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Celibacy, Priest Shortage, and Married Priesthood

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Ballano, Vivencio O. 2023. “Chapter 8: Celibacy, Priest Shortage, and Married Priesthood. In
Defense of Married Priesthood: A Sociothological Investigation of Catholic Clerical Celibacy.
London and New York: Routledge.

____________________________________________________

Chapter 8

Celibacy, Priest Shortage, and Married Priesthood:

A Sociological Analysis

Dr. Vivencio O. Ballano

Chairperson, Master of Arts Program, Graduate School, Polytechnic University of the
Philippines (PUP), Manila, Philippines
Email: voballano@pup.edu.ph
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2013-6429

Abstract
This chapter explores the short and long-term impact of priest shortage to the quality of life for
priests and future of the Roman Catholic Church as a sacerdotal church. Lay ministry to address
priest shortage is inadequate and cannot substitute the indispensable role of the priest in the
sacramental church. The mandatory clerical celibacy that largely contributed to this shortage can
increase the pastoral workload and loneliness of parish clerics as well as deprive more faithful of

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the sacraments. Unless the Catholic Church amends the obligatory celibacy and allows married
priesthood as a universal norm, the future of the Catholic Church as a sacerdotal institution would
in jeopardy with parishes increasingly lacking pastors and the difficulty of replacing retiring and
old priests with new priests and vocations. Allowing married priesthood can lighten the increasing
clerical workload and improve the quality of life for priests and assure good future for the Catholic
Church as a sacerdotal church.

Keywords

Sacerdotal Church, Priest Shortage, Clerical Celibacy, Married Priesthood, Priest Shortage,
Sacramental Church

Introduction
One serious problem faced by Catholic priesthood in contemporary world with the growing
number of Catholics worldwide and declining priestly vocation is priest shortage. “Over the past
20 years a series of demographic studies have labored to show that the Roman Catholic Church
(RCC) is facing a crisis due priest shortage. Social scientists led by Richard Schoenherr and
Lawrence Young, have published detailed empirical studies to show the aggravating “vocational
crisis” in the RCC (Sullins and Sullins 2000, 1).
The former priest and sociologist Richard Schoenherr has done intensive sociological research
on the connection between mandatory celibacy and priest shortage and warned its dire
consequences for the future of the Church if not addressed promptly by the Catholic hierarchy. He
published two important books on this matter: Full Pews, Empty Alters (1993) and Goodbye
Father: The Celibate Male Priesthood and the Future of the Catholic Church (2002). Specifically,
he noted that the population of Catholics in the United States increased between 1966 and 1984,
but the number of priests declined by 19 percent, with a projected decline of 40 percent in 2005.
“The stark facts are that, while the diocesan priesthood population will have declined by 40 percent
between 1966 and 2005, the lay population is increasing by 65 percent. The laity-priest ratio…
will double between 1975 and 2005 from 1100 to 2200 Catholics per active priests (Schoenherr
1995, 13).
To Schoenherr (1993), the RCC is facing an alarming decline of diocesan priests in the United
States (US) as it moves towards the 21st century. And there is a little chance of reversing this
decrease in the present generation of churchgoers. To him (2002), priest shortage is largely caused
by the declining priestly vocation and rejection of celibacy by priests. Thus, he predicted that
clerical celibacy will eventually collapse in the Church. The RCC as a sacerdotal church that relies
on celibate clerics to advance its mission in the world. But with the growing rejection of clerical
celibacy, priestly vocation has sharply declined, jeopardizing the future growth of the Church.
Despite the significant growth of lay ministries, clerics remain indispensable in presiding the
sacraments, especially the Eucharist, which is seen by the RCC as the summit of Christian life:
“Within the Catholic tradition, only a male Christian who has been ordained by a bishop can
preside, and without such presidency there cannot be a valid celebration of the Eucharist” (O’
Loughlin 2005, 646). The growing lay participation in priestly ministry cannot solve the long-term
negative impact of priest shortage to ecclesial life and mission of the Church that is built on celibate
priesthood. The RCC remains a sacerdotal church that relies on ordained clerics to govern its entire

