Bill, a catholic priest is given the title "cooperator" when he cares for his parish. Yes, he is fully ordained and can fulfill all services and administer sacraments. He becomes a "cooperator" (a leading position in the parish of the church's administrative area) after he has served as a priest for a certain time in the community. "Cooperator" is the title of a position within the local church or churches, as many priests now function in that capacity in more than one parish since there is such a shortage of catholic priests. You may also want to read the attached link, because there are married catholic priests, actually. And there will be more because of the shortage of priests, ie, if a married Anglican Priest converts to Catholicism, or if a graduate of a catholic priest's seminary worked as teacher/professor and becomes ordained after he married. http://catholicism.about.com/b/2009/11/19/reader-question-are-there-married-catholic-priests.htm Aida --------------------------------------------------------- On Wed, Feb 8, 2012 at 5:07 AM, William Thoendel <willthon@msn.com> wrote: > > > > > Hello All,In my searching of online Catholic Church documents, I have come > upon the term 'cooperator' fora church official.It appears that this person > has the power to baptize, wed and officiate funerals ifthe Priest is not > available.Thank you,Bill ThoendelHoskins, Nebraska > German-Bohemian Heritage Society web site http://www.rootsweb.com/~gbhs/ > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > GERMAN-BOHEMIAN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >