Go-ahead for three married priests

by Peter Stanford
THREE married Anglican clergymen who joined the Catholic Church some years ago are to be ordained as priests by the diocese of Leeds. Rome has given its go-ahead to Bishop David Konstant to ordain Eric Thacker, David DrakeBrockman and Paul Williment as deacons in St Anne's Cathedral, Leeds, tomorrow, as the first stage in their journey to the priesthood. No date has yet been set for their priestly ordinations.
The three will work after ordination in different chaplaincies of the diocese and will also take up posts in the administration. They will assist in parishes at weekends, but there are no plans as yet to install any of them as parish priests. Church regulations block such a scenario for married priests.
All three clergymen left the Anglican church earlier this decade. Eric Thaker is in his sixties with grown up children. He was a Methodist minister before joining the Church of England, and has helped in recent years with the diocesan directory as well as researching a book on jazz.
David Drake-Brockman, in his fifties and with a large family, helps at the diocesan marriage tribunal, and has recently moved from Huddersfield to Leeds. Paul Williment, in his forties, has two children at school, and has been working in recent years since he left the Anglican ministry at St Gemma's Hospice in Leeds.
There are currently three married convert priests in England and Wales.