McGreevey not being ordained
An Episcopal diocese deferred his plans, a newspaper reported.
TRENTON - Former Gov. Jim McGreevey, who resigned in 2004 after declaring himself "a gay American" and admitting he had an extramarital affair with a male staffer, has had his pursuit of the Episcopal priesthood put on hold indefinitely.
The New York Post reported Monday that the church had deferred his bid to join the clergy.
The church wants McGreevey to put more distance between his possible ordination and the fairly recent turmoil in his life: his coming out in a nationally televised speech, his resignation, and a messy divorce from his wife, Dina Matos, in 2008, the newspaper said.
Neither McGreevey, a Democrat, nor the Episcopal Diocese of Newark would comment on his potential ordination, saying the process was confidential.
McGreevey, 53, earned a master of divinity degree last spring, three years after entering General Theological Seminary in New York City.
The Rev. Patricia McCaughan, who writes for the Episcopal News Service, said ordination is a complicated and subjective process that differs from diocese to diocese.
"If a person is deemed not ready to go forward, that doesn't mean that's the end," she said. "People can always try again."
McGreevey said he planned to continue ministering to inmates and helping raise his daughter, who is in elementary school.
"I'm enjoying prison ministry, particularly with the women in Hudson County Jail who have suffered tremendously in their lives," he said.
McGreevey, who as a child was a Catholic altar boy, shocked the nation by declaring his homosexuality, with his wife and parents at his side. He was the nation's first openly gay governor, but resigned three months later.
He converted from Catholicism after leaving office. His divorce followed a protracted public trial during which she claimed she was duped into marriage to advance his political career.
The couple spent four years married and living together and had one child. They formally separated in February 2005, three months after he left office. They publicly sparred about their breakup, each writing a tell-all book with almost no detail deemed too embarrassing to reveal.
McGreevey has lived with real estate executive Mark O'Donnell in Plainfield since 2005. He has made few public appearances since leaving office.