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Curious, is it not, that the MILWAUKEE newspaper keeps coming up with "controversy" on this issue?

Wonder how that happens? Could it be that Milwaukee is still (sigh) home to one of the most high-profile rebels in the Church?

Also noteworthy is the list of locations in which the 'survey' has managed to find 'success.'

Finally, a careful parsing of the comments by Hoge (Catholic U.) tells us that, well, maybe 33% of priests are in favor of changing the discipline, but 66% are willing to talk about the issue.

Of course, "talking about" the issue is not the same as favoring a change, which Hoge recognizes.

The effort is being coordinated by two national reform groups that advocate the ordination of married men and of women - the Chicago-based Call to Action and the Cleveland-based FutureChurch.

FUTURECHURCH / Truth Behind the Mask

FutureChurch Position on the Eucharist: No cry from FutureChurch has been made louder or longer than over the alleged lack of availability of the Eucharist because of the "shortage of priests." Christine Schenk, head of FutureChurch, however, does not believe the priest's consecration creates the Eucharist, the "Real Presence." To her it is the spirit and attitude in the person and/or group that brings the "Real Presence." Since this is entirely a spiritual reality as it is in a Protestant communion service, that "Real Presence" will thus be in degrees, depending on one's spiritual condition. At her talk, "The Future of Priestly Ministry," at the Call to Action National Conference in Detroit, November 15-17, 1996 she stated, "Eucharist is not really fully Eucharist if women are not able to be included as presiders . . . . we're coming with a different model of the Eucharist." This same position is highlighted by Schenk in the Winter, 2001 FutureChurch publication Focus in the article: "E(e)Eucharist: Do this and Remember."

Dean Hoge, a sociologist at Catholic University of America who has written about and studied the priesthood extensively, said those results and return rates could be considered representative of all priests, with a margin of error of plus or minus 10%, even though response rates vary.

Actually, it is not.

There is no proof that the "sample" was a true random sample. The "lay group" doing the sampling is notoriously anti Catholic -- they want to make Catholicism more PC than the episcopal church. And, of course, as andrew Greeley's survey in the latest Atlantic magazine points out, the younger priests are "clerical" and support holiness, prayer and celibacy instead of social action and social work...and despite Greeley being a notorious liberal, he does tend to be honest in his sociology.

we recognize that none of the bishops is probably going to speak out against what Rome has said, not under this current pope.

Would it kill 'em to include a couple points from JPII in this article?

By not doing so, the author reveals himself to be no more than a purveyor of FutureChurch(?!) PRnewswire, imo.

"Today's clergy must be careful not to adopt the secular view of the priesthood as a profession, a career and a means of earning a living," the Holy Father said. "Rather, the clergy must see the priesthood as a vocation to selfless, loving service, embracing wholeheartedly the esteemed gift of celibacy and all that this involves."

He explained that for this reason, "celibacy is to be regarded as an integral part of the priest's exterior and interior life, and not just as a long-standing ideal which is to be respected."

Celibacy is not the major issue. The divorce rate of 50%+ is much more significant.

Men and women can lead celibate lives as a gift of love to God. Coming from a society that struggles with accepting a moral value system and accepts the dissolution of marriage so casually, perhaps young men and women are getting the wrong message.

Celibacy is just one aspect of life and religion.

The leadership of the church comes from family life. The value system is established at the family level. When our society ignores the importance and permanence of marriage and the effect on its children, then we all pay the price.

Do we as society just look at (politically correct) issues that could be changed (celibacy) and ignore the underlying problems?