“Celibacy is but one option. Marriage is the other. It is clear from Paul’s writings that celibacy is a great option for a few, and marriage is the only option for many more whose sexual urges will not allow them lifelong celibacy.”
Then don’t permit men with sexual urges to become priests. Better to have fewer faithful priests than more unfaithful ones.
>> Then don’t permit men with sexual urges to become priests. Better to have fewer faithful priests than more unfaithful ones.
Easier said than done. Ask the pope. Staffing a worldwide church exclusively with celibate clerics may very well be impossible.
SnakeDoc
Well, it might be better in the abstract.
In the lived reality, as they say, Catholics need priests - more than a few - to benefit from the sacraments.
I don't know if you've noticed, but the life of a solitary pastor, caring for as many as two thousand souls, with no fellow priests and no spouse, has become very, very hard.
Not that it was ever easy - but your prescription to increase radically the demands on each priest while further isolating him from his fellow priests, both through overwork and geographic distance, doesn't seem promising.