MARRIED CATHOLIC PRIESTS

Esquire has just done an article. Good for them. The news from Rome is also encouraging on that front. Benedict is actually allowing freer internal debate than John Paul II did. There is nothing that would make me happier than seeing Ratzinger return to his roots of tolerance and openness. Of course, the sheer crisis of personnel in the Church has become much worse in the last few years – and some change may simply be required to prevent the complete collapse of the institution, especially the practical difficulty of administering the Eucharist when there are no priests to do it. For the record, I favor optional celibacy for the priesthood. Celibacy is a strange, unnatural way of life – but history has told us it can work for many individuals in sublimating their human nature for divine service. But it doesn’t exhaust the ways of serving God. I also favor, of course, allowing women to be priests. The theological arguments against it are circular and entirely opposed, in my view, to the message of the Gospels where Jesus clearly violates every sexist taboo of his time and treats women as complete equals in ministry and service to God. The idea that women – who discovered the empty tomb – are somehow to be designated second class persons in Jesus’ church is so repulsive and immoral a notion that only an all-male club could sustain it. Oh, wait …