Up to 10 bishops in E&W would like to ordain married men

As many as 10 bishops in England and Wales are in charge of dioceses so short of priests that they would welcome the chance for the Church to discern whether ordaining married men would be the way forward, a retired bishop has said, writes Joanna Moorhead.

The Bishop Emeritus of Portsmouth , Crispian Hollis, writes in a letter to The Tablet this week that he is increasingly convinced that “sooner rather than later” the Church in Britain and further afield “will rightly have to move towards the ordaining of married men”. Speaking to The Tablet,  he said the priest shortage was becoming increasingly urgent and he thought there were probably between six and 10 diocesan ­bishops in England and Wales (out of 22 dioceses) who would welcome the chance to discern the way forward on ordaining married men.