Married priest replaces cleric who fell in love

A PRIEST who left active ministry after falling in love with a woman is being replaced by a married priest, writes Joanna Moorhead.

Parishioners at St Thomas More Catholic Church in Coventry were informed in October that their parish priest, Fr Philip Gay, had decided to step down from his duties in order to consider his future.

A fortnight ago, his departure was confirmed in a statement from the Archdiocese of Birmingham that said: “It is with regret that we must now let you know of [Fr Gay’s] decision to leave the priesthood.”

According to parishioners, Fr Gay – who celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of his ordination earlier this year – left after starting a relationship with a female parishioner. The archdiocese then announced that Fr Gay’s replacement would be Fr Stephen Day, a 53-year-old former Anglican priest who is set to arrive at the presbytery next week, from his current parish of St Anne’s in Nuneaton, with his wife and three children aged 10, 13 and 16.

“This really points out the contradictions in the Church’s current position on celibacy,” said Dr Michael Winter, chairman of the Movement for Married Clergy. “The truth about any law is that it has to be consistent, and here we see an inconsistency. Ordaining married ex-Anglican priests is a supreme inconsistency.”

St Thomas More parishioner Malcolm Pollard said Fr Gay did “a good deal of great work in our parish”, but added that they were “going to do our best to give Fr Day as good a welcome as we can”.

Any change to church discip­line on mandatory celibacy for clergy would require men to be married before ordination rather than the freedom to marry once ordained.