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As an Eastern Orthodox Christian, and one who is engaged to a man who feels called to become a priest, I absolutely believe that priests should be permitted to marry. Rather, to be more precise, married men should be allowed to be ordained as priests.

The tradition of married priests goes back to the beginning of Christian history, and has continued in the Eastern Orthodox Churches into the modern day. Clerical celibacy did not become mandatory until the eleventh century, and then only in Western Christianity, the Roman Catholic Church. Clearly the Western Church is the one who has changed its practices and the Eastern Church is more in line with early Christian tradition.

One argument for clerical celibacy is the idea that priests will not have enough time or energy to care for their family and their parish at the same time. If that were the case, the Eastern churches (and most Protestant denominations, for that matter) would have fallen apart long ago. It makes sense that priests should not be allowed to marry after they are ordained, mostly because priests should be discouraged from pursuing their parishioners in romantic relationships. However, it is illogical to suggest that a priest would not have the time or energy to take care of his parish if he has a wife and family when many parents in similarly demanding jobs are able to balance work and family.

But perhaps because clerical celibacy has been required for so long in the Catholic Church, the job of a priest has intensified beyond that which a married man with a family is capable of. If this is the case, allowing married men to be ordained as priests may result in individual priests having to carry reduced work loads, but it will also result in a larger pool of available candidates for the priesthood. Many men feel called to be a priest and to have a wife and family, and must either choose one or the other or leave the Catholic Church for one that ordains married clergy.

It would not be right for the Church to end the mandate of clerical celibacy simply to create more interest in the priesthood if clerical celibacy were deemed necessary by theology and tradition, but it is not. Rather, Christian tradition supports the ordination of married men into the priesthood. The fact that removing the mandate of clerical celibacy would help solve the Catholic Church's priest shortage is only proof that this tradition is correct.

Learn more about this author, Amelia Hill.
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