Oregon Gets First Catholic Married Priest

Oregon has its first married Roman Catholic priest.

Rev. Slider Steuernol, a former Presbyterian minister with three children, was ordained Saturday at St. Mary’s Cathedral.

Just before the 11 a.m. ceremony, Steuernol said he was honored that Pope John Paul II approved of his ordination, exempting him from the church’s rule that priests remain celibate and unmarried.

Steuernol was welcomed into the priesthood in a ceremony consisting of Mass, prayer, anointing of oils and a choir assembled from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland’s jurisdiction singing songs especially written for his ordination.

“I’m obviously very thrilled over it,” Steuernol said about an hour before the ceremony started, the choir practicing in the background. “It’s hard to believe it’s going to happen.”

He was careful to point out, however, that his ordination is not the first for a married priest and does not represent a trend away from the celibacy requirement.

Priests were allowed to marry until the 12th century, Steuernol said. Since 1980, about 70 former Episcopal priests and a few ex-Lutherans and other Protestants have been ordained in the United States as married Catholic priests.

“I have the greatest respect for celibate priests and yet I think that a married priesthood would be a nice complement to the celibate priesthood,” Steuernol said. “I don’t have any problem with both but I feel real comfortable with the rule as it is right now.”

“My main concern is that people in the pew who have heard all the media on this don’t get the wrong impression - that this is going to be another big change coming to the Catholic Church, it’s going to shake it up, because it isn’t. It’s an exception, something we had to go all the way to Pope John Paul II for,” he said.

A minister at Smith Memorial Presbyterian Church in Fairview for 12-1/2 years, Steuernol converted to Catholicism about five years ago after attending several retreats at Catholic abbeys.