As a Protestant, I have always thought required celibacy for priests to be a strange and unnatural practice.
Look at the Jewish practice: Rabbis are not celibate: indeed, they are encouraged to have large families, which are a point of pride for their congregations.
I am impressed by the large number of famous, talented men in Anglo-American history who were the sons of ministers. There is no such parallel, obviously, among Catholics. Insofar as the priestly calling attracts natural talent, that talent is rather systematically bred out of a population which practices priestly celibacy. (I bet I'll be in for it for mentioning that!)
The Catholic church is short of priests. A reasonable, practical, and humane solution would be to keep priestly celibacy for those who desire it, but to allow separate orders of married priests to exist in parallel. But I am just a lowly Protestant, so I doubt that the Pope would listen to me on this point.
Why? With the exception of Peter who was married before he was chosen, all of the disciples were celibate, including our Lord Jesus Christ. Are you saying that Jesus' celibacy was 'unnatural'?
Look at the Jewish practice: Rabbis are not celibate: indeed, they are encouraged to have large families, which are a point of pride for their congregations.
Rabbis are not priests, nor do they adhere to the teachings of Jesus Christ in the New Testament. Jesus was a rabbi and He was not married.
The Catholic church is short of priests. A reasonable, practical, and humane solution would be to keep priestly celibacy for those who desire it
The Eastern Catholic Churches allow for a married priesthood. It is not the panacea you propose. See the comments made by Maronite Patriarch above in an earlier post.
As is the Greek Orthodox Church and many protestant denominations, all of which have married clergy. What is your explanation for that?
A reasonable, practical, and humane solution would be to keep priestly celibacy for those who desire it, but to allow separate orders of married priests to exist in parallel.
21 of the 22 Churches sui juris which comprise the Catholic Church will ordain a married man to the Priesthood. Those 21 Churches are also experiencing a shortage of Priests. Why is that if a married Priesthood is the panacea you speciously claim it is?
"The Catholic church is short of priests. A reasonable, practical, and humane solution would be to keep priestly celibacy for those who desire it, but to allow separate orders of married priests to exist in parallel. But I am just a lowly Protestant, so I doubt that the Pope would listen to me on this point."
I wouldn't call you lowly or think such because you are a Protestant, nor would the vast majority of Catholics posting on this forum, so let's nix that right off.
I'm not entirely in agreement with the premise. We in the U.S. are a bit spoiled in that we've had so many priests available to us in the past. In many countries, parishioners are lucky if they get to see a priest more than a couple of times a year.
I don't think that celibacy is the issue in any case. There are Diocese in the U.S. that have outstanding vocations programs and more than enough priests. Two examples are the Diocese of Lincoln and Arlington. In my view the issue is more one of inspiration and leadership than celibacy.