Or am I missing something?
In a comparative analysis with those parishes run by LEMs or PLCs, an ordained deacon certainly presents a better appearance. However, step back from this picture for just a minute and compare it to the agenda of those, like my bishop, who are determined to "implement Second Vatican Council". That agenda includes married priests. A married deacon is as close as one in the RC Church will ever come to fulfilling that aspect of the council's design.
As you know only too well, the Eastern Catholic Churches do allow for a married priesthood. That, of course, raises the question of whether or not such priests have remedied the priest shortage problem. The answer to that question was provided by my Patriarch, Mar Nasrallah Peirre Cardinal Sfeir, at the 11th General Synod Fathers, gathered for their eighth meeting in October 2005, at the Vatican. Here is what he said to the assemly of bishops.
Vatican City, Oct. 07, 2005 (CNA) - The Cardinal defended the practice of the celibate priesthood and discussed the beauty of the tradition, calling it the "most precious jewel in the treasury of the Catholic Church."
While pointing out that "the Maronite Church admits married priests" and that "half of our diocesan priests are married", the Cardinal Patriarch said that "it must be recognized that if admitting married men resolves one problem, it creates others just as serious."
"A married priest", he said, "has the duty to look after his wife and family, ensuring his children receive a good education and overseeing their entry into society. ... Another difficulty facing a married priest arises if he does not enjoy a good relationship with his parishioners; his bishop cannot transfer him because of the difficulty of transferring his whole family.
He noted that "married priests have perpetuated the faith among people whose difficult lives they shared, and without them this faith would no longer exist."
"On the other hand," he said, "celibacy is the most precious jewel in the treasury of the Catholic Church,";
Lamenting a culture which is all but outright opposed to purity, the Cardinal asked: "How can [celibacy] be conserved in an atmosphere laden with eroticism? Newspapers, Internet, billboards, shows, everything appears shameless and constantly offends the virtue of chastity."
Suggesting that there are no easy solutions to the problem of priest shortages in the Church--an oft brought up point during the Synod--he noted that, "Of course a priest, once ordained, can no longer get married. Sending priests to countries where they are lacking, taking them from a country that has many, is not the ideal solution if one bears in mind the question of tradition, customs and mentality. The problem remains."
As an RC member of a Maronite Catholic parish, pastored by a celibate Maronite priest whose grandfather was a married priest, I can assure you that even amongst the Maronites, the call is to priestly celibacy. Father Elie, ordained only 6 years ago, intentionally chose a small parish that was on the verge of collapse. He devoted all of his energies to building up this community, while also volunteering his services to the RCD of Albany (he is bi-ritual). The drain on him is intense! What priest gives out his cell phone number to all of his parishioners! I just got off the phone with him. He was exhausted from pouring concrete in the parking lot. Tomorrow is Thursday. Aside from his usual work for the parish (dealing with insurance companies to repair damage done to the present church last year + working with those restoring the 160 y/o Church he purchased as our future Church), he will be saying the Novus Ordo Mass at a local Catholic hospital that is transmitted to all of the other Catholic hospitals in this area. Afterwards, he will be attending to the needs of the Religious Sisters who attend Mass (knowing that he is Maronite, they asked him last year to chant the Consecration in Aramaic, the language of our Lord) and hearing the confessions of those penitents who show up at tomorrow's Mass. Meanwhile, he is working with me as Director of Religious Education to formulate a plan for children of the parish and responding to those parishioners who are disgruntled. What married deacon could offer such services! And I haven't even scratched the surface of a normal day in the life of this one parish priest! That is precisely why the Patriarch made the point he did.
"Trying to remind Catholics of Distributism..."
BTW, our priest publishes his cell phone number in the bulletin.