Nelson says, was also
chaplain to the police force. Funeral directors also counted on him to preside at memorial
services, even when the deceased had no family or no connection to the church. And if for no
other reason, Nelson added, people in Newton took notice of Father Bill because he was the only
priest who rode around town on a motorcycle.
5
In his own parish work, Father Bill went “out of his way to make people feel welcome,”
says Nelson. Father Bill extended his arms to everyone, gay or straight, man or woman and even
took pains to include gender neutral language throughout the liturgy at a time when it was not
common to do so. “Being in that parish was like being in a large, extended family,” Nelson says.
But Nelson says Father Bill didn’t do it alone. “One of the real strengths of Bill’s ministry was
his wife,” he says.
Despite his reputation as an Episcopal priest, Nelson says no one in Newton was
particularly surprised when they heard Father Bill had chosen to enter the Catholic Church.
According to Nelson, Father Bill had always favored high Anglo – Catholic liturgy. For the
people left behind in Boston, the only problem with Father Bill’s Catholic ordination was that he
had failed to tell the Episcopal Church about his plans. According to Devin McLachlan, the
current pastor of “Parish of the Messiah,” Father Bill’s failure to communicate with his Episcopal
bishop forced the Episcopal Church to dispense him from his ordination instead of voluntarily
dispensing him.
Conversion to Catholicism
In keeping with their joint spiritual endeavors, Father Bill did not make the leap to
Catholicism alone; his wife joined him. “The only way I can explain it is that it was what God
was calling us to do at that time and in that place,” Mrs. Lowe told me one day when asked about
their decision to become Catholic. “Bill had always, always, had an attraction to the Catholic
Church,” she added. Mrs. Lowe explained that even before becoming Catholic, Father Bill had
had strong ties to the church: he worked as an oblate director in a Benedictine abbey and received
a master’s in monastic spirituality from St. John’s School of Theology-Seminary in Minnesota.
When asked directly about his reasons for converting to Catholicism, Father Bill’s
answer is straightforward and one that any Catholic might give. “In many ways, we noticed that
6
this is where it’s happening – in the Catholic Church,” he said. “We’ve always believed that it’s
been the church that really cares about the poor and the needy.”
Father Bill’s road to Catholicism, however, was not like thousands of others. For Father
Bill, conversion was once again irrevocably tied to the priesthood. In 2002, the same year the
sexual abuse scandal made headlines for the first time in the Boston Globe, Father Bill made his
first appeal to become a Catholic priest to Cardinal Bernard Law, the man who would later be
forced to resign for his role in the scandal. Before anyone knew of the cardinal’s fate or the fate
of the church, however, Father Bill asked Cardinal Law if he too could join the ranks of the
clergy.
Father Bill’s appointment with the cardinal had been set for a Thursday. But in a strange
twist of fate, that appointment fell within days of the Boston sexual abuse expose. Shortly after
the news spread but before his scheduled appointment, someone from the cardinal’s office called
to tell him the meeting had been cancelled. “Cardinal Law,” Mrs. Lowe says, “had disappeared
from the face of the earth at that point.”
Previously unreleased documents revealed that Cardinal Law had reassigned, not retired,
clergy he knew had a history of sexually abusing minors; his downfall prompted similar
investigations in other dioceses around the country and revealed the extent to which the church’s
habit of protecting their own held firm, despite the harm to many members of the faithful.
