Here’s an interesting article on married priests in the Catholic Church. There are a few officially sanctioned — former Episcopalian priests, already married, who changed denominations. From the way the article describes it, they live and act not unlike … well, not unlike our Episcopalian pastor.
So what’s the big deal? Why is this okay in the eyes of Rome, but not marriage for other priests?
No idea. But, while it is a worthy debate in and of itself, it’s not suitable as a panacea for the sexual abuse scandel rocking the church.
Why not? Because the statistics I’m seeing indicate that such abuse is no more prevalent among Catholic priests than elsewhere in the general population. The actual numbers are actually quite small, and in keeping with other professionals.
What’s got folks raising the roof over all these goings-on is not the fact of the abuse (admittedly the more shocking among avowed servants of God), but that it was hushed up and mishandled and even, through inaction, allowed to happen again and again by the higher-ups in the Church.
Granted, dealing with such matters — especially among spiritual brothers, people who have taken the same vows as you, and in a profession where forgiveness is expected — would be extremely difficult. But it is the betrayal of trust by the Church hierarchy that is seriously hurting the Catholic church in the US today, from the standpoint of its parishioners.