Fr Hunwicke on clerical marriage

• Part I. Few things are more indecorous than the old Anglican custom of a young curate arriving in a parish and being competed for by the unmarried young women of that parish. And the Great Tradition is not very welcoming of the concept of priests marrying. Anglicans of that peculiar type that rejoices in finding areas where our tradition coincides with the Byzantine tradition and stands against the Roman praxis tend to forget that Byzantines are far from keen on priests marrying.
• Part II. “It will solve the problem of pædophile priests”, kindly Roman Catholics confidently assert. They tend to be surprised when I explain that allowing married clergy does not achieve this end. I can tell them all about Anglican priests — and bishops — who disprove this assumption. And I go on to tell them jolly tales about Anglican priests — and bishops — who have been sacked for adultery. I have often found celibate clergy nervous about the the Great Tradition in its lack of enthusiasm about unnatural methods of conception-prevention. Also most of the problem priests weren’t pædos. They were gay.