I believe that to already be true, at least judging from my own experience with the Maronites. Our pastor is bi-ritual - Maronite and Latin Rites. He throws himself into his work as a priest, ministering to the small Maronite congregation, assisting the Roman Catholic diocese, assisting as Chaplain in a local hospital and serving a shrinking community of Knights. When the parish woman's group meets, he lends his support by attending and tossing out vital suggestions on how to grow the guild. On weekends, one ofen finds him in full clericals, up a ladder repairing the roof of our small church or looking for leaks at the future church. In 4 short years, he has taken a community on the verge of collapse and injected them with renewed faith and fervor. He can be anywhere for anyone because he took a vow of celibacy. May God richly reward and bless this humble servant!
If the Church were to change it's celibacy rule, how many times should a priest be allowed to divorce? Never? Once? Twice? Three times? Have those who advocate ending celibacy thought about this? If so, what are their thoughts about it? As we all well know, in the US, approx. 50% of all marriages end in divorce.
Sounds like a dedicated man...My dad is a Lutheran minister and what you described could be said of him and (gasp!) he is married...
I think the point that a married man is going to have the pull of little Johnny and the Mrs. preventing him from doing his duty to God is off the mark...There was NEVER a moment of conflict...We understood his role and we lived through the times when we wanted to have him just to us, but he was needed elsewhere to fulfill his responsibilities...It's ludicrous to me to say that a single man will be more devoted that a married man could be...
My dad ran our church, was the district's lead pastor for a while, and also was helping a neighboring town 35 miles away get their congregation going from ground zero...he did confirmation classes at both places and was constantly visiting shut in's, those in the hospital and going to meeting after meeting...
The key to any servant of God is his devotion to God...married or single, if the man has the passion to serve God to his fullest potential, he will do so...I understand the rationale behind the celibate priest, I really do, but I think the RCC is missing out on what could be some incredibly devoted, passionate, talented and loyal priests...just my take...it's your church, y'all have to run it as you see fit...
God's Blessings...