I even have an Uncle in NJ and my hometown Priest both have grown children, 4 and 7 respectively, but they became Priests after their wives passed away. And even then it's difficult because of all of their church duties in addition to spending Holiday time with their family, etc. The hometown Priest spent Christmas with his family last year, and they brought someone else in to cover. I think that was fair as he hadn't spent actual Christmas day with his Children and Grandchildren in quite some time.
I'm not going to argue the whole “Priests should be allowed to marry!” now, but if some are, for whatever reason (used to be Episcopal) it makes you wonder what other tenets are “negotiable” in the long term, which makes me a little nervous, steadfastness in the face of change is what I like about the Catholic church, then again I can see why the Episcopal wanted to leave the liberalization of his church and he can't just not be married. But couldn't he be something other then a Priest? There are other ways to serve the church where you can still take part in the Mass.
It’s difficult for me to understand the general requirement that priests maintain *lifelong* celibacy.And now that there are married priests here (and elsewhere,I assume) that adds to the confusion,IMO.Fewer and fewer men are willing to go without the emotional and physical companionship of a woman,those desires being *completely* normal and,one could certainly say,God given.
The main argument of the "priests should be married" liberals is that they want all the elderly hippie priests who left the ministry, got laicized and got married to be readmitted with full priestly faculties.
That can never happen and would be enormously damaging to any ecumenical discussions with the Orthodox if it did.
This is the opposite circumstance - these are married men becoming Catholic priests, which is the norm in the Eastern Rites of the Catholic Church.
Are you aware that priests were allowed to be married up until the 8th century when the "steadfast" church changed it's rules about it? Read the Bible, especially 1 Corinthians 7:2, 1 Corinthians 9:5 and 1 Timothy 3:1.
Do you self-identify as Roman Catholic, as opposed to Catholic?
For Catholics the concept of married priests is not strange or new. For Roman Catholics perhaps it is strange or new.
We are always Catholic first - Roman Catholic is secondary.
Celibate priests is not dogma and it never has been.