WEST NEW YORK, New Jersey (AP) -- An excommunicated Roman Catholic archbishop continued to defy the Vatican when he installed two married priests as bishops on Sunday.

In front of a sea of reporters and photographers and several dozen congregants, Raymond A. Grosswirth of Rochester, New York, and Dominic Riccio, of the Newark Archdiocese, were installed by Zambian Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo at the Trinity Reformed Church. The ceremony concluded a two-day convention of Milingo's advocacy group, Married Priests Now!

In a visible break from tradition, the wives of both men helped their husbands on with their vestments before each man was anointed.

Milingo, 76, installed four married men as Roman Catholic bishops in September, including Peter Paul Brennan of New York and Patrick Trujillo of Newark. Milingo was later excommunicated by the Vatican, and Pope Benedict XVI followed that decision by convening a summit that reaffirmed mandatory celibacy for clergy.

Members of Milingo's group believe that reinstating priests who are married would help ease a shortage of priests. According to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University, the number of priests has dropped from 58,600 in 1965 to 41,790 this year.

Milingo has called celibacy "outdated" and was married in 2001 to a Korean acupuncturist chosen for him by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon in a mass wedding performed by Moon's Unification Church.

Milingo's ties to Moon, whose doctrines are considered beyond the bounds of traditional Christianity, have caused consternation in Catholic circles. Moon's American Clergy Leadership Conference paid for much of Milingo's conference this weekend.

EXCOMMUNICATED PRELATE ADMITS "MOONIE" SUPPORT

Dec. 11, 2006 (CWNews.com) - Excommunicated Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo has admitted that he is receiving financial help from a Korean sect for his campaign against the celibacy requirement in the Roman Catholic Church.

At a weekend conference in New Jersey, organized by the group he calls Married Priests Now, the Zambian prelate distributed a statement acknowledging that the group is funded by the Unification Church, led by Rev. Sun Myung Moon. The archbishop-- who participated in a mass-marriage ceremony led by the Korean religious leader in 2001-- said that Moon has now �dedicated his key organizations to give their utmost support in every way needed to Married Priests Now.�

During the weekend conference, Archbishop Milingo ordained two married men to the priesthood. In September, he had ordained four married men as bishops, in defiance of the Holy See-- a transgression that prompted the Vatican to announce his excommunication.

The troubled African prelate has been a source of major concern in Rome, where Vatican officials fear that his campaign for a married priesthood could cause confusion and even schism, particularly in Africa. Those concerns-- which prompted Pope Benedict XVI to convene a special meeting of the Roman Curia on November 17, to discuss how the Church should respond-- are heightened by the recognition that the Unification Church could heavily subsidize Milingo�s efforts, promoting its own religious mission.

In the US, prior to Milingo�s weekend conference, two other groups of former Catholic priests distanced themselves from Married Priests Now. Both CORPUS and CITI-- groups that are campaigning for an ened to the celibacy discipline-- cited Milingo�s connection with the Moon sect as a reason for their concern.