Yukon priest finds new calling as Roman Catholic cleric

A man who served as an Anglican priest for 29 years, the last four at Holy Trinity Church in Yellowknife, will become the first Roman Catholic priest who is married with children in the Sahtu region of the Northwest Territories.

The CBC reported recently that N.W.T. Bishop Denis Croteau took Rev. Don Flumerfelt’s case to Rome, where permission is sought for the ordination of married men to the Catholic church. Mr. Flumerfelt said he had taken a break from his Anglican ministry to address family issues and during that time, had received a lot of support from the Roman Catholic church and felt a calling.

Mr. Flumerfelt left the Anglican priesthood in November 2004. There are a few dozen married priests in Canada, and hundreds around the world, who have been ordained by the Roman Catholic church, said Rev. Timothy Scott, president of St. Joseph’s College in Edmonton. “There were significant struggles within the Anglican Communion over issues of the ordination of women to the priesthood, and also some issues around sexual ethics, so some Anglican priests have not been able to accept these changes and have asked to enter the Roman Catholic church and indeed to be ordained,” said Mr. Scott.