Making exceptions for married priests

[PrairieMom]

If memory serves me correctly, Anglican priests who converted to Catholicism were allowed to be ordained in the Latin Rite even if they were married. Am I remembering this correctly? What was the reasoning given for this exception?

Does anyone know of any other instance where an exception was granted to someone converting from another Christian faith (not Anglicanism) and being ordained a priest while married in the Latin Church?

[JohnTherese]

There was an Episcopal priest in TX who became a Catholic Priest and is married that I know of. You could probably google it and it would come up. St. John Vianney Parish or something. The Episcopalian priests here just come out as gay.

[Sacred Heart lover]

Father Longenecker:  http://dwightlongenecker.com/about-fr-longenecker/

[The_Harlequin_King]

Former Lutheran ministers. In fact, the first married Latin priests of the modern era were two former Lutheran ministers authorized by Pope Pius XII.

[Pilgrim]

Would the same be true for Eastern Orthodox priests who converted?

[PrairieMom]

Father Longenecker:  http://dwightlongenecker.com/about-fr-longenecker/

He came via the Anglican church though. He was the only person specifically I could think of that was ordained but married.

I'm not sure, though, that I understand the reasoning why this is permitted. Being "called" as a minister to a heretical sect isn't the same as being called as a Catholic priest, IMO. I'm having trouble seeing how we got from point A to point B.

We have an ordination in my archdiocese this weekend of a married man who was a minister of the United Church of Canada and converted. He's married with children. I'm very unsettled by it, and was wondering if there was other precedents for it (there are, so that alleviates some of my concerns, but not all).

[Melkite]

Would the same be true for Eastern Orthodox priests who converted?

Former EO who convert automatically belong to the Catholic counterpart church, not the Latin church, so I image EO priests who convert is a much simpler process than former Protestant ministers.

[Paul]

I'm not sure, though, that I understand the reasoning why this is permitted. Being "called" as a minister to a heretical sect isn't the same as being called as a Catholic priest, IMO. I'm having trouble seeing how we got from point A to point B.

I think many of the provisions for Anglicans who entered the Church were aimed at entire congregations converting rather than a few individual converts. Allowing them to keep the same minister they're used to might make the transition easier.

[Pilgrim]

Would the same be true for Eastern Orthodox priests who converted?

Former EO who convert automatically belong to the Catholic counterpart church, not the Latin church, so I image EO priests who convert is a much simpler process than former Protestant ministers.

OK, that makes sense.  Thanks, Melkite!