Cardinal Law now holds what many have referred to as a mostly ceremonial post at St. Mary
Major Basilica in Rome though he is still an active member of a number of several Vatican
Commissions.
What mattered to Father Bill in particular, however, was that since 1981 Cardinal Law
had acted as the ecclesiastical delegate for the pastoral provision that allows for the ordination of
married Episcopal priests. In other words, Father Bill needed to find the man who, at the time,
wanted most not to be found. Father Bill’s efforts to become a Catholic priest fell apart.
7
Mrs. Lowe says now that she had once envisioned her husband’s path to the Catholic
priesthood as a relatively painless one precisely because the man in charge of the pastoral
provision happened to reside in Boston. Moreover, she said, Father Bill and the cardinal knew
each other. “It would have been easy, but it was not to be,” she says. “In a way, we’ve been
haunted by the abuse scandal.”
Father Bill, who is capable of laughter even while discussing serious topics, told me the
ways in which the archdiocese of Boston seemed then like “the dark side of the moon.” Father
Bill said that though he was still an Episcopal priest in Boston, and not a Catholic clergyman,
strangers taunted him, even threw things at him, when he walked down the street wearing his
collar. They had heard the news pertaining to the scandal and resented anyone who even
appeared to be associated with it. “It was horrendous,” he said.
As terrible as it was then in Boston, Father Bill has never regretted his conversion to
Catholicism. “We felt bad for these people, but it didn’t make us doubt what we were doing,” he
says. Father Bill says despite it all he still believed that God was calling him to become a married
Catholic priest.
The Discipline of Celibacy
The unwillingness to be celibate has deterred many men from becoming priests. But
arguments against the requirement have long been made. Most recently, an archbishop in
Germany, Robert Zollitsch, made headlines when he referred to celibacy as a “gift” rather than a
discipline that is essential to the priesthood. Zollitsch believes God calls only some priests, and
not all, to the celibate life. Many theologians have recognized that it is this very idea of celibacy
as a discipline, rather than doctrine or dogma, which makes changing the practice a real
possibility – even when priestly candidates don’t happen to be, like Father Bill, former Episcopal
ministers.
8
Dogmas of the church stem from divine revelation. But church discipline, the category in
which celibacy falls, does not come as such high teaching and can therefore be more easily
altered. The Orthodox Church, for example, has always admitted married priests, though,
marriage is allowed only before ordination, not after. Moreover, only men who are celibate are
named bishops.
Father Thomas Rausch, a professor of theology at Loyola Marymount University in Los
Angeles, refers to celibacy as a “gospel value.” The gospel of Matthew, for example, makes
mention of one becoming a eunuch “for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.” It also, however,
clearly presents celibacy as a righteous way of life for anyone who is able to accept it, and not as
requirement for the priesthood. The apostle Paul also makes mention of the virtue of celibacy,
though according to Rausch it is important to understand Paul’s push for the discipline in the
context of his apocalyptic worldview. For Paul, Jesus’ return was imminent: every Christian
needed to be ready to greet him.
Of course, what distinguishes Catholics from many Protestants is that Catholics go to
both scripture (a source that is in itself often conflicting) and tradition for authoritative guidance.
Although celibacy was always looked upon as a virtue -- with husbands and wives deciding to
live like brother and sister even in the earliest periods of Christianity – most refer to the 12
th

