International Coalition of Married Catholic Priests Says 'No' to Mandatory Celibacy and 'Yes' to Marriage and Family

 "Roman Catholic Archbishop Milingo Leads Coalition's Call for the Mother Church to Reconcile and Reinstate Married Priests to Active Service"

WHAT: Press conference to announce the newly formed association MARRIED PRIESTS NOW! an international coalition of married priests, and to render an urgent open call to the Roman Catholic Church to reconcile with married priests.

WHEN: Friday, July 14, 11 a.m.

WHERE: Imani Temple African American Catholic Congregation

609-611 Maryland Avenue, NE

Washington, DC 20002

WHO: Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo, charismatic spiritual healer from Zambia and former Archbishop of Lusaka; Archbishop George Stallings, founder and pastor of the Imani Temple African American Catholic Congregation; Archbishop Patrick E. Trujillo, currently the Spiritual Leader of the Archdiocese of Our Lady of Guadalupe of the Old Catholic Church in America; Archbishop Peter Paul Brennan, the Primate of the Order of Corporate Reunion which promotes Christian Unity through prayer and action; Bishop Edson Luiz Campos da Silva, Patriarchal Vicar of the Worldwide Communion of Catholic Apostolic National Churches in Brazil and the Presiding Bishop of the Brazilian Apostolic Catholic Church; Bishop Joseph J. Gouthro, Presiding Bishop of the American Catholic Church in Nevada; Father Giuseppe Serrone , theologian, freelance writer and married priest from Viterbo, Italy, and director of Associazione Sacerdoti Lavoratori Sposati (the Association of Married Priests); Father Pietro Ceroni a married priest from Bergamo, Italy; Father Dairo Ferrabolli, pastor, teacher, youth worker and conductor of conferences on Family Values in the Northern New Jersey area, and others.

BACKGROUND: Yesterday, Wednesday, July 12, Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo convened a group of married priests from around the world in Washington, DC to form a new association of married priests, to be named MARRIED PRIESTS NOW. The group, which will issue an open call to the Roman Catholic Church to reconcile and reinstate married priest to active service in parishes around the world, grows out of concern for the tens of thousands of priests who have fallen out of favor with the Roman Catholic Church due to their marriages.

"These married priests are a valuable resource to the Church and this new organization seeks to find ways to reconcile the Mother Church with her children who received and accepted God's call to serve," said the 76 year-old Archbishop and leader of MARRIED PRIESTS NOW. "The reconciliation of 150,000 married priests with the Church and the healing of a Church in crisis through renewing marriage and family are of paramount importance," he further stated.

Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo, the charismatic cleric whose "non-conventional" healing ministry, public marriage and call for an end to mandatory celibacy led to controversy with the Vatican, plans to embark on an independent charismatic ministry to reconcile married priests with the Catholic Faith..

Personally ordained by Pope Paul VI in 1969 at the young age of 39, Milingo was recalled to Rome in 1982 amidst controversy over his extraordinary healing powers. His ministry to 'preach the Gospel, heal the sick and cast out devils' (Matt. 10:8, Mark 16:15, Luke 9:2) flourished in Europe, and his popularity grew despite efforts to restrict his ministry. Working from Rome under the protection of Pope John Paul II, his marriage to a South Korean acupuncturist in 2001 drew international media attention. His marriage was not recognized by the Church, and out of respect and love for the Holy Father, he honored the pontiff's request to return to his healing ministry in Rome.

"Archbishop Milingo is not seeking to defy or divide the (Roman Catholic) Church, but is acting out of deep love for the Church and concern for its future," said Archbishop George Augustus Stallings, founder of the African American Catholic Congregation.

Married priests from Italy, South America and the United States will join the archbishop as he launches a ministry for the renewal of family for the future of the Catholic Faith. "The Church has nothing to lose by allowing priests the option to marry. Historically, out of holy marriages have come priests, popes, and loving servants of God and the Church," Milingo says.