The Waste of Catholic Convert Former Protestant Clergy

Catholic Convert and now Catholic Priest Father Dwight Longenecker of the great State of South Carolina is the blogger Standing On My Head.

He has a nice column in the National Catholic Register The Convert Clergy Conundrum . A very good read that should be by the lay person in the pews, Bishops, and Diocesan Staff. The problems talked about here need to get corrected and soon.

I did find it interesting that this is not a an recent problem but one that has been with us for some time.

“Tom” is not his real name, and his story is a compilation of many such stories I have heard over the years. The simple fact: Most Catholic bishops simply don’t know what to do with convert clergy. The famous English convert Ronald Knox observed, “We’re like a bird who has got into a room where there is a cocktail party. Everyone is delighted we’re there, but no one knows what to do with us.”

That is a shame. In the year when the famous Convert and former Protestant Clergyman Cardinal Newman is about to get ordained we need to pay attention to this.

Father shows part of the problem:
A Catholic bishop can be excused for not knowing what to do with a convert clergyman. The range of Protestant denominations and schisms and breakaway sects is bewildering. A Catholic bishop has enough to do just to keep track of all the different Catholic groups, religious orders, lay movements, colleges and seminaries. How can he be expected to know about all the Protestant ones, as well?

Furthermore, each Protestant denomination is a little world of Christianity in itself. There’s no such thing as a Presbyterian or a Baptist or an Episcopalian or a Lutheran. Each denomination has a liberal wing, conservative wing, high-church wing and a low-church wing. In addition, they all have radical breakaway sects (both ultraliberal and ultraconservative) led by men with dubious credentials and questionable views.

Father offers some solutions.

Also there is the question of pay!!! For all the talk of how Catholics want married Priests I am willing to bet no one wants to pay them a darn on the average.

I was talking to a Episcopal friend of mind and she says for their small Church they pay their Priest 85,000 Dollars plus housing plus car + medical + the usual other tidbits.

Can you imagine a Catholic Parish having to pay that? I think they would go berserk.

Of course not all Catholic Converts Clergy have a vocation to the Priesthood via the Pastoral Provision,. But they would make excellent resources elsewhere (THAT BRINGS UP THE PAY and EDUCATION question again).

As Father says:

Most former Protestant clergy come into the Catholic Church with extraordinary gifts. They are often fantastic preachers, biblical scholars, pastors, experienced counselors and administrators. Some will be called to the Catholic priesthood or diaconate. Others will be called to serve the Church in other ways. Catholic bishops need to understand that as the Protestant denominations continue to splinter and disintegrate the number of Protestants who want to come home to Rome is going to continue to grow.
We have to be prepared not only to throw a lifeline from the Barque of Peter, but figure out how we can use them on the crew.