century as the time in which celibacy, for a variety of reasons, including concerns over the
inheritance of church property, finally became obligatory for all priests in the Roman Catholic
Church.
Unlike some, Rausch does not see a connection between celibacy and sexual abuse. He
refers, for example, to a report released by the U.S. Department of Education in 2004 that found
that sexual abuse in public schools happened on a more frequent basis than in the Catholic
Church. Rausch, however, does believe waiving the requirement for celibacy is a valid way of
tackling the priest shortage problem. Here again, though, Rausch is careful to point out that there
9
are many reasons for the shortage. He cites, for example, the fact that families are having fewer
children as another reason for the lack of priests.
Jane Via, a San Diego attorney and a former professor of religious studies who is fighting
a different sort of battle -- the right for women to be ordained as priests -- sees no reason for
excluding married men from priestly ordination. Via, who is herself married, presides as a priest
at Mary Magdalene Apostle Catholic Community, a church located in San Diego. She was
ordained in a controversial and semi-secret ordination ceremony headed by what she and others
insist are Catholic bishops in good standing. She believes celibacy is a way of life to which only
some are called. “I do believe that there are people who have that gift, but it’s rare,” she told me
recently. For the majority of priests, however, Via believes mandatory celibacy only leads to
difficult, dishonest lives. “I believe mandated celibacy creates neurosis…not to mention
duplicity,” she said. “It demands that ordinary humans give up a major dimension of their
humanity.”
For Father Bill, however, it wasn’t the burden of sexual renunciation that was creating
obstacles for him. He had, after all, been married for years. Rather, in the midst of the sexual
abuse scandal, it was the struggle to be ordained at all.
Father Bill’s Ordination
Mrs. Lowe’s aging parents and their need for constant care prompted the Lowes’ move
back to California. When Boston didn’t work out, they looked forward to relocating and hoped a
new diocese would reopen the door to Father Bill’s Catholic quest for priestly ordination.
Once in California, Father Bill immediately took steps toward this goal. Father Bill
wrote a letter to the cardinal of the Los Angeles archdiocese, Roger Mahony, telling him about
his desire to become a Catholic priest. But it was Thomas Curry, Santa Barbara’s bishop, who,
according to Father Bill, really made things happen for him. “Cardinal Mahony, I’m sure, I don’t
know, but I’m sure the letter arrives and he says, look, I’m not dealing with anything except the
10
scandal right now. Send it to somebody,” says Mrs. Lowe. According to the Lowes, that
“somebody” was Bishop Curry. When asked recently about his role in Father Bill’s ordination,
however, Bishop Curry maintains that he was not instrumental in any way, but adds, referring to
Father Bill, “I’m very pleased that we ordained him.”
Still, it was some time before Father Bill formally became a Catholic priest. After
submitting the requisite paperwork, the Lowes say it was a year before they heard anything. In
the meantime, Father Bill could neither work as an Episcopal priest nor as a Catholic one; he had
no income. “They’d never done it here, they had never considered it,” says Mrs. Lowe. “It was
like starting from ground zero.”
Folks at Padre Serra Parish were also initially suspicious of the Lowes’ efforts. “This
stranger arrives in your community and says, Hi, I’m from Massachusetts, and I’ve applied for
this special provision to become a married Catholic priest,” Mrs. Lowe explains with a laugh.
For people like the Lowes, this early skepticism was hard to take. “It was very interesting
moving into a community where nobody knows who you are at any level…It takes a long time
for people to understand who you are. That was a real eye opener for me,” she says.
In addition to adjusting to the parish, Father Bill says he also had to undergo a battery of
written and oral tests as groundwork for becoming a Catholic priest – though he says that for the
most part, the Catholic Church did trust his theological training. Father Bill says the differences
in the theology of the two churches are generally small or only linguistic in nature. In the
Catholic Church, unlike in the Episcopal Church, for example, the teaching authority of the
church is called the “magisterium.” Or in many instances, like in the case of the veneration of the
Virgin Mary, Father Bill says the dissimilarity is only really a matter of emphasis.
Eventually, however, Father Bill’s ordination did take place – at the very church the
Lowes had faithfully attended ever since their move to California -- Padre Serra Parish. “After all
these years,” Father Bill told me recently, “I was standing in front of the cardinal in front of his
11
chair and the tears were streaming down my face, and he looked up from his book and saw me
and then his eyes welled up, and he had tears in his eyes.” “He saw the emotion in it…and
believe me, he needed good news, he really needed good news.”
Since his ordination, Father Bill’s life has had its challenges. The more serious problem
Father Bill and Mrs. Lowe have grappled with since ordination is money. According to the
couple, Father Bill’s pay was not discussed before the Catholic Church accepted him as a priest.
Rather, both assumed that they would be taken care of, especially since other priests working for
the church have everything provided. “Their lifestyle is so comfortable, and they have every
