Raised in a Jewish home, he converted to Christianity, married, became a Protestant minister, had eight children, is a pro-life leader, and finally converted to Catholicism a few years ago. That’s a long and winding road but now the 51 year old is becoming a Catholic priest.
Yeah. That’s a heck of a life and he’s just starting out. Amazing.
There’s a nicely done and factual story on the man in the York Daily Record, a newspaper in Pennsylvania. There’s a little bit of the “Look! A married priest!” but it’s a good story:
A former Anglican pastor will become the Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg’s first married priest when he’s ordained Saturday in Springettsbury Township.
Paul Schenck, 51, of Manchester Township will be ordained by Bishop Victor Galeone of the Diocese of St. Augustine (Fla.) during a 10 a.m. Mass at St. Joseph Catholic Church.
Galeone, a longtime friend of Schenck’s, will perform the rite because the Diocese of Harrisburg has been without a bishop since Kevin C. Rhoades moved to an Indiana diocese in January.
Schenck, a father of eight children ages 9 to 31, began his journey to the priesthood six years ago when he converted to Catholicism after more than 20 years in evangelical and Anglican ministry.
Brought up in a Jewish home, a teenaged Schenck found Jesus in a Methodist chapel in western New York…
God bless him and his family.
June 11, 2010 at 3:41 am
Awesome story! Thanks for sharing!
June 11, 2010 at 4:47 am
A dear friend of ours, a former Episcopal priest and father of 5-soon-to-be-six, will be ordained a Catholic priest in October. He will be the first to tell you that he understands and respects the rule of celibacy in the priesthood, and also that he is most grateful for the opportunity to continue in his vocation as a priest.
June 11, 2010 at 10:34 am
Our university chaplain is a former Anglican minister now Catholic priest. He is married with at least five kids, as I recall. He is a faithful priest and is entirely grateful for the opportunity to serve. He serves two different college communities. Since his arrival we have Mass four days a week in addition to the Sunday student Liturgy. He, too, is an avid defender of the celibate priesthood. we are very grateful for this holy priest.
June 11, 2010 at 12:37 pm
Speaking as an former Episcopalian and now Anglican, we often send our best to Rome, while Rome sends its worst to us.
June 11, 2010 at 12:45 pm
I am a devout Catholic. But I don't think it is fair to all the other priests who have to practice celibacy.
June 11, 2010 at 12:58 pm
What a great, uplifting story. I'm particularly glad that our wonderful bishop will be ordaining him!
June 11, 2010 at 1:20 pm
Speaking as a former Anglican who is now Catholic (thank you, Jesus!), maybe God is in charge of who goes where:-). Just a thought.
Love this story, love this blog. And I don't care which kind of commenter I am. OK, I do, but I don't want to:-).
June 11, 2010 at 2:14 pm
Must be an epidemic of sorts. Our pastor here is also a former Episcopalian and he has 4-5 children (don't know the actual amount, it's none of my beeswax). He's also a good priest, very apolitical and faithful to the Magisterium.
June 11, 2010 at 3:24 pm
CURIOUS writes:
I read somewhere that when a married man converts, and becomes a Catholic priest, he begins the practise of celibacy.
Is that the true?
June 11, 2010 at 3:35 pm
"I read somewhere that when a married man converts, and becomes a Catholic priest, he begins the practise of celibacy."
In the first centuries of the Church, married men who became priests were obliged to be celibate, living with their wives "as brother and sister." Often they would separate, the wife becoming a deaconess and engaging in charitable works. In the East, a priest would refrain from relations with his wife the night before offering sacrifice, as a form of fasting. This is why there is no tradition of "daily Mass" in the Eastern churches today.
Over the centuries, however, in situations where priests have been lawfully married (and until the 20th century, outside of the East, this would have been extremely rare), the continence rule fell by the wayside.
(To the anonymous commenter, priests are not forced to practice celibacy. They accept these vows willingly.)
June 11, 2010 at 4:09 pm
Thank you David, I know that celibacy is one of the three Evangelical Councels–all of which are voluntary. I am wondering if it applies in this case also.
June 11, 2010 at 4:46 pm
I'm sure Mr. Schenck is a fine man, but there are entirely too many ordinations of married men going on. If the bishop says yes to one, how can he deny another? Eventually, he won't.
Romulus
June 11, 2010 at 5:01 pm
Anonymous wrote:
"I'm sure Mr. Schenck is a fine man, but there are entirely too many ordinations of married men going on. If the bishop says yes to one, how can he deny another? Eventually, he won't."
