I have a man doctor that gives me advice on periods, etc. He has never personally experienced menstruation. That doesn't mean he doesn't know what he is talking about.
I'm thankful that priests are not married. Their lives are devoted to God, prayer and the parish. They don't have wives, in-laws, children, etc. to take them away from their work. Being a priest is a very demanding job.
It breaks my heart to see so many people shutting God out of creating life. God knows what is best for me. I don't pretend to think otherwise.
But his knowledge is only by the book, not by personal experience. There IS a difference, which is why I refuse to have a male gynocologist.
I'm thankful that priests are not married. Their lives are devoted to God, prayer and the parish. They don't have wives, in-laws, children, etc. to take them away from their work. Being a priest is a very demanding job.
Again, I would say that since most priests have little real-life experience with issues of sex, marriage, childbirth, child rearing, etc., their advise doesn't mean much to me. Advise and counsel from someone who has actually "been there and done that" is a lot more meaningful.
Titus 2:3-5 states, "Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored."
My point in quoting this text is that even Paul (who was not married) understood that men, celibate ones in particular, have no business giving out martial advise to women. That's why he counseled Titus to find godly older women to do that job.
I wonder if everyone bashing the Church's position realizes that until the Church of England approved the use of birth control for married couples. It was the universal teaching of both the Catholic and Protestant churches that A Birth Control was wrong. Birth control was condemn by the reformers in very strong language.
I suggest those who insist on sneering at the Churh's teaching at least read the reasoning behind it. Pope Paul VI's encyclical Humanae Vitae can easily be found on the internet.
Also there is a growing movement among Protestant Evangelicals who have come to the conclusion that Birth control is contrary to Biblical teaching.
So this is not a Catholic only issue.
As a Protestant, I'm glad my clergyman is married and has a family, so he can more fully understand his work and the people with whom he works.