possible need met,” says Father Bill. Father Bill mentioned that the other resident priest at Padre
Serra Parish, Father Jarlath Dolan, drives an expensive vehicle and that if he wanted something
like a bigger television, he suspects all he would need to do is ask. But Tod Tamberg, director of
media relations for the L.A. archdiocese, says priests are given only a modest stipend for a car
and are responsible for covering any additional costs.
Though he asked to keep his exact salary figure confidential, Father Bill says throughout
his time at Padre Serra Parish he has made only slightly more than what a full-time employee at
In-N-Out Burger makes. “They’re having to sell buildings, they’re having to, you know, figure
out their finances. And here we come into the picture, and it’s this whole other ingredient,” says
Mrs. Lowe. The couple believes the low salary is largely due to the fact that a married priest is a
new concept for the archdiocese of Los Angeles. Indeed, Bishop Curry recently said it’s a
concern the church is just beginning to address. “It’s a new issue for us, and we’re working on
it,” Bishop Curry said.
Mrs. Lowe also says that people seem uncomfortable hearing them discuss how, for
example, they are going to pay their mortgage that month. People see the priesthood, she says, as
an act of selflessness separate from any practical concerns. When asked about Father Bill’s pay,
Father Dolan himself upheld the spiritual rewards of the priesthood, saying, “Ordination is about
12
being ordained for ministry and not for salary,” but added that he was very proud of his parish for
allowing Father Bill to be a part of their community.
George Sim Johnston, in “Why Not Married Priests? The Case for Clerical Celibacy,” an
article recently posted on “Holy Spirit Interactive,” an on-line Catholic forum, argues that
families like the Lowes are a prime example of why the priestly vocation cannot go hand in hand
with marriage. Johnston, who is the author of “Did Darwin Get it Right?: Catholics and the
Theory of Evolution” and a writer for Crisis Magazine, says, “The average salary of a diocesan
priest is $20,000, and living arrangements in a parish rectory allow for many economies. Married
priests would most likely want to live outside the rectory, would need much higher salaries to
support a family, and there would be an exponential increase in insurance costs. Where would the
money come from?”
At Padre Serra Parish, however, Father Dolan lives in an individual home, what he
referred to as a “parish home,” and not a rectory, though, it is still true that a family like the
Lowes expects a higher salary than what Johnston says is the average for a diocesan priest. The
average Episcopal clergy salary, for example, is $62,000, according to a recent article by
Episcopal News Service. Father Bill, however, didn’t use the Episcopal model when speculating
about a fair wage. Instead, he told me that the Catholic Church should pay married priests like
him what would be the equivalent salary of what a lay person with a similar education and
experience would be paid; Father Bill says this is the way in which other dioceses in the country
have paid their married priests.
Significantly, however, the biggest argument against married Catholic priests has nothing
to do with finances. Rather, for people like Johnston, it’s about what they claim is the essence of
the priesthood: “Although it may be tempting in the short term, the solution is not to define the
priesthood down in order to attract men who will only take a lightened version of Holy Orders,”
13
Johnston writes in the same article. The Lowes, on other hand, warn that if the church hopes to
admit others like them, it will need to develop a better system for paying married clergy.
An outsider might suspect that one of the other difficulties with functioning as a married
priest in the Catholic Church involves dividing time between family and parishioners. But Father
Bill says, if anything, he has been criticized for reaching out to his congregation too intensely.
Father Bill makes no apologies. “That’s really my style, being with the people,” he says.
Father Bill and Mrs. Lowe explained that one of the ideas behind the pastoral provision is
that former Episcopal priests are expected to bring with them their Episcopal “baggage” and
influence the Catholic Church accordingly. The Episcopal Church, for example, tends to have
smaller parishes, making Father Bill’s style of heavy-presence ministry more common and easier
to accomplish. “I think that’s one of the gifts [he] brought from where [he] came from,” says
Mrs. Lowe, referring to Father Bill’s continued habit of mingling with the people of Padre Serra
and the larger community of Camarillo.
The Future of the Church
Apart from the Lowes’ complaints about salary, Father Bill’s life is an example of what
could be if only those in leadership positions in the church pushed for change more forcefully.
Yet, many who want the church to modify its rules regarding celibacy, including Father Bill
himself, sound pessimistic about the possibility that more married priests will soon be serving the
church.
Pope John Paul II, under whom the pastoral provision was first created, had no intention
of having the ordination of married men be anything but an exception. Neither does Pope
Benedict. “People want to know if I’m just the first in a trend, and I’m not,” Father Bill told me
matter-of-factly one day. “They want to be gracious to Episcopal priests and congregations who
want to come over. That’s the key, they want to be gracious and welcoming,” says Father Bill.
14
Even before the pastoral provision became official, the church took great pains to
