That's not surprising at all, given the state of most Parishes in the last 20 years or so. Religious education has been run all this time by those enamored of "The Spirit of Vatican II". They put forth information that wasn't part of Vatican II at all, but convinced their students and the parents that it was, so folks are confused right now as to exactly what the Church DOES teach! I even had to correct our Associate Pastor in a meeting for parents of kids who were studying for First Penance when he said that, according to Catholic teaching, that Hitler may not have committed a mortal sin when he ordered that Jews and others be exterminated, because he didn't believe, in his conscience, that he was doing anything wrong. He was spouting the idea of 'subsidiarity' that he'd been taught in the Seminary. That was all I could stand and I stood up and flat out told him that he was WRONG! Most folks looked at me like I was some sort of freak because I was 'questioning Father', but I'd had enough of his ignorance, and didn't want him infecting the parents of these young kids with it. Several people came up to me later and thanked me for having the guts to do it.
Given the ignorance of someone who supposedly has the knowledge of what the Church teaches, I'm not surprised that the majority of Catholics don't understand either the charism of celibacy, or the fact that there were men who were willing to join the priesthood and take on that charism, but, in some areas of the country, they were not being allowed to enter the Seminaries. Folks who had taken over the 'discernment committees' of some Seminaries were making sure that men who were 'overly orthodox' didn't make it in. They didn't want men who might be 'immature' to be allowed into the priesthood, but they didn't seem to mind that some of the men they DID allow were openly homosexual, and got their jollies out of propositioning other Seminarians who didn't share their lifestyle. Several young men who went to the Seminary under the sponsorship of my brother in law encountered this situation until he raised hell with the Bishop and they put someone else in charge of the place. It has changed for the better since that happened, and there have been many more young men willing to accept the sacrifice of celibacy since they saw, during the reign of John Paul II, that the Church was becoming more serious about the teachings of Jesus, and that service in her was worthy of their sacrifice.
Good for your brother-in-law! (Is he a FReeper? Even part-time?)
I think Catholics understand the value of celibacy. They just don't see that it's a necessity to require it of priests.
"Let him accept it who can."