I’d like to bring to your attention Father Gay and Father Day.

Fr. Philip Gay, fiftyish, parish priest of St Thomas More’s Church, Coventry,
fell in love with a lady parishioner, and had to leave the priesthood.
After all, we can have only secular celibate clergy providing the Eucharist.

Fr Stephen Day, a 53 year old former Anglican priest ,
the new parish priest of St Thomas More’s Church, Coventry, fell in love
and married a lady some time ago , and has three children.
So we actually can have non-celibate clergy providing the Eucharist.

You might want to read all that again.
The information is from the “Tablet” of 13th December last.

As on another occasion in this blog, I have to assure you that this is not the plot
of some secularist pantomime. It is yet another scene in the Catholic pantomime
in which the bishops of Britain are apparently prepared to take the part of the villains.
The audience is baffled and far from entertained, and may well respond
as one does to pantomime villains. Pantomime audiences tend to be mostly children.
This audience is not , and would appreciate being treated as adults
– while there are still enough of us for it to matter.

There is still no sign of any concerted action by the bishops of Britain to extend
ordination, despite Pope Francis’s invitation. (see previous issues of this blog.)
In other words, they SOMETIMES believe that, where the secular clergy is concerned,
the Eucharist can only be provided by a theologically educated parish-supported celibate.
The number of priests is shrinking, in many places abroad to none . Fewer and fewer
of the Flock therefore can receive the Eucharist . But the bishops of Britain still cannot
bring themselves to ask for the extension of ordination.

In November 2014,it was announced that the Pope would allow the Eucharist to be provided by
ordained married menin Eastern Catholic churches in the USA,Canada and Australia
for the first time.Yet the bishops of Britain pay no attention to this.
The dedication of the recent Extraordinary Synod to doctrine was exemplary,and no doubt
welcomed by our bishops. Extending ordination, however, does not involve doctrine.
The insistence on celibacy for the secular clergy is simply a church rule.
Why can’t it be changed to allow hundreds of thousands to follow
Christ’s Eucharistic imperative?

What is the problem? Do the bishops dispute such valid ordination
and therefore the Apostolic Succession?
Are the bishops waiting for the Pope to die? A new and even more dynamic Pope
might make a retiral age of 50 compulsory, and there are still enough younger priests
more in touch with life in 2015 and the world situation of the Church ,
who could take their places practically overnight.

It is time for the dumb to speak while there are still listeners.