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During the era when the Roman rite mandated clerical celibacy (other rites -- and there are dozens, I think, do not.) the Jews had a contrasting practice. When a bright young man with pastoral gifts was asked to become a rabbi, the community also tried to find a bright young wife for him, taking up a collection for the dowry if necessary. The pastoral couple was then encouraged to have lots of bright young children.

I knew that Rabbis were expected to be married (which is one of the lesser-known ways that Jesus was a counter-cultural figure), but I didn't realize that the community would go to such lengths to find a wife for him. This is a very beautiful tradition - but one utterly foreign to Latin Rite Catholicism even from its earliest days.

A missionary pastor sojourning [...] Most of the members of the church they started in their neighborhood were met through family-centric activities.

The Catholic priest does the same thing... but he does not do it through his natural children, he does it through his spiritual children. Indeed, part of the particular role of the Laity is to assist the priest and bishop in the work of evangelization by reaching out to people who the clergy are unable to reach directly. And not having a natural family allows the priest to give his complete attention to his ministry.

Celibacy is named after the earth goddess Celebe, whose priests castrated themselves during the hilarion, the "festival of joy." They believed that the sacrifice of their fertility made possible the fertility of the fields.

Perhaps so; however, Jesus Himself says that "there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive [it], let him receive [it]" (cf. Matthew 19:12 KJV). Certainly, Jesus was not speaking of literally mutilating oneself and becoming a eunuch - rather He spoke of renouncing marriage for the sake of the Kingdom. Thus the concept is not foreign to Christianity in general - East or West.

The default setting for maximum human happiness and productivity is -- the normal family.

Speaking now from a purely psychological perspective - the default setting for maximum human happiness is what was termed by the psychologist Erikson as "generativity" - contributing to the welfare of the next and future generations. Often this is accomplished through marriage and children, though not exclusively. The priest accomplishes it by providing for the welfare of his spiritual children. Incidentally, it is exactly because of this that priests who work in chancery offices are also assigned to some sort of pastoral ministry - it allows for this generativity.

have you looked into non-Roman rites?

I find the Eastern rites interesting and beautiful - but haven't considered switching to one of them. On a practical level, switching between rites in the Catholic Church is a complicated process. On a personal one, based on my own experiences and spirituality, I am quite certain that I belong in the Latin Rite.