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Christian community and to develop as a global religious institution to evangelize the world for
Christ.
Despite the growing popularity of lay apostolate, the RCC still has reservations on lay
ministries as they are seen by the Catholic hierarchy to pose a threat to the ministerial priesthood.
In Ecclesia Mysterio: On Certain Questions Regarding the Collaboration of the Non-Ordained
Faithful in the Sacred Ministry of the Priest, Pope John Paul II (1997) acknowledged that
collaboration of all faithful in the RCC but insisted that the ordained priesthood could not be
replaced by lay ministry. To him, lay ministries are only temporary to address priest shortage.
There is still a need to promote priestly vocation to stop the steady decline in the number of priests
in the RCC (Hoegeman 2011). In this regard, the Catholic hierarchy clearly sees the RCC as a
sacerdotal and sacramental church whose spiritual leadership is intrinsically connected with the
male celibate priesthood (Daly 2009).
The primary aim of this chapter is to examine sociologically the negative unintended
consequences of priest shortage to Catholic priesthood and to illustrate how married priesthood
can greatly overcome the dwindling number of clerics in the RCC. Applying the holistic analysis
of what the American sociologist C. Wright Mills (1959) calls “sociological imagination” that
relates the macro and micro aspects of social life to understand social issues, as well as the
qualitative research method that utilizes published journal articles, books, media reports, and
church documents as textual data, it argues that the mandatory clerical celibacy, which is contrary
to Christ’s original teaching on optional celibacy, is an enabler of priest shortage and other clerical
problems in the contemporary Catholic priesthood. Allowing married priesthood can imminently
address priest shortage and assure the future of the RCC as a sacerdotal church (Daly 2009).
Christian churches with married priesthood have a higher replacement rate that enables them to
address priest shortage.
To attain the research objectives, this chapter has three major sections. The first section
explains the major short-term impact of priest shortage to the quality of clerical life for Catholic
priests in the RCC. Specifically, it discusses the significant impact of the declining number of
priests to clerical work and spirituality and to the spiritual life of the laity. The second section
examines the long-term effect of priest shortage to the future of the RCC as a sacerdotal church. It
argues that the RCC should immediately address priest shortage and amend the mandatory celibacy
to avoid a “skeleton” church in the future, where the current pool of clerics in the parishes will be
more staffed with older and retiring clerics because of the lack of new priests and priestly vocations
to replace them. The last section highlights the importance of reestablishing the universal married
priesthood to reverse the tide of dwindling number of clerics in the RCC and to redirect Catholic
priesthood to a more humane and spiritual vocation in accordance with Christ vision of one
priesthood with two valid social callings of celibate and married priesthood.

Major Negative Consequences of Priest Shortage to Clerical Life

Degrading the Quality of Clerical Life

One major negative impact of priest shortage in Catholic priesthood is the degradation of the
quality of priestly life in the RCC. Priest shortage can result in more workload, as well as clerical
problems and difficulties in living the celibate priesthood. This includes increasing pastoral work
in the parish, resulting in lesser time for social bonding with fellow priests, greater loneliness, lack
of quality time for prayer, spiritual sloth., and discouragement. To Dean Hoge (1987, 19), priest

3
shortage can make clerics “wonder if the Catholic community believes in them, and if their work
will continue into the future.” It also gives diocesan priests more pressure on giving the sacraments
with the lack of sacramental ministers (Hoge 1987).
The acute priest shortage has serious negative impact to celibate priesthood and has
deteriorated the quality of life for Catholic diocesan clerics. The priest’s role and ministry have
changed considerably after Vatican II. American parish clerics in contemporary times, for
instance, are assigned as parish priests in various parishes to address priest shortage. This pattern
suggests that parish structures is constantly changing to address the growing complexity of society
(Froehle 2011). The process of globalization of the current age has created a society that is
constantly in the process of integration and flux in almost all aspects of social life. And the RCC
and its priests as residents of the global village are not exempted from this massive social change
that complicates priestly work.
As a result of this societal change, “Catholic priests are faced with innumerable demands,
unrealistic expectations, and few tangible results. Moreover, in today’s society, there are fewer
priests, even greater demands, and a surrounding culture that is increasingly secular and apparently
less supportive” (Rosetti and Rhoades 2013, 335). Thus, one serious impact of priest shortage that
strongly decline the quality of clerical life in the current age is the increase of parish duties for
secular priests. Research has shown that priest shortage has tremendously increased, the workload
for active priests (e.g., Cozzens 2000, 2002; Hoge 2002; Hoge and Wenger 2003, 2005; Gautier et
al. 2012). Many dioceses face a declining number of priests because of the lack of replacements
for priests who retired or left the priesthood, forcing the current pool of diocesan clerics to become
overworked. Churches with married priesthood have a higher rate of replacement than those with
celibate priesthood such as the RCC.
The effect of priest shortage is now an urgent concern for the RCC as a clerical church in the
contemporary world that needs prompt response from the Catholic hierarchy. As Kelly (2014, 22-
23) argues, “It is obvious that the present way of being Church, based on every parish having its
own priest, will not continue in the future…It seems evident that the only model on offer in five
or ten years from now is a collaborative one.” Priest shortage maybe an advantage for new priests
as they can easily be promoted as parish priests. But this can lead to lack of apprenticeship for
newly ordained priests by older priests before becoming pastors, resulting in incompetence in
parish management. As Kime (2022, 2) explains:

