Archbishop ordains three

| The New Mexican

5/31/2008 - 6/1/08

A married father of five and former Episcopal priest was one of three men ordained Roman Catholic priests Saturday by Archbishop Michael J. Sheehan at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi.

Jeffrey Whorton, 38, received a special dispensation from the Vatican called a Pastoral Provision, which allows Anglican Christians to be "reconciled" to the "Mother Church." Whorton is the first man to seek this dispensation in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe.

Whorton was raised in the Methodist Church, graduated from Baylor University, attended a Baptist seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, then Trinity Episcopal Seminary in Pittsburgh. He was ordained an Episcopal priest in 2002 and called to a church in Montana. He served in the U.S. Army and after leaving active duty became a pastoral assistant at St. Thomas Aquinas Roman Catholic Church in Rio Rancho.

Whorton has said he did not "leave" the Episcopal Church, which is deeply divided over issues of gender and sexuality. "I for one felt moved to become a Catholic rather than leave something else," he said.

Glenn Jones, 45, came to Santa Fe from St. Elizabeth Parish, in Snyder, Texas. He earned a history degree at the University of Texas, worked as a petroleum engineer, served as a U.S. Marine and spent some time at a Cistercian monastery before deciding to become a priest. He plans to graduate from Holy Apostles Seminary in Cromwell, Conn.

Oscar W. Coelho, 37, a former lawyer, grew up in a large city just outside Mumbai, India. He spent time at the Monastery of Christ in the Desert near Abiquiú and is studying to graduate from Mount Angel Seminary in St. Benedict, Ore. His seminary studies were sponsored by Albuquerque's Queen of Heaven Parish.