[dsc]

" but accept that change could be made without destroying the nature of the Priesthood."

It would not destroy it, but it would be a step downward.

[ArrogantBustard]

Are the Byzantines, Melkites, Syrians, etc. "a step downward"? I'll have to tell my Melkite Catholic Priest friend you said that. I'm sure he'll be amused.

Within the context of the Latin Rite (and with the exception for converted Anglicans) I would see it as capitulating to the bad guys, and as totally unnecessary for reversing the "priest shortage". A return to radical orthodoxy in the seminaries, and a removal from office of the heterodox nuns in the vocations bureaucracies would be much more to the point.