In our Newsflashes section we will try to stay on top of developing stories regarding the children of priests and the conspiracy of silence that surrounds them. If you have a news story, or know of one, please let us know so we may post it here as a resource. Thanks!
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There is an alarming shortage of celibate priests. The shortage is so acute that many parishes are being forced to close. At the same time, there are over twenty thousand married priests here in the United States. |
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Celibate Priest Shortage
In the United States 27% of U.S. parishes do not have a resident priest and there are more priests over 90 than under 30 according to a comprehensive study released by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops.(From NCCB Website 6/6/00 and CARA) |
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By Ralph Ranalli, Globe Staff, 7/23/2003
Despite church records and his own admission that he may have fathered two children, the Rev. James D. Foley has refused to take a DNA paternity test, which forced an already-fractured family into Plymouth County Probate and Family Court yesterday.
Siblings Emily S. Perry and James Perry sued Foley in late May, asking a judge to force him to submit to a DNA test to prove whether Foley fathered them during a secret, decade-long affair with their mother, Rita, in the 1960s and early 1970s.
Yesterday, Foley's lawyer, Charles J. Bowser Jr., asked Probate and Family Court Judge James V. Menno to throw out the paternity claim brought by James Perry, 38, of Middleborough, because Perry is an adult and is not seeking retroactive child support or other money.
Bowser also filed a motion to dismiss a similar claim brought in Norfolk County Probate and Family Court by 32-year-old Emily Perry, who lives in Stoughton.
Foley has apologized to the Perrys and their two other siblings for the affair and for not doing more to save their mother the night she died of a drug overdose in 1973. But the Perrys' attorney said he has refused to submit to a DNA test unless they sign a waiver that they will never sue him again.
Read the Full Article >>
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By STEPHEN L. PURDY WILLIAM PFEIFFER, counselor and married priest, likes to tell a well-known folk tale. ''When a young man prayed, he asked God togive him wisdom to change the world. In middle age, he sought guidance with his wife, children and friends. Upon growing old, heasked for help in changing himself. 'If I'd done that in the beginning,' the man concludes, 'I wouldn't have wasted my life.' ''
Mr. Pfeiffer believes such attention to one's inner self, guided by prayer, is the focus of his pastoral counseling at Mary's Field Retreat
Center in Hebron. He adds that it reflects a growing need for the spiritual, in counseling and our lives. It also reflects the 60-year-old's
use of anecdote and humor, in a setting characterized by an affirmation of all life, meditation and hugs.
Full Story from the NY Times
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The November 22, 2006 edition of the Boston Globe featured a story " Mother and Father on children of a Catholic priest. The author kindly makes reference to our site in the story. I hope you all take the time to read the article. You can find it here or at the Globe's website. |
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