(I am posting on this, not because I am promoting married priests but because I found it an interesting argument made by an archbishop of the Melkite Rite who is in full communion with the Pope and as much Catholic as we are in the Latin Rite.
The Melkites are an Eastern Rite Catholic Church essentially located in Lebanon and elsewhere in the Mideast, although they have parishes and dioceses in other countries, including our own.)
In southern Lebanon, Melkite Archbishop George Bakhouni of Tyre says he doesn’t have trouble finding priests, and is surprised that the Latin-rite church isn’t more interested in ordaining married men to the priesthood. He argues that married priests are what kept Christianity alive in the Mideast because they did not flee difficult times in the region as many celibate priests did. He attributes that to married priests being more rooted to the area because of their families and homes. He said also that he believed ordaining married men to the priesthood is the most naturally pastoral response to everyone’s need for regular access to the sacraments.
He sees the priestly formation as being primarily oriented toward witness, not necessarily theology or oratory. To him, the important thing is these men have exemplary lives that give witness to the Gospel.
To read more, log on to: http://cnsblog.wordpress.com/2010/11/07/a-lebanese-archbishops-practical-argument-for-married-priests
