I really do not understand those who insist on being Latin-rite and not following the Latin discipline in this regard. It's the same with monasticism: if you can't live a monastic life, perhaps that vocation is not for you.
Nor do I understand those Catholics who want to be "a little" Catholic hut not live up to everything the Catholic Church professes, such as birth-control ban. I am really curious how many Catholic women are on some kind of artificial contraception device or method, or how many Catholics engage in extramarital sex. Does anyone have statistics on this?
Repeatedly brining up the alleged 1.1 billion Roman Catholics is a rather bogus attempt to inflate the real Church in my opinion. For, what exactly constitutes real Church? If those who "live in sin" are outside the Church (ex-communicated), because they are not allowed or should not be allowed to receive the Holy Communion, then obviously the number of real Catholics is not even close to that figure!
Let's stop pretending that a record of baptism makes one a "real Catholic" or "real Orthodox" for that matter -- or even real anything. Unless the paper reflects the values and life style of what that paper stands for, it is a worthless document physically and spiritually.
So, until, and if, the RCC defines exactly what constitutes "living in sin" and determines how many of its 1.1 billion registered members don't "live in sin," any such number should be qualified, because otherwise it is clearly and often deliberately misleading.
It was my understanding that the CHURCH IS MADE UP OF SINNERS, not saints, and that includes the bishops, cardinals and even the Pope. So, each and every one of us "lives in sin" even those boastful Pharisaical ones who claim to be holier than thou. So, if we counted all those who "live in sin" our churches ought to be empty!
Finally, there is a sense of futility in all this: teh RCC still acts as if morality, faith, etc. can be ligislated! Those who are denied Eucharist in one Catholic parish can go to another and receive communion where he or she is unknown. How is the priest going to know that such and such is still married as far as the Church is concerned and lives in sin when most Catholic parishes don't even expect those receiving the Eucharist to do a confession?!?
The same is true of the Orthdox churches as well. I can go to any Orthodox Church, confess (not necessarily everything), receive absolution, and receive the Eucharist. The burden is not on the Church hierarchy, but on me; it is something we will answer for individually. The duty of the church is to steer us in the right direction; the Church cannot order us to be good Catholics/Orthodox. So the real size of the Church is known only to God and when we refer to the numbers of who "belongs" to whom it should be qualified with the words "registered but not necessarily practicing" Catholics/Orthodox. A priest will be celibate if he believes in celibacy as the highest discipline of the Church and is so removed from human passions that he can resist them. CELIBACY CANNOT BE LEGISLATED.
A "celibate" priest, who is celibate only on paper, will continue to "live in sin" through looks, thoughts and some even by deeds, and no statements from any number of bishops (who no doubt are also sinners) will change that fact.
Ultimately, it is up to the individual to live a Christian life of the Church and no rules of pronouncements of the hierarchy will make anyone conform -- the change has to come, like our prayers, "from the heart," as Thomas Merton says, and that is a true and only conversion, and is known but only to God.
"Repeatedly bringing up the alleged 1.1 billion Roman Catholics is a rather bogus attempt to inflate the real Church in my opinion. For, what exactly constitutes real Church? If those who "live in sin" are outside the Church (ex-communicated), because they are not allowed or should not be allowed to receive the Holy Communion, then obviously the number of real Catholics is not even close to that figure!"
I think you're painting with too broad a brush in implying that those who are "living in sin" by whatever definition, should not be identified as Catholics (or Orthodox, for that matter). If you think about it, making such an exclusion denies the possibility of sincere repentance, as well as the possibility of grace.
I also think it would be rather difficult to count those who are "living in sin". What are we supposed to do? Pass out census questionnaires with little check blocks that ask: "are you living in a state of sin? If so, please check the blocks that apply: (a) adultery, (b)failure to honor ones parents (c) idolatry...."
I agree with your basic point in saying that the 1.1. billion Catholics number is suspect, in much the same way that I believe the numbers of Orthodox or Lutherans or any other group is suspect. But in the churches defense, you have to wonder what good way is there to count the numbers of the faithful? Is it those who are baptized? Or is it those who attend church? If it's those who attend church, when do you do the count? On Easter or Christmas when church attendance is high, or during the dead of summer when church attendance is generally low?
There really is no perfect way to count the numbers of the faithful that I can see, and any number you come up with is, at best, going to be an estimate.
You are ignorant of Scripture.
Only partially right. While celibacy is only a human discipline, it is a evangelical counsel:
[His] disciples said to him, "If that is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry." [Jesus] answered, "Not all can accept [this] word, but only those to whom that is granted. Some are incapable of marriage because they were born so; some, because they were made so by others; some, because they have renounced marriage for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Whoever can accept this ought to accept it." (Matt. 19:10-12)But I do agree with you that those who do not wish to follow this counsel should not seek ordination to the priesthood in the Latin rite (although I would not suggest Orthodoxy). The priesthood is not the only way to achieve holiness or serve the Church.
But let us not fall into the trap of thinking that this debate about celibacy in the Latin rite is because there is a large number of men who are seeking to become married priests. Rather, this is a surrogate debate about the Church's teaching on sexual morality. A celibate priesthood is a powerful sign to the world of the need and possibility of sexual restraint. For a world that does not believe in chastity and fidelity in marriage, a celibate priesthood is the ultimate affront.