Our policy was guided by our desire to engender conviction by persuasion, dialogue and education. To that end we organised conferences, and wrote articles. More than 30 years later I have lost count of the number of letters letters and articles and booklets written by our members and published in the national and Catholic papers. Our members have also been interviewed on TV and radio. One of our number has published four books in which the case for a married clergy has been argued in detail, but never disputed by those who do not share our views.

Another aspect of our work has been the policy of keeping the hierarchy fully informed of all that we do. In the 1980’s Bishop Jim O’Brien (an auxiliary of Westminster) was named as our contact bishop. On March 26 the1986 members of our committee met with Bishop Brewer and Fr. Peter Verity at Bishop’s House Lancaster. It was not a productive meeting, but it was  an important milestone. In October of that year Cardinal Hume wrote to us saying that the time was not yet ripe for permanent liaison, because there was a limit to the number of controversial burdens that the Bishops’ Conference could carry. However the committee had an informal meeting with him on November 6th of that year, which was cordial and encouraging.

In the new century better times awaited us. In the spring of 2004 and again in April 2005 the committee had formal meetings with Bishop Conry of Arundel and Brighton which were extremely positive and constructive.    

One outcome of those meetings was the drawing up of a detailed document exposing  the theological flaws in the current law which denies ordination to married men.
It was circulated to all the bishops in the autumn of 2005, and in particular we made sure that it was in the hands of the three English bishops who went to Rome in October to take part in the Episcopal Synod.

That document is just ahead of you on this web site, (immediately after Michael Hornsby-Smith’s article). If you are pressed for time, read the first page of it, which states the basic arguments. The following three pages in smaller type contain the evidence from conciliator and patristic sources etc.  

By the year 2000 it is fair to say that public opinion within the English Catholic community was overwhelmingly in favour of ordaining married men as priests. The climate of debate has changed totally, and this issue together with  many others is now discussed openly in a really healthy fashion. How far our organisation has contributed to this is impossible to say; what is important is that the truth has prevailed.  The next step is to translate that into practical measures which will require the authorisation by the Pope.