The Eastern Catholic churches (in union with Rome) and the Eastern Orthodox churches both allow married men to be ordained. Married men were ordained in the Western (Latin) branch of the Catholic Church until the 11th century. An unmarried priesthood has *never* been part of the doctrinal core of the Church; instead, it is a *disciplinary rule* that can be changed. It's time for the Latin church to start ordaining married men, just as we have permanent deacons who are married men. In fact, some of those permanent deacons might very well want to continue their seminary education and be ordained as priests.
When this sort of editorial comes from a
conservative Catholic news site, I begin to believe that the difference between the pro-Vatican II conservatives and the modernist liberals is eroding.
The modernists are least honest about building a new church, a new religion, founded on Vatican II. The conservatives keep claiming that Vatican II has been misinterpreted and is supposedly wholly consonant with the Catholic faith as it has been handed down from the apostles. They've been held hostage by the Vatican II establishment for so long that some of them have developed Stockholm syndrome.
Since the conservatives caved on so many issues, such as liturgical reform and ecumenism, it's no surprise that they caved on this one.