Evans David Gliwitzki is the first Spanish Catholic priest to be married. He was ordained on 21 August 2005 in

La Laguna LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...

Tenerife Tenerife (; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands. It is home to 43% of the total population of the archipelago. With a land area of and a population of 978,100 inhabitants as of Janu ...

. The ordination was performed by

Felipe Fernández García Felipe Fernández García (30 August 1935 – 6 April 2012) was the Roman Catholic eleventh bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Cristóbal de La Laguna and bishop Ávila, Spain. It was the eleventh bishop of San Cristóbal de La Lagun ...

, the Bishop of San Cristóbal de La Laguna and

Ávila Ávila (, , ) is a city of Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Ávila. It lies on the right bank of the Adaja river. Located more than 1,130 m abov ...

Life

Gliwitzki was born in

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

and was ordained an

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

minister in 1984. His ordination as a Roman Catholic priest in 2005 had the full support of the Catholic Church as a special case for unity between churches, and does not signal a change in Catholic policy towards

priestly celibacy Clerical celibacy is the requirement in certain religions that some or all members of the clergy be unmarried. Clerical celibacy also requires abstention from deliberately indulging in sexual thoughts and behavior outside of marriage, because thes ...

. Such cases have also occurred in Britain and the United States, but this was a first for Spain. Gliwitzki and his wife have two daughters.

References

* 21st-century Spanish Roman Catholic priests Anglican priest converts to Roman Catholicism Living people Former Anglicans 20th-century Anglican priests 21st-century Anglican priests White Rhodesian people Zimbabwean Anglican priests Year of birth missing (living people) Married Roman Catholic clergy {{RC-clergy-stub