As a Protestant catholic* Christian reading this article and thread, I find it significant that no one mentions the advice, actually the commands, of the most effective celibate leader in the Church of all time: The Apostle Paul.
Not once is it recorded that Jesus Himself required celibacy for Church leaders... and we know from the holy scriptures a few of the Apostles were indeed married (yes including Peter...proof in the writing of Saint Paul some 20 years after the resurrection: "Don't we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other apostles and the Lord's brothers and Cephas?" (I Cor. 9:4)
Is celibacy more practical for some duties...surely, and for those who are called, a great blessing. But to make it a total requirement....above and beyond what the Holy Spirit speaking through St. Paul instructed? Not a good thing to think oneself wiser than God's Holy word, be it individuals or a Church with its tradition.
"Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,..." (I Tim. 3:2)
"An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient." (Titus 1:6)
Clearly Saint Paul was assuming (most) Church leaders would be married--as were (most) respectable men in the ancient Jewish/Christian communities. Saint Paul did indeed encourage a celibate lifestyle, like his own, but never made it an absolute requirement for Church leadership. How then can the Church (continue) today to do so?
*(meaning being part of the Church of Jesus Christ catholic, that is universal.)
Scripture definitively teaches that only Peter was, at one time, married.
"Don't we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other apostles and the Lord's brothers and Cephas?" (I Cor. 9:4)
Your verse reference is incorrect, should be verse 5 not 4, and you've quoted a corrupted text. Paul, being a celibate, would not have intended "wife" while referring to himself. The Greek "adelphaen gunaika" correctly translates in this context to sister woman, not sister wife.
"Have we not power to carry about a woman, a sister, as well as the rest of the apostles, and the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas?" 1 Corinthians 9:5
"It behoveth therefore a bishop to be blameless, the husband of one wife, sober, prudent, of good behaviour, chaste, given to hospitality, a teacher," 1 Timothy 3:2.
No requirement that a bishop must be married. If Timothy were to select a married man he could have been married only once.
"If any be without crime, the husband of one wife, having faithful children, not accused of riot, or unruly. " Titus 1:6
"Then Peter answering, said to him: Behold we have left all things, and have followed thee: what therefore shall we have? And Jesus said to them: Amen, I say to you, that you, who have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit on the seat of his majesty, you also shall sit on twelve seats judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And every one that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall possess life everlasting. And many that are first, shall be last: and the last shall be first." Matthew 19:27-30
"And Peter began to say unto him: Behold, we have left all things, and have followed thee. Jesus answering, said: Amen I say to you, there is no man who hath left house or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or children, or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, Who shall not receive an hundred times as much, now in this time; houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions: and in the world to come life everlasting." Mark 10:28-30
"Then Peter said: Behold, we have left all things, and have followed thee. Who said to them: Amen, I say to you, there is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God's sake, Who shall not receive much more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting." Luke 18:28-30
"But I would have you to be without solicitude. He that is without a wife, is solicitous for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please God. But he that is with a wife, is solicitous for the things of the world, how he may please his wife: and he is divided." 1 Corinthians 7:32-33
Clearly St. Paul is praising the discipline of celibacy.
21 of the 22 Churches sui juris which comprise the Catholic Church, as a norm, ordain married men. The Latin Rite has chosen to follow the teachings and examples of Christ and St. Paul in the total sacrifice of one's self to serve the Lord. The question you should be asking is why so few "ministers", particularly those who wear the moniker "bible believing", heed the example set by Christ, the Apostles and St. Paul.