Catholic priests - Laity should have say on celibacy issue

THE weekend proposal by Bishop of Killaloe Dr Willie Walsh that Catholic priests should be allowed to marry is not a new one, although it is something which has always been anathema to Rome.

Consequently, it is 10 years since the issue was broached by Bishop Brendan Comiskey who was summoned to the Vatican for having the temerity to raise it.

In the interim, the Church internationally has become engulfed in a controversy of apocalyptic proportions, graphically illustrated here in the notorious Ferns Report.

The institution cannot afford to wait another decade, or longer, to address the question of married priests and, as Bishop Walsh argued, there needs to be a debate in the Church in light of the present crisis it is going through.

In the last 25 years, more than 100,000 Catholic priests married, representing a tremendous loss to the Church.

The bishop is quite right in suggesting there was room for both married and celibate priests in the Church, and it must be remembered that the Church is comprised of the laity just as much as its princes.

In a survey of diocesan priests in this country last year, a majority of them said the compulsory rule on celibacy should go, although it was felt that this of itself would not necessarily increase vocations.

What most certainly needs to be done is the instigation of a debate on celibacy which would also involve the laity, who should be allowed a voice in the future direction of the priesthood on this crucial issue.