[jobim]

Thank you, Father Levis, for your clear explanation of Our Lord's precious gift of celibacy to His chosen ones, and for your lifetime of service to His Church.

[sinkspur]

The priest is considered the "sexless one", the man to whom all, men and women, may come in complete freedom and openness with their counselling problems. Any woman can see the priest who is not some woman's husband, which is a freedom for her and an advantage for the independent priest.

Women go to married counselors all the time. They also go the married Anglican converts who have been ordained to the priesthood.

Any person who requires that a priest be celibate in order to receive counselling has bigger problems than they thought.

I recall a dedicated physician who claimed he would have been much happier and more fruitful if he had never married. Ideally, he urged all doctors not to marry for more freedom for their patients, and 2. not to rear sons who often are neglected because of his pressing practice. (The record shows some truth here, for sons, not for daughters.)

I wonder what this doctor's wife might have said.

Indeed, I wonder what this neanderthal's daughter might have said (if he said this; perhaps Fr. Levis is being a bit apocryphal).

I don't know any doctor whose practice has been inhibited by being married. Maybe some who have nagging wives might wish they had chosen celibacy, but, for those who have happy marriages, they seem to be able to mesh marriage and a physician's practice.

Indeed, I know married deacons who outwork even the most devoted priest, yet still manage to care for their wives and a family.

They don't play golf or go to the racetrack, however, as very many celibate priests do.

[GirlShortstop]

The celibate priest is called by vocation, by God himself to be free of marital responsibilities in order to be more free for his ministry. The vocation is not a common one, but rather a special one. It is a profession, not a career.

Once again, I can not help but recall Jesus' words in the passage from Matthew regarding two masters .  Thank you jobim for an interesting post.

[JSavonarola]

This is one of the issues in which it is hard to regard the proponents as objective. As with other pushes for change, the most outspoken critics of "mandatory celibacy" are married laymen or deacons themselves who would directly and immediately benefit from the abandonment of a celibacy regulation.