Elizabeth Lev Glendon To Wed Disgraced Former Priest Who Fathered Her Child
Elizabeth Lev Glendon will wed Thomas Williams, the former US disgraced priest who resigned after confessing to fathering her child.
Why is this significant, other than a former priest getting married?
Lev Glendon is the daughter of former US Ambassador to the Holy See Mary Ann Glendon and one of Pope Francis’ current top advisers.
The Associated Press has learned the wedding will take place this weekend.
Mary Glendon, a Harvard University law professor, is one of the highest-ranking women at the Vatican and serves as president of the Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences.
Elizabeth Lev Glendon’s mother is also one of five people on Francis’ commission to reform the scandal-marred Vatican bank, according to The Huffington Post.
Elizabeth Lev Glendon, is an art historian living in Rome and has a column for the Legion-run Zenit news agency, which her soon to be husband published for over a decade while he was in the Legion of Christ order.
Williams, who is a well known US television personality, moral theologian, author, and lecturer, admitted last year that he fathered a child a few years ago and apologized for the “grave transgression” against his vows of celibacy.
Roman Catholic priests are not allowed to marry and live a life of celibacy as per the rulings of the Church, something many have tried to reform in recent years.
The Church has faced criticism and backlash for the sexual abuse scandals that have come to light, especially in the US, and the apparent attempts to cover them up, after victims have brought forth charges.
Williams, who was a member of the Legion of Christ, a Catholic order made up of priests and seminarians preparing to enter the priesthood, initially said he would like to move past this “sin in my past” and continue working for the church.
However, after taking a year off to reflect, he decided to leave the church to take care of his and Elizabeth Lev Gendon’s son.
Elizabeth Lev Glendon confirmed the wedding plans, but refused to discuss any other details, according to The Huffington Post.
“We have no intention of ever discussing our personal life in this forum.”
In the beginning, Elizabeth Lev Glendon denied the affair, even though the couple frequently appeared together at events in Rome.
The wedding comes at a time when the Legion of Christ announced yet another sexual abuse charge against one of its superiors.
According to the report, the man in charge of American seminarians for more than 10-years, sexually abused a minor at the Legion’s novitiate in Cheshire, Connecticut.
Elizabeth Lev Glendon has two older daughters and her son, fathered by former priest Thomas Williams, suffers from down syndrome.
