I dunno. Did you feel that all the precepts of the Church would come tumbling down when Paul VI suddenly decreed that we wouldn't be doing time in hell for eating meat on Friday?
? I also believe the reason celibacy has evolved the way it has is that Jesus Christ is indeed at the helm.
Well, where's He been for the last 30 years, when priests have been bailing out of the priesthood to marry while the seminaries have filled with homosexuals?
I agree with you. I think Christ is at the helm, and I think He intends to preserve celibacy for those who are called to it.
There are pros and cons to celibacy, like everything else, but the biggest con is the very real probability that some American Catholics who've become accustomed to attending Mass weekly will now have to settle for attending Mass monthly. I don't think that's a good thing, especially when these Protestant converts are PROVING that married men can serve the Church well as priests. And Catholics who are served by these men really don't understand why Catholic married men can't serve just as well as these guys.
There's no logical explanation as to why they can't, because, in fact, they can, but John Paul II doesn't want to be the Pope who compromises on celibacy.
Instead, the Vatican is reduced to exhorting priests to talk about the benefits of celibacy as a way of attracting young men to priesthood, when young Catholic men see the priesthood as a haven for homosexuals.
What young man with his life ahead of him would want to be a part of that?
My father, my aunt and practically every Catholic I know says the very same thing. I myself just can't put "eating meat on Fridays" on the same level as the priesthood. Eating meat on Fridays is on par with Communion in the hand or on the tongue, bowing instead of genuflecting, etc.
He did say to give up everything and follow me. And a priest is acting "in persona Christi."
the biggest con is the very real probability that some American Catholics who've become accustomed to attending Mass weekly will now have to settle for attending Mass monthly
I'm sure any Catholic wanting to attend Mass once a week can find a parish within driving distance. Most of us drive a very great distance to bring the kids to baseball, hockey, soccer, etc. Some even travel to different states on the weekends for travel teams. Of course, it depends on one's priorities. And I'll say again, if we had more kids per family, the pool for priests would be greatly increased. We are paying the reaping what we've sown.
And what priestly shortage? With about 30% of Catholics attending Mass on Sunday and maybe 5% attending daily, how many priests do we need? I haven't been to a standing room only Mass since I was a kid. Empty seats all around, now.
A married clergy is OK in small doses. We have a married priest leading a parish about 25 miles from me. His parish can't support him so he "tag teams" with another parish and gets financial help from the archdiocese.
I would think that someone with a true calling would want to be a part of the priesthood - even if, as you say, they perceive the priesthood as a haven for homosexuals. Change occurs one by one.