May 4, 2007 / 10:03 am
Former governor Jim McGreevey, whose political career ended nearly three years ago amid claims of an adulterous affair with a male aide, was welcomed into the Episcopal Church and may become an Episcopalian priest.
McGreevy has been accepted into a three-year master of divinity program at the General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church in Manhattan, reported The North Jersey. He will begin the master’s courses in September which are the typical path to priesthood in the Episcopal Church.
The 49-year-old had made his Catholic faith and upbringing central to his public person. While mayor and later governor, McGreevey would boast of his Catholic school education and years in parish life. He has said that, as a boy, he had a desire to become a priest.
While governor, he and wife, Dina, attended Mass regularly at the Aquinas Institute in Princeton. The couple even had a private audience with the late Pope John Paul II during their honeymoon in Rome.
However, once in office, McGreevey’s stance on social issues like stem cell research and abortion rights put him in conflict with church authorities.
McGreevey’s decision to contemplate a vocation comes as his estranged wife is launching her book on their marriage. The two are divorcing and their court filings have become increasingly testy.