The impact is that most newly ordained priests are no longer allotted ample time to
accompany more experienced priest pastors and to serve as apprentices in order to
acquire on the-job training before becoming pastors. Ideally, serving as associate
pastors in a variety of parish settings would introduce them to a wide range of
leadership characteristics and skills. As a result of this reduction of time serving as an
associate, many newly ordained priests do not receive exposure to complex managerial
and administrative issues which render them ill prepared to make appropriate decisions
in these matters.

Today, specifically in the US, many priests serve complex communities in highly
urbanized settings that are “increasingly multicultural and multiethnic because of changing
immigration patterns set off by the globalization process and the availability of accessible
travel. The pre-modern, modern, and postmodern worlds exist side by side,” each demanding
attention from clerics (Hoge 2002, ix). The growing number of Catholics is not accompanied

4
by adequate increase of priestly vocations and ordinations, making more priests overworked
and feeling socially alienated in the parishes.

Intensification of Loneliness and Lack of Prayer Time

The second serious short-term impact of priest shortage to the quality of clerical life is the
intensification of loneliness, especially for parish clerics. For Catholic priests, loneliness and
isolation are tied in major part to the celibacy requirement, which is the most significant reason
why they left the priesthood (Eagle 2021). Edwards and others (2021) specifically revealed that
because of their spiritual role as pastors, the Catholic clergy is particularly at risk of social isolation
that is higher than those rates and estimates of depression found across all studies and populations.
If mandatory celibacy has already contributed largely to solitude and social alienation of
priests in the parish, much more with priest shortage. The declining population of priests has
intensified clerical loneliness as well as the lack of social support with fewer priests to interact
with in the parish. CARA (2015) revealed that currently most parishes only have one priest,
whereas in 1965 most parishes were served by two priests. It also revealed that priest respondents
reported being the only priest in the rectory and expressed their feeling of lack of support from
fellow priests and their bishops.
Loneliness and the resulting lack of social support among priests can also lead to depression
and anxiety among priests (Knox et al., 2002, 2005, 2007). Viginia (1998) reported that depression
and burnout were higher among secular priests than among religious and monastic clergy. Knox
and associates (2005) indicated in their study that the levels of depression among secular priests is
up to 7 times higher using the CES-D Scale compared to the general population.
Lastly, the third serious impact of priest shortage to the quality of life of priesthood is the lack
of time for prayer and reflection. Priest shortage does not only lead to overwork but also clerical
spiritual dryness and neglect of clerical prayer life. Celibacy has already produced a solitary life
for parish clerics. Priest shortage intensifies it as well as spiritual dryness and spiritual sloth. It
hinders the spiritual growth of secular priests in the deregulated environment of the parish. A study
by Bauman and others. (2019) that analyzed data sets of 2,531 priests in Germany confirmed that
the low commitment of clerics to celibacy is related to spiritual dryness and loneliness. In their
regression analysis, it showed that clerical loneliness as an inability to be alone is connected to
spiritual dryness ( Bauman et al. 2019).

