A parish in Arkansas is facing something it never expected: a new pastor. And his wife and kids:

Students returning to St. Joseph School will have something different this fall: They’ll be joined by the son of the parish’s new pastor.

Father Bradley Barber, 51, is a former Episcopal priest who has since converted and was ordained in the Roman Catholic Church. He is now pastor of St. Joseph Church in Fayetteville. Joining him in the church are his wife Jody and the couple’s four children.

While Father Barber’s family situation is still unusual, he definitely has the Church’s approval — all the way from Rome.

Catholic News Service reports that about 80 former Episcopal priests have been ordained since 1980 under a pastoral provision instituted by Pope John Paul II. The Barbers moved to Fayetteville from Corpus Christi, Texas. Father Barber is now the second priest in the state with a wife and kids. Father Alan Rosenau, an associate pastor and hospital chaplain in Hot Springs, was the first.

A native of St. James, Mo., he grew up the son of an independent First Christian pastor. Father Barber joined the Episcopal church while studying music at the University of Arkansas in the 1970s.

Even while he was studying for the Episcopal priesthood, his Catholic in-laws were hoping for a conversion. Jody’s grandmother took notice any time there was news of an Anglican priest converting.

“When it would hit the newspaper, she would cut that article out of the newspaper and send it to me,” Father Barber said.

She died before her grandson-in-law was ordained an Episcopal priest in 1983, but over time changes in the church increasingly disturbed the young man. He said he was especially bothered by the fact that doctrine was subject to a democratic vote and could be changed by a simple majority vote. He wondered, would God really accept sacramental changes approved by a 51-49 percent vote when it was Jesus Christ himself who gave us these sacraments?

“The Episcopal Church was starting to allow sociological arguments to reign in theological matters,” Father Barber said.

Ordaining women to the priesthood, recognizing same-sex relationships as marriages, and allowing the church to be led by openly gay pastors, those were things that troubled Father Barber in his role as an Episcopal priest. He said the pivotal point came when he was visited by a couple who were considering leaving the Catholic Church over doctrinal disagreements.

The Episcopal priest counseled the couple to remain in their own church, and he realized he wanted to be there, too.

“Theologically, I knew I was Catholic,” he said.

Read on for more on how his wife and children have adapted — and how they came into the church.

Photo: Bradley Barber, by Sandra Ware, Arkansas Catholic