A FORMER Burnley vicar who quit his church because he could not accept the ordination of women has become the first married man to be ordained into the Roman Catholic priesthood in the Lancaster Diocese.

Ex-Blackburn Labour councillor, Fr Roy Williams, stunned parishioners by becoming a Roman Catholic soon after quitting St Catherine's Church, Burnley, after 17 years.

Roman Catholic priests are usually unmarried and celibate but he has been allowed to be an exception under special dispensation granted to people in his position by the Pope.

Hundreds packed St Teresa's RC Church, Cleveleys, on Tuesday for the ordination, carried out by the RC Bishop of Lancaster, the Rt Rev John Brewer, watched by Burnley clergy and a coachload of St Catherine's parishioners, as "a momentous occasion".

During the service, Fr Williams, a former vicar at St Peter's Church, Blackburn, welcomed supporters from St Catherine's and thanked them for all they had done for him.

Watched by his wife Barbara, a former Burnley councillor, he referred to them as his old family and those in his new church as his new family.

The Bishop spoke of the friendship which now existed between the Catholic and Anglican churches. Fr Williams, a C of E minister for 34 years, left St Catherine's in 1995, stating he would not accept the ordination of women - allowing him to make use of special retirement provisions for clergy on grounds of conscience.

He told parishioners he was retiring to Cleveleys but just weeks after his departure, it came to light he had been received into the Roman Catholic Church.

Fr Williams will live and work in the parish of St Teresa's.

A founder of Blackburn Community Relations Council, he came to St Catherine's in Todmorden Road, in 1978 after being a college chaplain in Preston for 10 years.

In 1983 he and his wife gained Master of Arts degrees in religious studies.

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