Sacramental Deprivation for the Faithful

Priest shortage does not only have serious impact on the clerical life of parish clerics but also on
spiritual life of more than one billion lay Catholics. The growing priest shortage does immediately
entail massive deprivation of the sacraments to the laity in the short run as the RCC can avail of
lay ministries as a short-term solution. In fact, priest shortage has provided opportunity for lay
leaders to be involved in the parish, including female leaders (Eclund 2006). The use of Parish
Life Coordinators, which is provided for under canon law, is an orthodox response of the RCC to
the priest shortage (Hoegeman 2011, 133). And Ruth Wallace's research has revealed that priest
shortage has resulted in more women functioning as parish administrators (Wallace 1992).
However, tapping lay ministries to address priest shortage is not a long-term solution for the
laity’s greater need for sacramental nourishment. Although the growing number of lay leaders and
workers can provide pastoral work in parishes with no priests, the priest remains the crucial leader

5
in sacramental celebration. The true sacramental minister is only the priest who can provide the
sacramental services to the faithful (Hendricks 2009). In the RCC only a priest can be designated
as the pastor. “While a non-priest may be the leader of a parish, he or she cannot, according to
canon law, be the pastor of the parish. Parishes may have many leaders, including volunteers” but
can only have ordained clerics as parish priests (Hoegeman 2011, 117).
Another alternative conceived by the RCC to address priest shortage and deprivation of the
sacraments to Catholics is the ordination of permanent deacons, especially the U.S. “Rather than
end mandatory celibacy the Church’s solution to the growing shortage of priests was to reestablish
the permanent male diaconate. It was halfway measure and a source, for an increasing number of
women in the Church, of dissatisfaction” (Doherty 2018, 1). Importing and incardinating foreign
priests to fill vacant parishes can also be a short-term solution. Despite this initiative, the ordination
of permanent deacons and importing foreign priests could not be a long-term solution to priest
shortage since deacons cannot celebrate the sacrament of the Eucharist and countries exporting
clerics would soon experience priest shortage with the universal decrease of priestly vocations.
The attempt of the Synod of Bishops in Rome to allow the ordination of married men in the
Amazon region is another indicator of the serious sacramental deprivation of the faithful due to
priest shortage. Although the RCC has allowed various lay ministries and greater lay involvement
in the Church, it still cannot compensate the steady loss of priests and clerical vocations unless it
recognizes and allows married priesthood as a valid social calling in Catholic priesthood like the
current celibate priesthood. The RCC is a sacerdotal church which completely dependent on priests
to celebrate the Eucharist as the center of Catholic life. As Gogan (2010, 55) argues:

The sacramental and liturgical ministry led by priests is essential in the RCC. “Vatican
II defined the Church not merely as an organization but stressed even more that it is
the sacramental presence of Christ on earth. Without this sacrament of pastoral care
and compassion and more specifically the sacramental celebrations which express its
reality more immediately and dynamically, the Church dies (Gogan 2010, 55).

Priest Shortage and the Future of the RCC

Aside from the short-term impact, priest shortage in the RCC has long-term effect that can
determine the future life of the Church. It is not a new problem, but the current form is the most
serious that can jeopardize the mission of the Church and can make it as a dying or “skeleton”
church. As Gogan (2010, 54) argues:

Shortage of clergy is not a new problem for the Church. It has happened in other ages.
The present period of diminishment began with the 1960s cultural revolution. Today
it affects most of the western churches and indeed all churches struggling with the
spiritually toxic culture of the West. The response of Catholic ecclesiastical authorities
at various levels has been much as I have described above. Close down, cut back, and
amalgamate. The result is a skeleton Church in many areas run in numerous places by
septuagenarians.

The RCC is a sacramental church whose spiritual leadership is intrinsically connected with the
priesthood (Daly, 2009). It needs sufficient priest to carry out its mission in the world. No number
of lay collaborators can change this reality unless the RCC allows some qualified and deserving

6
laity to be ordained as married priests. Earlier research by Richard Schoenherr (2015) noted that
the population of Catholics in the United States increased between 1966 and 1984, but the number
of priests declined by 19 percent, with a projected decline of 40 percent in 2005. “The stark facts
are that, while the diocesan priesthood population will have declined by 40 percent between 1966
and 2005, the lay population is increasing by 65 percent. The laity-priest ratio… will double
between 1975 and 2005 from 1100 to 2200 Catholics per active priests” (Schoenherr 1995, 13).
To Schoenherr (1993), the RCC in the U.S. will face an acute priest shortage as it moves into
the 21st century. And there is little chance of reversing this trend in the lifetime of the current
generation of churchgoers (Schoenherr 1993) with Catholic hierarchy not doing much to respond
to this challenge such as amending the mandatory clerical celibacy requirement. Rejection of
celibacy by priests has been tagged by research as the primary cause of priest shortage (Schoenherr
2002).
Gogan (2010) aptly predicts that the RCC will become a “skeleton” church if the priest
shortage will not be promptly addressed by the Catholic hierarchy. This implies that the pool of
priests in the parishes will be more staffed with older and retiring clerics with the lack of priestly
candidates and younger priests to replace them. He then paints a grim scenario if the RCC will not
immediately resolve the current priest shortage:

