[mimaw]

I am not one to want to change my Church lightly. I still miss the Latin Mass and some other aspects of Church tradition but I'm wavering on how I feel about this. I don't know how many priests are at your parishes but at mine we have one. He is spread pretty thin and cannot as hard as he tries be in two places at once. Deacons and other laity now distribute communion something that I never saw as a child but is common today, they also give the marriage and baptism courses required. These are things the priests use to do. We have a real shortage of priests and if being allowed to marry might attract a man of faith to the priesthood than maybe it's not a bad idea.

[Infidel Heather]

I agree with you 100%.

I have also been told this is not a dogma of the Church and priests and popes were married up till sometime in the Middle Ages. (Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.)

[wombtotomb]

I do hear of parishes like yours, on occasion. I must be either very out of the loop or this is not the norm. I have attended churches in the following places as a parishoner

New Jersey
South Carolina
Florida
and as a visitor in
Delaware
Tennessee

In all of the parishes I have attended, there have been at the very least, 3 priests at each, with 2-5 deacons per church. The one I am at now, there is a Pastor, plus a full time priest, a retired priest who does Mass on occasion AND a priest who has no parish right now so our pastor is allowing him to stay at the rectory and do masses for a stipend. We also have a full time deacon. There are 5 other catholic churches in the area (within 30 minutes of my home) and all of them have at least 3 priests as well. Our seminary is graduating 17 more this spring, with full classes each year after (my son will be entering seminary next fall).

Fear not, vocations in traditional seminarys and convents are way up, many have waiting lists. My theory is that some of the more liberal orders, seminaries, and dioceses may be suffering a shortage, but as the old ones die off or are retired, there is a young, traditionalist, vibrant bunch just waiting to fufill their call.

[iowamark]

Deacons and other laity

Deacons are ordained clergy, not laity.

[A.A. Cunningham]

Explain the shortage of Priests in the 21 Churches in the Eastern Rites of the Catholic Church which ordain, as a norm, married men?