Milwaukee archdiocese hires married priest
MILWAUKEE -- The Archdiocese of Milwaukee has hired a married Roman Catholic priest with children -- a first in the archdiocese's history.
The priest, Father Michael Scheip, and his wife have juvenile and adult sons and are moving from the Diocese of Venice, Fla. She has accepted a job here.
Although no married priest has served here, about 100 married priests have been ordained in the United States since the late Pope John Paul II created an exception in 1980 that allows married Lutheran and Anglican or Episcopal priests who have converted to Roman Catholicism to become priests, Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan wrote in a letter to priests and deacons recently.
Scheip entered Catholicism in 1988 and was ordained in 1993 for the Archdiocese of Newark, N.J., by now-retired Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington, D.C., Dolan's letter says. He is also a former Lutheran minister.
Dolan is working on a placement for him, archdiocesan spokeswoman Julie Wolf said Friday.
In his letter, which some priests received by e-mail and mail on Thursday and Friday, Dolan says Scheip asked to be considered for a pastoral assignment here.
His wife, Mary, has accepted a position at a Waukesha company, and his sons are enrolled in Catholic schools for the fall term, the letter says.
