Francis MacNutt's colorful life, controversial marriage and (now) death gets sparse coverage
OXFORD (MS)
Get Religion
February 4, 2020
By Julia Duin
A few weeks ago, a giant in the Catholic and charismatic Christian world died quietly in Florida at the age of 94. Francis MacNutt was a man who in his time was as radical as another Francis, the current pope, is today.
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I also still have a copy of a terse statement from the National Service Committee of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal that ran in the April 1980 issue of New Covenant magazine, which was the voice of the renewal. The statement said in part:
“Francis’s decision to leave the priesthood without laicization and to marry saddens us greatly. We know that his action is objectively, seriously wrong and we believe that for him it is a tremendous personal mistake…We strongly believe in the principles of obedience in the) Catholic Church and we cannot support what Francis has done …
But MacNutt never looked back. His wife quickly gave birth to a daughter, then a son. They relocated from Clearwater to Jacksonville at the invitation of then-Diocese of Florida Bishop Frank Cerveny to operate an ecumenical healing center in conjunction with the diocese. When MacNutt spoke with Pugh, he was even more adamant that celibacy should not be a requirement for priests and that clergy who ask to leave in order to marry shouldn’t be punished by the church.
Years later, I did a piece for the Washington Times on men like MacNutt who left the priesthood and one of the most common questions from these ex-priests was why they were excommunicated — while sexually abusive priests were not. Even former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who was defrocked following revelations of his sexual abuse of seminarians and under-age boys, was not excommunicated.
Get Religion
February 4, 2020
By Julia Duin
A few weeks ago, a giant in the Catholic and charismatic Christian world died quietly in Florida at the age of 94. Francis MacNutt was a man who in his time was as radical as another Francis, the current pope, is today.
*
I also still have a copy of a terse statement from the National Service Committee of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal that ran in the April 1980 issue of New Covenant magazine, which was the voice of the renewal. The statement said in part:
“Francis’s decision to leave the priesthood without laicization and to marry saddens us greatly. We know that his action is objectively, seriously wrong and we believe that for him it is a tremendous personal mistake…We strongly believe in the principles of obedience in the) Catholic Church and we cannot support what Francis has done …
But MacNutt never looked back. His wife quickly gave birth to a daughter, then a son. They relocated from Clearwater to Jacksonville at the invitation of then-Diocese of Florida Bishop Frank Cerveny to operate an ecumenical healing center in conjunction with the diocese. When MacNutt spoke with Pugh, he was even more adamant that celibacy should not be a requirement for priests and that clergy who ask to leave in order to marry shouldn’t be punished by the church.
Years later, I did a piece for the Washington Times on men like MacNutt who left the priesthood and one of the most common questions from these ex-priests was why they were excommunicated — while sexually abusive priests were not. Even former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who was defrocked following revelations of his sexual abuse of seminarians and under-age boys, was not excommunicated.
I spoke out in the 80's about Celibacy having found myself in love with a priest. I honestly saw nothing strange or forbidden about my loving him but embarrassed at telling him since I knew how people felt about priests. Most Catholics saw priests as "right next to Christ and God" but I had found that priests were men first and then a minister of the Gospel. To me starting out as a Catholic, then leaving or being removed from the Catholic Church by my mother, and then being shown the Southern Baptist Church, the Methodist church, the Missouri Synod Lutheran church and being confirmed in that religion I saw nothing wrong with living a priest. However, I respected the feelings of the priest I loved and his promise, he was a priest in a Diocese, not in an Order where there was a vow of Chastity, Poverty and Obedience. I did not try to seduce him like women had told me they had done but after five years I finally physically left him and moved away and later finding he had a girlfriend, he eventually married, that I had never known about. When I asked why he had never told me about her her replied, "But you never asked me!" I felt so cheated by wasting my time with loving him.
ReplyDeleteI guess I have gone on for quite some time explaining my situation. I guess the whole purpose of writing this comment is to say I never felt that priest who left the priesthood, whether they married or not, should be excommunicated and I admire MacNutt for not asking permission since Christ himself never expected priest to be celibate. As we all know St Peter was married and his wife was martyred. Celibacy wasn't instituted until the 11th or 12th century which is information that was discovered by a woman in the Support Group I started back in 1982 or 1983. That was a wonderful lady who did a lot of research on the Celibacy issue and shared her knowledge with others in the group. The Support Group for Women involved and/or Married with Roman Catholic priests was started by me in Des Moines, IA and I appeared on TV shows, I was written up in newspapers and magazines and my intention was to bring light on the Celibacy Issue that hurt women, priests and their children. The support group was carried on by a woman who had been a novice and her husband who had been a priest. They both took over but did not keep the issue in the eyes of the American Catholics nor did they keep the world of Catholics informed of the need for change in the Celibacy rule which was not ever a law and as the recent Pope mentioned it could be changed in the same way it started. MacNutt did the right thing in not asking the Catholic Church nor the Pope at the time for permission he knew was his right and the Celibacy Issue is and will remain a dark blemish on the face of the Catholic Church as it does more harm than good.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak out about MacNutt and the Celibacy Issue and I appreciate the existence of your group and hope this issue can be addressed more in public print.