"Being a Deacon, a husband, a father, running a business, trying to put kids through education, and repaying a mortgage, can be a very good witness to single men as to why they shouldn't even think of attempting to combine marriage and priesthood - even if the Church were to allow it!"
Couldn't the church avoid the above problems by ordaining older married men whose children are already grown? I would bet that there are deacons who would volunteer.
Most deacons that I know are ultra liberal in their 'catholicism'. They would, as priests, represent one more nail in the coffin for the R.C.C. as we know it. It would soon be followed by priestesses(since women can be deaconesses) and all sorts of other weird innovations. Like the novus ordo 'Sunday missalette'.
"Couldn't the church avoid the above problems by ordaining older married men whose children are already grown? I would bet that there are deacons who would volunteer."
IMHO it would not be good for the Church to do this - although I am sure that there are some deacons who would volunteer. However, the vocation to the diaconate is different from the vocation to the priesthood and just because a man is called to the former does not mean he is called to the latter. We currently have 5 celibate men in training for the diaconate at our seminary, and although they have been "strongly encouraged" to consider the priesthood, none of them feel that God is calling them to it.
With the current turmoil in the Church, allowing married men to be ordained priests would cause even more confusion and disenchantment. It would also encourage the heretics who want to "ordain" women to step up their campaign even further.
I think the Vatican was wrong to give the dispensation for married former Protestant ministers to be ordained. It has effectively created a division in the Church with two different classes of men:
a) Lifelong Catholics who are married and not considered suitable priestly material.
b) Former heretics who are married and, for some reason, ARE considered suitable priestly material.
It has made an ass of the Law. The rule of obligatory celibacy should either be upheld completely or abrogated completely.
In reality, there is no shortage of vocations among celibate men - its just that the ones who God is calling don't fit into the NewChurch paradigm. They are generally too "rigid" or "young fogeys" and the current regime wants to keep them out.
I have personally helped two men from one parish enter seminary over the summer, and we got them in because we knew how to get round the system. As long as they endure to the end, they will make good orthodox priests who are open to the Tridentine Mass.
If all of the 14,000 deacons in the U.S. set their minds to doing the same thing, the "vocations shortage" would be sorted out fairly quickly.