"They've been very nice about it here in Elizabethtown," said Hopper, who was ordained a deacon last Saturday at St. James Church there. "I've had some look at me and say, 'Did I hear that right? You're married and you're going to be a priest?' "

But he said they understand once he explains the papal exception.

The Reverend Nicholas Henderson is said to be or was the Chairman of Modern Church people's Union. The Liberalism of the MCU is well known and although often vigorously contested in debates fall within the broad limits of theological diversity of the Church of England. The appointment of a leading MCU member as bishop of an English diocese would be controversial and possibly opposed in some parishes.

Because the confirmation process in the Province of Central Africa is taken very seriously, it is important that you fully and comprehensively address questions that have emerged. While it is an awkward situation, securing the necessary confirmation will require that you address some matters of theology and concerns about your personal life.

We have worked with great sacrifice to our families, our 'day jobs', and our larger vocations as priests and teachers and authors. We have sought to avoid political short-cutting, have kept confidences, and have prayerfully tried to understand how the Instruments of Unity might remain focused on the tasks confronting them in this season. We have neither over-stipulated outcomes nor gotten ahead of the Holy Spirit's hard and painful work; or, we have tried not to.