Five thousand laymen ready to be ordained, say survey

AS MANY AS 5,000 married men in England and Wales could be interested in, and eligible for, being ordained as Catholic priests if the rules on celibacy were changed, writes Joanna Moorhead.

That was the claim made this week by the Movement for Married Clergy (MMaC) after it surveyed parish priests throughout the dioceses of the two countries, asking them to estimate the number of married laymen known to them who might be suitable candidates for ordination.

In all 62 priests responded to the survey, which was sent to 300 parishes. They identified 159 viri probati (“men of proven character”) from which the MMaC has extrapolated a national number it regards as conservative.

There are, said the organisation’s chairman Mike Kerrigan, “at least 5,000 married Catholic laymen whom their parish priests judge suitable to become priests, were the law of mandatory celibacy to be relaxed”. He said that this means there are almost twice as many viri probati as there are active diocesan priests.