History was made in the Catholic Diocese of St. Augustine when Nick Marziani became the first married man to be ordained as a Catholic priest under authority of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, set up by the Pope to provide pastoral care to former Episcopalians and Anglicans. Marziani was ordained June 17 by the Most Rev. Felipe J. Estevez, Bishop of the Diocese of St. Augustine.
Marziani, 61, is a former engineer, teacher and Episcopal priest and holds the doctor of ministry from Trinity Episcopal School of Ministry in Ambridge, Pa. He and his wife of 40 years, Joanne, are residents of St. Augustine Beach. The couple has three adult children and four grandchildren.
According to Father Mike Morgan, chancellor for the diocese, “Father Marziani was not ordained for service to the Diocese of St. Augustine, so he will not be receiving an assignment from Bishop Estevez. His ministry and assignments will be under the authority of the Ordinariate of the Chair of Peter, set up by the Pope to provide pastoral care to former Episcopalians and Anglicans, and headquartered in Houston, Texas.
The story is not quite accurate, last week 6 former Episcopal clergy were ordained in Fort Worth, Tx and five of them were married and two of them were in fact father and son. This though is my diocese and the ordination was held in my parish Immaculate Conception in downtown Jacksonville, Fl.
Interesting though in that the majority of the stories that cover these clergy conversions put much more stress on that fact that they were married than that there were converts from Episcopalianism. Really the historic part is the number of converts from Anglican and Episcopal churches. The other really historic part is the length that Pope Benedict XVI has gone to to welcome these converts by setting up the Ordinariate.
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13 comments
Pope Benedict does not get enough credit for how open he is to dialogue and on bending on the things on which we can bend, but remaining firm on that which is certain. We are blessed to have him.
I don’t think Fr. Marziani was the first married convert priest. Fr. Matthew Venutti, married, was ordained to the priesthood as an Episcopal convert in the Archdiocese of Mobile on June 2, 2012.
http://www.al.com/living/index.ssf/2012/06/catholic_priest_with_wife_and.html
Weren’t the first married convert priests ordained in 1985?
Barefoot Mommy,
They referring to the new Ordinariate, not the The Pastoral Provision established under Blessed John Paul II.
Thanks Jeff – I was a bit confused 😉 Now I’ll have to dig around to see how those differ…..
(((“It doesn’t make me less of a priest,” he says.
“God has given me the vocation of marriage and priesthood. That’s the way he’s called me.”)))
Jeff is that correct that the U.S.-based ordinariate was created by Pope Benedict XVI to welcome Anglican groups and clergy seeking to become Catholic while retaining elements of their Anglican heritage?
I know very little about this stuff and “IT” scares me somewhat that some might eventually say stuff like, you see His Holiness allows men to become priest so why won’t he allow woman to become priest also if “IT” is not made crystal clear if ya get my drift?
I hear ya salvage! Give “IT” time Victor and they’ll all have to follow Man’s Law and/or parish. If I believed in a god “IT” would be “The Almighty Dollar” but right now, “IT” is myself that I believe in! Listen Victor, is “IT” true, that you literally got thrown out of your catholic church on http://www.stpaulskingsville.org/pentecost.htm#WHAT IS PENTECOST?
because you wouldn’t allow spiritual physical dogs in the flesh on that day? Come on Victor! Didn’t you know that spiritually speaking, they couldn’t find a Dove to represent this so called “Holy Spirit” that Catholic people so highly talk about! Ha! Ha!
THAT WILL BE ENOUGH OUT OF YA sinner vic cause you’re way off topic! I’ll have you and your skitso friends know that if ya want to follow salvage, go for “IT” but leave me, myself and i out of “IT” if ya know what’s good for ya? 🙂
Piece!
No! NO! Sinner vic, How many times must “I” tell you that “IT” is:
Peace be with ya!
Please keep praying for this Annoying Super Sinner.
Victor, I worry you need help.
We have an Anglican rite priest here and he isn’t part of the diocese , so I wasn’t aware that this wasn’t already in place, since this particular priest converted 20 years ago 🙂
Panda Rosa { 07.08.12 at 5:04 pm } Victor, I worry you need help.
Thank you Panda Roso and I’m certain that God has heard your prayer and help will be coming in HIS GOOD OLD TIME.
http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=18142394&postID=9134952265112604650
God Bless
I honestly didn’t mean to write Roso instead of Rosa but then again GOD only knows what I truly mean to do and/or write nowadays.
Peace
Victor, you make me smile 🙂
Thank you Barefoot Mommy and we need more people to smile especially nowadays even if “IT” is only at me. 🙂
Believe it or not I have a lot of respect for Panda Rosa and there’s so much that I need to explain and long story short, I’ll probably start a third blog in September.
Anyway in closing, I’ll simply say that people who truly know me, eventually most find out that I’m not that bad of a guy who sometimes shares his heart a little too much in public. Long story short, I’ve tried a little empathy as far as strangers are concerned and me, myself and i can see where many could easily be mislead but if my psychologist tells me that I’m truly not crazy, who “AM I” to believe? Believe “IT” or not, “I’M” only sharing what “I” believe God wants me to share but then again, what do “I” really know? 🙂
That’s life!
Thanks again Jeff for the off topic time you continue to allow U>S (usual sinners).
Peace
Victor – you not only make me smile, sometimes, you even make us laugh! There’s much to be said about a good sense fo humor and a kind heart.