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Old Testament Priests were required to be continent during the once a year they offered the bloody sacrifice in the Temple. Were they married, they had to abstain from the marital act during their time of service.

That is the reason for perpetual celibacy/continency. The NT priests offer the Sacrifice daily.

As a married priest daily offering the Unbloody Sacrifice, are you as close to Christ as those who are celibate and doing same or does your question, uncharitably, serve to indict all celibate priests as unfaithful to vows?

BTW,pedophilia is MUCH higher in, ahem, married men.

The sin/crime in the Catholic Priesthood overwhelmingly (over 90%) has to do with homosexual priests and adolescent men, not pedophilia.

If you are not a Catholic, see to the pedophilia/sexual abuse in your own Communion and drop the snide attacks. They are unbecoming any Christian.

Does this mean that all of us pastors who are married are not as close to Christ as, say, the pedophile priests currently in trouble?

I see none of my fellow Catholics here has chosen to answer you charitably, so let me try.

Marriage does not prevent priests or ministers from growing close to Christ. Theoretically, celibate priests should have more time to get closer to Him, but many don't, and are simply bachelors who happen to be in the priesthood.

The witness value of celibacy is not what it once was, among Catholics. Only in the Latin Rite (predominant in the US) is celibacy required of priests, but it is not even required for all priests; we have nearly 200 Protestant minister converts, mostly Anglican and Lutheran and mostly married, who have been admitted to the priesthood over the last 20 years, and they are giving lie to the assertion that Catholics will not accept married men in the ministry.

The Church has also ordained nearly 15,000 permanent deacons in the last 20 years and 95% of them are also married. They can do everything a priest can do, except celebrate Mass and hear confessions. They're often better preachers and many of them work harder than the priests in a particular parish.

Celibacy frees men to devote all their time to God and their parishioners. In practice, married ministers often outwork celibate priests.

As to one's spiritual disposition, that is unknowable, of course.

Catholics like me would like to see married men admitted to the priesthood so we could squeeze some of these gay candidates out.