So, nobody is forced to be a priest. What does this have to do with the unnaturalness of celibacy?
So, by extension nobody is forced to be celibate, unless you think there is some sort of "right" to the priesthood? Which would lead me to ask if there some sort of "right" to marriage or parenthood or all these things in life what we would understand as callings?
Following that, if someone does not have a calling to marital or parental life are they, by definition, unnatural?
True, no one is “forced” to be priest. But it’s a little more complicated than that. Back in the day, many older Catholics will recall, candidates for the seminaries and the priesthood were recruited at a much younger age than they are today. Back then it was quite common for many Catholic families to have a large number of children. Often in these families, it was very common for a large Catholic family to actively encourage a young son or daughter to enter vocations. And this practice was also encouraged by the Church as well. Teenagers as young as fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, were recruited for the seminaries. Of course many of those candidates and recruits were far from sexually or emotionally mature and this was a certainly a contributing factor to the homosexual/pedophile priest scandal which nearly destroyed the Church and continues to impact it to this day.
Today, of course, the situation has radically changed. Homosexuality is widely accepted by the public at large and in certain segments of our culture, most notably our mass media and entertainment sector often glamorize and celebrate the homosexual lifestyle. So there is little need now days for homosexuals to enter into the seminaries and the priesthood.
Consequently, as a result of all of these developments, most notably the increasing acceptance among the public of homosexual behavior and the pedophile/homosexual priest scandal, there are much fewer candidates for the seminary. Also on average, most new candidates are much older than was the case before. In most instances most men entering into the seminaries today have had previous careers and have been around the block a few times and are therefore sexually, emotionally, and psychologically mature and know full well what is expected of them. According to our pastor, the average age of man entering in to the seminary is now about thirty five, many of course are much older. The Church, in the wake of the scandal, has also introduced a very elaborate screening process complete with thorough physical and psychological examinations designed to weed out potential sexual offenders. According to our pastor only about one in ten potential candidates these days is actually accepted into the seminary.