Should catholic priests be allowed to marry Essay

Should catholic priests be allowed to marry - Essay Example The vow of celibacy is not as simple as it sounds when the priests are taking it due to the temptations surrounding the world’s lifestyle and considering they are not cloistered religious men but mingle freely and interact with others. An interview of Fr. Sullivan by the New York Times yields that there are a section of Catholic Priests in various parts of the world who are married but still perform the same church duties as the rest of the celibate priests without any hindrance. Their wives assist them perform God’s work not hinder them (Oppenheimer 1). There has been a recent decrease in the number of ordained Catholic priests as the number of the Christians faithful continues to increase. According to the cbs news (Quijano), this shortage in the catholic priests has even necessitated the Roman Catholic Church to take up what is seemed as â€Å"unorthodox methods† of seeking former Anglican priests (who are married and with children and do not subscribe to the Roman Catholic Church doctrines) to fill up the blank positions. Statistics indicate that the number of Catholic priests has reduced from approximately 59,000 in 1975 to around 39,000 as of 2012. This is relation to the increase in number of followers by approximately 17million between 1975 and 2012. These statistics are only for United States of America and not in other countries all over the world. According to critics, this shortage is as a result of the celibacy vow which even though people want to become priests and serve God, the vow restricts them from marrying whereas many of them want to have their own family to continue their family lineage. Allowing marriage for the celibate priests will prevent and even tone down some of the â€Å"ungodly† behavior always being aired in the media including claims of sodomy with young boys, having multiple female sexual partners with some having their babies (which always is done in the dark). This