Greek Church to help priests find wives - and keep them

Link : http://uk.news.yahoo.com/041103/323/f5xb2.html



ATHENS (AFP) - The Greek Orthodox Church launched a campaign to help young priests overcome a growing problem -- finding a wife in an age when Greek women are more and more reluctant to embrace an austere lifestyle.

The highly conservative church announced that a new committee would examine "pastoral methods to obtain and prepare priests' wives."

Young Greek would-be priests are expected to find a spouse before being ordained. But many run into problems because potential spouses are often discouraged by constraints on entertainment and by the dress code associated with their future husbands' profession, church officials admit.

"They just need to be told convincingly that life with a priest is not substantially different from that with any other husband," said one priest, who declined to be named.

But a church spokesman rejected notions that church-run catechism classes could be turned into match-making courses.

"As part of its pastoral vigilance, the Church may well speak out about priests' wives' role in the world -- something not done today," said Bishop Dorotheos, spokesman of the Standing Holy Synod.

Better psychological preparation before marriage might also spare would-be priests' spouses from possible frustrations once the knot is tied -- which often lead to their collapse.

Divorce puts Greek clerics in a tight spot because regulations bar them from marrying a second time. According to media reports, the commission may propose lifting the ban.