re: #254 ArchangelMichael

The only way I can see the two issues related is if the Catholic Church has a shortage of priests (and I believe this might be the case), they will be more likely to just take anyone they can get, possibly with very little scrutiny. If priests were allowed to marry, then the position of Catholic Clergy would be more desirable and could easily attract more people willing to do it. Then the church could be more selective about who gets accepted into the ranks of the clergy. Potential pedophiles could be weeded out before they do harm.

Actually - and I’d have to look back a year or so to find it - I read where actually, there were some some of the seminaries that were in the practice of accepting folks who were not particularly desirable into the priesthood. And that this fact was keeping some good people OUT. They would visit the seminary, see the “culture” of the place, and decide to opt out of a priestly vocation. One of the things the church here in the US is doing is reorganizing, restructuring the seminary system.

And actually - there are many priests today who are widowers … and I’ve talked about this before, my parish has a married priest - former Episcopal priest, converted to Catholicism, wanted to continue his vocation, and after some training, accepted into the Catholic priesthood, wife, family and all.