[sinkspur]

Isn't it amazing that the Church can ordain 750 permanent deacons every year (most of them married), and only 400 celibate priests?

There is no shortage of married men willing to serve the Church. There is, however, a shortage of celibate men willing to serve the Church.

What am I missing?

[sam_whiskey]

Huh??? I think you just answered your own question...

[Grey Ghost II]

There is no shortage of married men willing to serve the Church. There is, however, a shortage of celibate men willing to serve the Church.

What am I missing?

Looking at it from a practical standpoint, I think that there would be many more priests if they were allowed to be married. However, I think those priests would also be very distracted with the duties and responsibilities of parenthood and children. After all if priests were to marry, they obviously wouldn't commit the very grave sin of practicing artificial birth control. Many of these priests would have a wife and a bunch of kids. How could they tend to their families and their parishes at the same time? Could the Church support them financially? We all know Catholics are notoriously cheap.

[AAABEST]

What am I missing?

The fact that this is the first time in the history of the Catholic church that it can't get anyone to take vows of celibacy to serve it. Never was a problem in the past.

The precipitous devolution just happens to perfectly coincide with the late 60s, just when Vatican II befell us. Just luck of the draw I guess.

Part of the problem is that heterosexuals don't care to attend seminaries full of leftists who often treat the dorms as a bath house, just to graduate and go to work for an episcopal in the John F. Kerry wing of Catholicism.

[nickcarraway]

You don't say one word about the quality of priests. What you are suggesting is a recipe for more of the problems we've been plagued with the last few years.

[Tantumergo]

"There is no shortage of married men willing to serve the Church. There is, however, a shortage of celibate men willing to serve the Church.

What am I missing?"

The married men who are serving the Church need to get out there and recruit more celibate men to serve the Church.

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!

If one more parishioner writes to the bishop asking him why he can't ordain me as a priest I am going to start coating the hosts with chilli powder!!!

[Tribune7]

What am I missing?

And there is no problem accepting married clergy coverts as priests. I have no idea what the thinking is.

[StAthanasiustheGreat]

My biggest opposition to married priests (besides the tradition of the discipline), is I fear that they will be unable to totally devote themselves to the Church, and their will be that constant war within themselves between family and the church.

[Mark in the Old South]

Re: "What am I missing?"


TRADITION :-)

[Conservative til I die]

Isn't it amazing that the Church can ordain 750 permanent deacons every year (most of them married), and only 400 celibate priests?

Well that didn't take long, did it?

There's no reason to employ the faulty reasoning that you do, that the lessening of vocations requires that we allow married priests, and that allowing married priests is the only solution.

We had celibacy in the first half of the 20th Century and vocations were as healthy as ever, especially in the US.

You should know better as a deacon, that the Church responds to things in terms of centuries. A 30 year problem in vocations is a blip on the timeline.