underscore the value of celibacy. Most notably in 1967, Pope Paul VI, in an encyclical entitled
“Sacerdotalis Caelibatus,” extolled the ways in which the chaste life made, among other things,
“heaven on earth” possible. Celibacy, the letter reads, “proclaims the presence on earth of the
final stages of salvation with the arrival of a new world, and in a way it anticipates the fulfillment
of the kingdom.”
The encyclical also noted many of the arguments against celibacy’s continued tradition,
including, even in the 60s, a reference to the shortage of Catholic priests. Still, Rome argued that
cases like Father Bill’s did “not signify a relaxation of the existing law, and must not be
interpreted as a prelude to its abolition.” “There are better things to do than to promote this
hypothesis,” the Pope warned.
But if Rome isn’t willing to do away with obligatory celibacy, neither are many church
leaders in California, including Cardinal Mahony -- or at least they are not willing to push for it
vigorously. Mahony and his spokespeople have always emphasized that the ordination of Father
Bill is the exception rather than the rule. When asked recently about the matter, Tamberg
mentioned immediately that Cardinal Mahony would be ordaining 10 celibate men in May.
Some, however, suspect that Mahony may feel more strongly in favor of waiving the
celibacy requirement than he is willing to say in public. What Mahony states openly, according
to Tamberg, is only that “the discipline of celibacy is something that can be discussed.” But few
priests publicly disagree with church teachings, even those that can be changed. When asked
about his views on marriage and the priesthood, Padre Serra Parish’s Father Dolan, for example,
simply said, “That’s a question for Rome, not a question for me.” “What I think and don’t think
carries no weight,” he added.
John Moynihan is spokesperson for Voice of the Faithful, an organization that began at
St. John the Evangelist Church in Boston as a response to the sexual abuse scandal. The
15
organization aims to “keep the faith but change the church.” Moynihan says that despite his
organization’s efforts, he knows that it is this lack of outspokenness, among other factors, that
will force whatever changes do come to the church to happen slowly. Those most in position to
modify the way in which the church functions, Monynihan says, have usually achieved their
status not by rebelling against the system but through acquiescence.
The Catholic Church today, he says, resembles a feudal society where “everyone was
subservient to the guy above him.” Add to that a healthy dose of careerism, and you have many
within the church who are unwilling to push the envelope. Moynihan says that as it stands,
celibacy in the Catholic Church is only a façade priests feel compelled to keep up. “There is not a
lot of celibacy going on,” says Moynihan. “This is going on only beneath the surface.”
Perhaps, however, more clergy aren’t willing to fight for the right to be married because
those who have done so have caused a level of controversy that would have been difficult to
imagine. The former bishop of Zambia, Emmanuel Milingo, has been one of the foremost
proponents of married priests. But his ties to Rev. Sun Myung Moon, founder of the Unification
Church, casts a shadow on his struggle for married priests. For members of the Unification
Church, Moon is the living Messiah here to finish the work of Christ – a belief the Catholic
Church clearly considers heretical.
Leaving Padre Serra Parish
Visiting Padre Serra Parish today, one sees no signs of the resistance parishioners may
have felt at one point to the idea of a married priest. People know that Father Bill is married and
welcome the fact. Mark Needham, a 45-year-old regular parishioner and father of six, for
example, says he believes the Catholic Church needs to be open to change. He also says allowing
the priesthood to become an option for married men may not only be ideal but necessary. “The
church needs that with a shortage of clergy,” he says.
16
But as hard as Father Bill and Mrs. Lowe may have worked to be accepted at Padre Serra
Parish, the success they have enjoyed there will be short-lived. On the last day I visited
Camarillo, I learned that it was also to be Father Bill’s last Sunday celebrating Mass at the
church. Standing at the doors of the chapel, the very place he had stood on many a previous
Sunday to say goodbye to his parishioners as they walked out, Father Bill wiped the tears from
his eyes as he hugged the congregants for the last time. His wife stood by his side also hugging
people freely. Like a good priest, however, Father Bill made sure to take care of the needs of
others first. At one point, Father Bill reached out, removed an elderly man’s eyeglasses and
wiped the tears falling from his face before again wiping his own.
Father Bill and Mrs. Lowe are moving so that Father Bill can minister at a military base
while finally earning a salary on which both can live, without draining Mrs. Lowe’s retirement
funds. As sad as the Lowes are to leave Padre Serra Parish, they refer to the job at the base as “a
gift from God.” It’s also the way in which the church and the Lowes have managed to resolve
any issues they may have had. Father Dolan says Father Bill’s military assignment is more in
keeping with the kinds of services married priests typically provide for the church: most engage
in special ministry and are not assigned to a parish. Father Bill is looking forward to continuing
his life as a married Catholic priest. But with full appreciation of his wife’s role in his ministry,
admits, “She’s the only reason this thing has made news.”

