The question of celibacy is one of the hottest topics when discussing the Catholic Church. I myself ,as a Roman Catholic, know that from my own experience. But what about the life of married Episcopal priests who were admitted to the Catholic priesthood - so, generally speaking, the married Catholic priests?

I am coming from country with presence and service of The Catholic Church of the Byzantine-Slavonic rite (one of the Eastern Catholic Churches, which is in full communion with the Catholic Church), which admits married men to ordination as priests (though not allowing priests, after ordination, to marry), so the information that there, indeed, are married Catholic priests, is generally no news for me.

But I have read with the great interest this study about the life of former Anglican clergy, who decided to convert to Catholicism and to seek the priestly service while maintaining their marriage. The Catholic Church responded by establishing rules that would allow the Church to receive married convert priests as exceptions to the rule of celibacy-a decree known as the Anglican Pastoral Provision. More than 80 Anglican former clergymen now serves as the married Catholic priests. But how do they live and serve as this kind of 'minority' amongs the Catholic and non-Catholic people? And what do they can say about the Church and its teachings and rules and how do they perceive their "Catholic reality"?
This is sociological book, not beletry, so the book contains excessive amount of data - not only on the lives and service of those priests, but also about the celibacy itself, the bishops's attitude and approach - and about the lives and opinions of their wives (which is a question that had never before entered my mind, but which I find fascinating now), but is not that difficult to read for the non-scientiss (like me). One of the interesting findings is that these priests and their wives are indeed of very conservative views on Catholicism and they do deeply respect the rule and meaning of the celibacy practice - they consider themselves the proverbial the exception that confirms the rule.

This is truly good source of information and the good food for thought and for discussion. And, as any good source for discussion, I do not definitely agree with all the opinions presented. I am saying this respectfully, the author is Associate Professor of Sociology at The Catholic University of America and obviously a very intelligent person. But he is also one of the married Catholic priests (married for thirty years, and has been a Catholic priest for more than ten). This on the one hand allows him to be the insider and offer the empathic insight based on his own experience, but also his objectivity can be questioned, as he is precisely that insider. Do not get me wrong, he is presenting his findings quite fairly and not blindly, but he also might be subjective sometimes in some of his opinions (in all good conscience).
But having said that, this one is interesting reading and can enrich any Catholic about the maybe less known facts and lives. I certainly have gained a lot.