The Church does not say that the celibate priesthood of the Western Church is a matter of faith. It is a matter of discipline. Theoretically, it could be abolished or amended tomorrow. But don't bet on it. There are lots of good reasons why the West has embraced celibacy for priest, many of then based on the writings of St. Paul already quoted on this thread.
Since it is a matter of discipline, and not one of doctrine, there is no inherent contradiction within Catholicism byt virtue of the existence of a maried Eastern clergy. They simply do not choose to mandate celibacy in their priesthood. And even in the East, bishops *must* come from the ranks of the (many) priests who never married.
The Vatican must be doing something very powerful to receive so much in the way of complaints against celibate priests. All of the Apostles opposed Jesus concerning the Holy Eucharist, but it didn't cause Him to back down or reverse this victorious Sacrament. In the end, most of His Apostles were loyal.
The courage of priests acting on faith and obedience are confounding wicked efforts that are more offensive than sowing doubt of spiritual authority. Christ undid Adam's sin (as the tradition holds that Jesus was crucified over Adam's grave). Our Blessed Mother undid Eve's sin of eating the forbidden fruit and passing it to Adam. Now, it's another opportunity for the Church to undo mankind's disobedience by our being loyal to Spiritual Authority. The Church militant will reject the temptation to doubt dogma and discipline.
It's fascinating how the Holy Eucharist has achieved in action the vision of St Don Bosco's dream (The Two Pillars).
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/5223/dbosco.html
I suppose it's only a matter of time before we see the victory of the Holy Rosary, as the Catholic culture isn't the only religion that uses prayer beads. Our Blessed Mother will bring the unlikeliest of souls to Christ...perhaps within the coming months starting with this one!