From Canada-When newly ordained Fr. Robert Assaly refers to seeking help from “Mother,” the term is just as likely to refer to his wife Nancy as it is to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
With his family of six children, it’s a
natural fatherly thing for the first married Catholic priest in the
Montreal archdiocese to say. Such was the case last week during an
interview when one of his sons popped into the study in the rectory at
St. Thomas More Church in suburban Verdun to ask a question.
“Mum will have it,” Assaly assured the young man.
It was a small, lived moment that
illustrated the enormous difference between him and his brother priests.
Its daily ordinariness showed the truly unusual character of Assaly:
how usual he makes the unusual in his life.
The evidence? His marital status is but
one dimension of that. His ordination on Sept. 20 at age 59 came after
10 years of discernment. That discernment came after 35 years as an
Anglican priest, during which he married and began his family with
Nancy. It doesn’t end there. The Anglican priesthood beckoned when he
was in his mid-20s and an avowedly atheist millionaire stockbroker.
More here-
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