Embedded Files
So much has changed. So much has remained the same.
Forty years ago I couldn’t have imagined
being a priest in the way I am now.
Still it is a participation in the compassionate priesthood of Jesus
that makes these forty years look like one long, beautiful Eucharist,
one glorious act of petition, praise and thanksgiving!
From CAN YOU DRINK THIS CUP?
—Henri Nouwen
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Jack Hauck
My ordination in 1960 at age twenty seven in the Order of Carmelites was the fulfillment of a lifelong conviction and ambition. I cannot remember a time when I did not want to be a priest. I look back to that day as the defining moment of my entire life and I am constantly aware of the sacred trust I carry within me. It is always gently on my mind and lovingly in my heart, impacting on everything I do. My commitment, like the priesthood, is forever.
And here I am today, a married priest, canonically exiled from active ministry, but still very much an active Carmelite priest, with a wife and three children. There are those who consider marriage and the priesthood as incompatible with one another. I’ve found the opposite to be true. Married life brings a new spiritual dimension that fits well with priestly ministry.
After my ordination I went to the missions in Peru. I taught in the highschool in Lima and worked with the native people in the prelature of Sicuani high in the altiplano of the Andes Mountains – and also with the poor in the barriadas (slums) of the Cerro San Cristobal in Lima. In 1965 I was assigned as the pastor of the Cure D’ars Parish in Santiago, Chile. Upon my return to States in 1970 I was appointed as the Director of the Carmel Retreat in New Jersey, and it was there that I began to work with people who were alcoholic and drug addicted. In addition to retreat work I served as a chaplain at the county jail and as a week-end assistant at a Hispanic parish.
Pope John XXIII in the early 1960’s had convened the Vatican Council and we were in a springtime of renewal and growth as the Church redefined itself as the People of God in an effort to bring itself up-to-date in the modern world. Many good changes began to take place – and It was a great time to be a Catholic and a priest! However, there were some troubling things going on.
While in South America, I became more acutely aware that the clerical culture of privilege, paternalism, and arrogant authoritarianism had created a troubling division between the ordained faithful and the non-ordained faithful. I was enthusiastically hopeful with the promise of the Vatican Council – but disheartened by the systematic effort of the Roman hierarchy to reverse the Council’s gains after the death of Pope John XXIII. The Pope, cardinals and bishops served their own needs for pomp, prestige and power – but not the needs of the faithful. I disassociated myself from the hierarchy and identified more and more with the poor and the parishioners for whom I was ordained.
At the time of my ordination I accepted the requirement of mandatory priestly celibacy and I appreciated all of the spiritual benefits of celibacy. However, some priests in Peru and Chile had families and were living as married priests. When I was a pastor in Chile one of the priests with me returned to the States to get married, a decision that was made known to and applauded by the parishioners. I recognized that having both a married priesthood and a celibate priesthood on an optional basis would break down the harmful clerical culture and would better serve the needs of the faithful. The absurdity of mandatory celibacy deprives the Church of many excellent priests. Eugene Kennedy wrote at that time, “Nobody will ever believe again that his offering of self to the redemption of the world entails a suicidal destruction of self at the same time.”
In 1970 I returned to the States and for the next three years did retreat work. I wrote at that time how stifled I felt with the decisions that were coming out of Rome along with the clerical culture (again). As bad as it was in South America, I found it to be even worse in the States. I felt the need to search for a more relevant and meaningful expression of my priesthood. My search included thoughts of a married priesthood, a vocation to which I believe I was called, and a vocation which in time would contribute in some way, however small, to the betterment of the Church.
I got married civilly in 1973 and then “in the Church” in 1976 when the dispensation came through. My family was not supportive of my marriage which is as important and vital to me as my ordination. We now have three grown daughters. I worked with addiction recovery at the retreat house, and after getting married I continued doing the same work focusing on Twelve Step Spirituality. I’ve been active in parishes and involved in a marriage ministry through CITI and also at times in home Masses, baptisms and with the sick and dying. I continue to celebrate Mass and I do not refuse when asked to provide sacramental ministry for whatever reason. I am fairly well known as a married priest and recognized and accepted as such. That has been, without any merit on my part, a moment of grace for others. I never “left” nor have I “resigned from the priesthood.” All legalities aside, I remain a Carmelite and a priest and a married man. It enters into my daily life, into every decision I make, into the counseling work I do and into every breath I take. I can’t change that or leave it behind. Nor would I, if I could.
The Church, including the Pope and the Bishops, will eventually and inevitably accept not only a married priesthood, but also the ordination of women. We can look forward to this day because it will signify that the Church is truly mature, dynamic, meaningful and mindful of their mission to live and witness to the Gospel. The hierarchy will loosen its life-and-death grip on its need to control and will truly demonstrate a responsible and authentic respect for each individual, culture and age.
I agree with Henri Nouwen. Fifty one years ago I could never have imagined being a married priest, but here I am! In spite of all the turmoil and the scandals ………..
“Still it is a participation in the compassionate priesthood of Jesus
that makes these fifty one years look like one long, beautiful Eucharist
one glorious act of petition, praise and thanksgiving.!”
John W. Hauck
(Jack)
Born 12/22/1932
Carmelite Vows 1955
Ordination 6/4/1960
Marriage 12/7/1974
40 Fuller Terrace, Albany, New York 12205
jackhauck@yahoo.com
(518) 869-0458
In an email Jack Hauck sent to Jim Lovejoy on May 19, 2012, he wrote:
Hi Jim,
I'm attaching some files:
(Elizabeth) At her funeral Mass I did the Gospel and the homily.
(Can you drink this cup?) That's what I sent to you originally.
(Catholics leaving the Church) what I sent to the bishop, the cardinal....
(What Carmel means to me) My time as a Carmelite (Howie in May) to the Pope.
Jim, you can use these any way you want.
I included the funeral homily as an example of what married priests can do and are doing.
The Carmelite piece talks a little about being a "religious" priest.
The other pieces give a hint as to how some of us may feel about
what is going on currently in the church.
~ Jack
The material Jack Hauck submitted:
Homily at Elizabeth's Funeral Liturgy
Catholics Leaving the Church: a letter to Cardinal Dolan, February, 2012
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