Exactly. Which is why ordaining married men is a bad idea. It sets a precedent. Eventually, the celibate priesthood will become a thing of the past, and a host of other problems will plague the Church…such as women's ordination. Isn't that how problems started in the Anglican/Episcopal churches?
It's a good and heartwarming story that a man who was raised in a Jewish home eventually found his way to Catholicism, but that doesn't make it okay to ordain him a Catholic priest.
June 11, 2010 at 5:43 pm
I don't think the admissions of married former Protestant ministers as Priests will lead to the abolition of mandatory celibacy in the Latin Rite of the Church. Most of these guys are staunch supporters of Clerical Celibacy as a rule, and are more grateful than words can express to be allowed to carry their vocation into the Catholic Church. Those laymen complaining about it sound much like the older brother from the parable of the prodigal son. It's a knee-jerk reaction spoken from ignorance and unworthy of loyal sons of Holy Mother Church.
-Chris M.
June 11, 2010 at 6:04 pm
And interestingly, it's often laymen/clergy who dissent from much else in Church teaching who complain the loudest about this. I know there is great support for the ordination of our soon-to-be priest within the diocesan clergy.
June 11, 2010 at 6:27 pm
cool!
June 11, 2010 at 7:38 pm
I'm not a great supporter of married priests for a slightly different reason than anyone has brought up. That is that a husband's job is to sacrifice and provide for their wife and children, this is very difficult to do when you have all of the responsibilities that go along with being a Priest. It has absolutely nothing to do with being celibate or not. It is difficult to raise children in today's society without being pulled in so many other directions. I know many Protestant preachers think that not being married is the best way to go because their congregations are so demanding, and preachers have less demands on their time than Priests do. I have no issue with older married men becoming priests because they have finished fulfilling their primary responsibility of fatherhood.
Here is another tid-bit for thought. Married men wouldn't have to become priests if more non-married men in America would. We have a priest shortage in America and other so called civilized countries yet 3rd world countries such as many African countries have an abundance. Why is this? Maybe our priorities are just to screwed up.
June 11, 2010 at 9:42 pm
Fr. Slider Steurnol, a convert and a married priest had the wedding for my son 2008 and last year baptized my grandaughter. He was a wonderful, wonderful priest, simply soaked in the scriptures, a holy and gracious man.
He became a Christian while at the University of Michigan. He married his wife Jackie while he was doing ministry in England and later became a Presbyterian minister. While a minister in the Portland area, he heard of the Trappists in Lafayette, OR and through contact with them was exposed to the contemplative tradition in the Church. As a result of this he and his family converted to Catholicism.
As I recall the story, people from the Archdiocese approached him about pursuing the priesthood. Then Archbishop Levada visited his home about three times to get a sense of the family. He studied at Mt. Angel Seminary for four years and was ordained in 1996.
On Tuesday morning June 8th I happened to be at Mt. Angel Abbey and happened to see him in the guest house corridor, an image of holiness I shall never forget. He was on on retreat with the other priests of the Archdiocese of Portland at Mt. Angel Seminary.
Five hours later at 2:30PM PST Father Slider died of a heart attack while playing racquette ball. What a death, a well-provided death, on retreat at his old seminary in the midst of hundreds of other priests.
Everyone feels it to be a great loss to the Archdiocese, especially since he was heavily involved in the continuing education of priests.
Requiescat in pace…
June 11, 2010 at 10:20 pm
If those of you who complain about how God (and the bishops) fill vacant pulpits
try having MORE children of your own and ACTIVELY supporting their acceptance of a call to Priesthood or religous life.
We have prevented the birth of many Priests by contracepting and murdered too many by abortion.
So, if God provides by conversion (of married men)
and by the Graces draws them to serve US as Priests,
we ought to just get down on our knees and praise God!
June 12, 2010 at 12:30 am
I look upon mandatory celibacy as a temporary (albeit long term temporary) discipline of the church for a reason similar to the way Jesus viewed divorce as a temporary accommodation for the Jews: In the beginning it was not so…
In the beginning the church was built on Peter, a married man. See 1 Cor 9:5 for St. Paul's take on the right of an apostle to be married. Our Lord, the 2nd Person of the Trinity, could have easily chosen a celibate man to found His church on (after all, John was celibate and he didn't desert Jesus at the cross) – but He did not. That act of God sends a message.
That said, I happily submit to the keeper of the keys and the bishops ordained in succession. They have the responsibility before God, and I trust that God guides them. From the little I know of the difficulties of changing to a married priesthood I have no envy of them.
I also think that simple obedience and faithfulness to the way our Lord founded the New Testament priesthood will pull us all back to the way the priesthood (and hierarchy) started. I don't know if that will happen in my lifetime.