As access to daily Mass disappears and the facility of weekly Mass becomes rarer,
attendances will naturally go down. At the same time thousands will get sick and die
without the sacraments as priest chaplains in hospitals and other caring institutions as
well as parishes become thin on the ground. More marriages will be celebrated outside
the church and the children of these unions will not be baptized or prepared for the
other sacraments.
Moreover, young people will have even fewer younger pastors to relate to and to
guide them as their spiritual lives are threatened by mass media addicted to sex and
invaded by a popular culture hooked on money and what it can buy. While the
organized Church steadily crumbles, fewer young people will be attracted to the
priesthood and numbers of clergy will continue to drop…. (Gogan 2010, 53-54)

Priest Shortage and Lay Ministry

Priest shortage for a sacerdotal church that relies on celibate priests as its foot soldiers to lead the
Church mission can be an alarming situation for the RCC. It is very clear in the RCC that “only a
male Christian who has been ordained by a bishop can preside, and without such presidency there
cannot be a valid celebration of the Eucharist” (O’ Loughlin 2005, 646). Thus, Gogan (2010, 61)
suggests, “If the supply of celibate candidates has run dry, then let candidates for the priesthood
be married”. A church with married priesthood has higher replacement rate of clerics compared
with to a church with celibate priesthood such as the RCC (Gogan (2010).
One way to address the increasing priest shortage is a collaborative ministry between clerics
and the laity if the RCC does not allow married priesthood. But collaborative ministry as a
functional alternative cannot be a long- term solution to priest shortage unless the RCC radically
transforms its very nature as a sacerdotal church that is founded on ordained clerics. That is why
the Catholic hierarchy is hesitant to fully adopt the collaborative ministry with the increasing
involvement of the laity as a permanent fixture in the RCC.

7
 In the document Ecclesia de Mysterio [Church Mystery], an ecclesial instruction on certain
questions regarding the collaboration of the non-ordained faithful in the sacred ministry of priest,
Pope John Paul II (1997) acknowledged that collaboration of all faithful in the RCC but asserted
that the ordained priesthood is irreplaceable therefore there is a need to promote vocations (recruit
more priests). He was also concerned about laity having “undo aspiration to the ordained ministry.
He wanted to ensure that the use of lay ministries because of shortage of priests would not result
in the replacement of ministerial priesthood (Hoegeman 2011). The RCC is a sacramental church
whose spiritual leadership is intrinsically connected with ministerial priesthood and strongly tied
to male celibate exclusivity (Daly 2009).
Moreover, collaborative ministry with the laity can pose a serious challenge to celibate parish
clerics who are generally trained in the seminary to work independently, which can result in
unnecessary social conflicts and unhealthy politics with the laity in a collaborative ministry. A
collaborative ministry with the laity will not be a long-term solution to priest shortage in the RCC
as the laity remains only a helper to the hierarchy of ordained ministers. Lay leaders still cannot
celebrate the Eucharist, the summit of Christian life and spirituality in the RCC, which is reserved
only to ordained clerics.
The Vatican II document Lumen Gentium [Light of the Nations] still maintained the
hierarchical structure of the RCC. Moreover, the governance of the entire Church is still
exclusively controlled by ordained celibate clerics after Vatican II. There is still no “married
clerics, married lay people, and much less, women, who hold any positions of power anywhere in
the Catholic Church” (Doyle 2006, 150). Under this set-up, lay members cannot act as ministers
and political leaders in the Church without ordination (Cf. Canon 129 §1). Lumen Gentium (1967,
para. 37) is firm that the laity must obey their priests or shepherds as rulers in the Church:

The laity … should openly reveal to them [spiritual shepherds] their needs and desires
with that freedom and confidence which is fitting for children … The laity should …
promptly accept in Christian obedience decisions of their spiritual shepherds since they
are representatives of Christ as well as teachers and rulers in the Church. Let the
spiritual shepherds recognize and promote the dignity as well as the responsibility of
the laity in the Church.