17
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate. “Frequently Requested Church
Statistics”http://cara.georgetown.edu/bulletin/index.htm

CNN.com. “Draft Survey: 4,450 accused of sex abuse” 17 February 2007
http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/02/16/church.abuse/

Curry, Thomas. Personal Interview. 8 February 2008.

Dolan, Jarlath. Personal Interview. 20 March 2008.

Johnston, Sim George. “Why Not Married Priests? The Case for Clerical Celibacy.” Holy Spirit
Interactive. 29 March 2008
http://www.holyspiritinteractive.net/columns/guests/georgesimjohnston/marriedpriests.asp

Lowe, Linda. Personal Interview. 20 January 2008.

Lowe, William. Personal Interview. 20 January 2008.

Manseau, Peter. “The Milingo Affair.” Washington Post Magazine. 11 March 2007
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/06/AR2007030601574.html

McLachlan, Devin. Personal Interview. 20 March 2008.

Moyinihan, John. Personal Interview. 1 February 2008.

National Catholic Reporter “German bishops’ new leader promised liberal agenda” 7 March 2008
http://warwickcorner2006.org/drupal/?q=node/230

Needham, Mark. Personal Interview. 20 January 2008.

Nelson, David. Personal Interview. 20 March 2008.

Paul, Pope VI. “Sacerdotalis Caelibatus” 24 June 1967
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-
vi_enc_24061967_sacerdotalis_en.html

Rausch, Thomas. Personal Interview. 25 January 2008.

Shirley, Michael. Personal Interview. 20 March 2008.

Tamberg, Tod. Personal Interview. 22 February 2008.

Via, Jane. Personal Interview. 15 December 2007.

Abstract (if available)

Abstract The Catholic Church today is in dire need of priests. Many suspect allowing married men to enter the priesthood would help combat the shortage. Yet, Rome refuses to act on this suggestion. There is, however, a little-known pastoral provision that is already allowing married men to be ordained as Catholic priests.

Linked assets

University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

Conceptually similar

PDF

Disabled in South Gate: three special needs students conquer the CAHSEE

PDF

Americans embracing Islam

PDF

American working mothers and the possible part-time solution

PDF

Bohemian paradise lost

PDF

Viva la revolución: religion in post-revolutionary Cuba

PDF

Campaign confidantes: six perspectives on California's 2008 presidential primary

PDF

Seeking beauty, cutting costs: why so many Americans go under the knife abroad

PDF

Paparazzi

PDF

The road to return: the first Crypto-Jewish synagogue

PDF

Choosing between private and public schools in Los Angeles

PDF

Who pays for politics? a profile of the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission and its proposal for full public funding of local election campaigns

PDF

The equality paradox for women ministers of The Salvation Army

PDF

How Los Angeles fiction authors make a living

PDF

Substitute teachers become permanent fixture in Los Angeles schools

PDF

All glitz and glam?: A look at the image of public relations practitioner Samantha Jones from Sex and the city

PDF

East Los Angeles and the primary race of presidential hopeful Barack Obama

Asset Metadata

Creator Fowler, Lilly Ana (author)

Core Title Meet Los Angeles' married Catholic priest

School Annenberg School for Communication

Degree Master of Arts

Degree Program Journalism (Print Journalism)

Degree Conferral Date 2008-05

Publication Date 04/21/2008

Defense Date 05/01/2008

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag Catholicism,Marriage,OAI-PMH Harvest,Priests

Place Name Los Angeles County (city or populated place)

Language English

Advisor Winston, Diane (committee chair), Berger, Bob (committee member), Heft, James (committee member)

Creator Email lillyfowler@yahoo.com

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-m1174

Unique identifier UC1281465

Identifier etd-Fowler-20080421 (filename),usctheses-m40 (legacy collection record id),usctheses-c127-59393 (legacy record id),usctheses-m1174 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-Fowler-20080421.pdf

Dmrecord 59393

Document Type Thesis

Rights Fowler, Lilly Ana

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Repository Name Libraries, University of Southern California

Repository Location Los Angeles, California

Repository Email cisadmin@lib.usc.edu