Imagine, a web site for out-of-the-loop priests. Cool.
<snip> "We do it because there's a need for it," said Jack W. Hauck, 68, now an addiction counselor, who was ordained in 1960, married in 1973, and is listed on Rent a Priest under Albany. "I say Mass on a regular basis, would hear confessions in Troy, have worked in a hospital giving dying patients absolution. Not a day goes by that I don't think about being a priest. When I dream, I'm a priest. I'm married, but I'm a priest."
The Catholic Church could not disagree more. Even though canon law makes it impossible to unordain a priest, the authority of a bishop is required for priests to administer sacraments. In other words, a marriage performed by a priest who has left the church is not valid in the eyes of the church. The same is true for baptisms, the anointing of the sick, absolutions and Masses.
That reality makes the decision to turn to an organization like Rent a Priest a serious statement for some Catholics, one with moral and spiritual implications. For example, according to the church's stance, a Catholic couple married by a priest outside the church would technically be living in sin. <snip>
nytimes.com
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