See #33 above... Thanks!
If a military officer were to be elected to political office, he is required to resign his commission before he can serve in another office. That is because under our system, there is felt to be an incompatibility between these two forms of service. A marriage is also an office, and the church has long felt that there is some incompatibility between it and the active priesthood.. Certainly a distinction between the Christian and, say. the Talmudic tradition, is the belief that celibacy is a SIGN of a higher calling, or at least a higher aspiration, which Luke alludes to in Chapter 20. Celibacy is not necessary to the office of priesthood, but it sure does elevate it.