should priests be allowed to wed?

[del]

in light of this whole catholic church sex scandals and cover-ups, what is your take (for all who care) on the issue of whether priests should be allowed to marry? some argue that pushing for it will resolve the whole sexual abuse of young children. obviously pedifilia exists outside the priesthood as well so i dont' know how strongly that argument will hold. others have argued that it's an attempt to salvage the priesthood as far as numbers. the shortage of priests is only becoming a bigger issue and the vow of celibacy is something that requires an incredible amount of commitment that only a very select few men are able to endure. there has even been an argument that some men who have had homosexual feelings join the priesthood in hopes that it'll somehow eliminate those feelings.

and lastly, how do you feel this whole scandal with priests sexually abusing young children and its cover-ups will ultimately affect the credibility and overall image of the catholic church.

[JD@af]

Very interesting. In contemporary culture, where atheism seems to be the rule and not the exception, I think the Catholic Church has become the laughing stock (or at least the poster boy for shameful practices) of organized religion. I can think of nothing else that screams so adamantly for reform.. drastic reform. Allowing priests to wed would be a step in the right direction, though lots more positive change than just this will be necessary.

Obviously, the image of "holyness" personified by the Catholic priest has been severely tarnished by all the much-deserved bad press. Instead of priests being removed from the sins of "humans," they appear to commonly stoop to committing acts more heinous than most sins that those who confess to them are guilty of. So much for the notion of divinity, I guess.

The world today is a far cry from Europe over hundreds (for the life of me, I can't remember if the CC was formed more or les than 1,000 years ago... ) of years ago. The world around the Catholic Church has changed substantially. It is time that the Church's practices be flexible enough to better serve those who of the faith, as well as those of the who represent it.