The Code of Canon Law of the RCC (1983) also prescribes that “only those who received
sacred orders are capable of the power of governance, which exists in the Church by divine
institution and is also called the power of jurisdiction” (Canon 129 §1). And the laity, except
married deacons, who do not receive the sacrament of holy orders are disqualified to take the
power of jurisdiction in the Church nor participate directly in ecclesial governance (Code of Canon
Law 1983, Canon 129 § 2). Lay Catholics, however, can act as collaborators of the clerics’ exercise
of ecclesial power (Shaw 2008).
Moreover, collaborative ministry between clerics and lay people to respond to priest shortage
cannot be feasible in the long run. Celibate priests are trained in the seminary to exercise absolute
spiritual and pastoral authority. Requiring them to work with the lay leaders and deferring to their
pastoral suggestions and plans can be a struggle for them who usually exercise a monarchial type
of authority in the parish. Thus, Kelly (2014, 22-23) foresees an inevitable conflict between lay
leaders and priests if the parish apostolate shifts to collaborative ministry to address priest
shortage:

8
 The impact of diminishing number of priests is now a crucial question for us a Church.
It is obvious that the present way of being Church, based on every parish having its
own priest, will not continue into the future…It seems evident that the only model on
offer in five or ten years from now is a collaborative one. Some years the road, the
question will no longer be whether we have priests but whether we have active
Christian communities witnessing to the message of Jesus. In general priests tend to
operate with a high level of autonomy…Thinking, deciding and planning collectively
as priests and with laypeople in a cluster of parishes or pastoral area can be challenging
for priests trained to work independently. (Kelly 2014, 22-23).

The Significance of Reestablishing Married Priesthood

Married priesthood is imminently fitting to address the negative effects of overloaded clerical
work, loneliness, and lack of social support, as well as spiritual dryness to priestly life owing to
the absence of communal spirituality structure in the parish. The expanding work of priests in
contemporary times can be greatly reduced if married priesthood is allowed in the RCC. Married
priesthood or optional celibacy can result in more priestly vocations, priests, and perhaps the return
of former priests and seminarians to clerical ministry if the RCC allows it.
Restoring married clergy can truly reestablish Christ’s original teaching on optional celibacy,
making celibate and married priesthood as two valid social callings of Catholic priesthood (Vogels
1993). A married priesthood has a higher replacement rate compared to celibate priesthood. The
main factor related to the current clerical problem of priest shortage is the mandatory clerical
celibacy, which significantly discourages new candidates to the priesthood.
Married priesthood can also address the increasing loneliness of clerics due to celibacy, social
alienation, and priest shortage. Sociologically speaking, the family as a primary social group which
is main the primary source of social bonding, socialization, spiritual growth, and inhibition of
deviance and criminality. The family is also seen by the RCC as the domestic church, which is the
primary locus of Christian formation and spirituality (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1993,
para. 2685). It has a tremendous potential to resolve some psychological issues of priests before
and during seminary training and to provide priests with companionship and guardianship against
clergy sexual abuse.
Married priesthood, of course, is not always a bed of roses. But the pioneering research on the
life of married priests in the United States by the sociologist and married priest Fr. Peter Sullins
(2018) revealed a stable and efficient pastoral work of married priests despite the challenges of
family life. The study also revealed that married priests are more orthodox and conservative about
church teachings compared to celibate ones. The laity is more trustful of married priests as reliable
pastors and resistant to clerical sexual abuse compared to celibate ones.

Conclusion

This chapter has illustrated that priest shortage in the RCC that is largely caused by the rejection
of many priests to obligatory clerical celibacy and growing complexity of parish structures and
pastoral clerical demands. Priest shortage has significant short and long tern impact on the quality
of life for priests and to the spiritual and sacramental needs of the laity. It also undermines the
future of the RCC as a sacerdotal and sacramental church which relies on ordained clerics. If not
urgently addressed by the Catholic hierarchy by amending the obligatory clerical celibacy and

9
allow marriage priesthood, the future of the RCC would be in jeopardy. Despite the growth of lay
ministers, ordained priests are the leaders of the RCC and indispensable in the sacramental
celebrations, especially the Eucharist, in the RCC. The universal Church would become a skeleton
or dying church with the lack of replacement for older and retiring priests, depriving the laity of
sacramental nourishment, and degrading the foundation of the RCC as a sacerdotal religious
institution. Restoring married priesthood in the RCC is the only feasible solution to address priest
shortage.

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Doherty, William. 2018. Priestly Celibacy and the Rise of National Priests’ Associations since
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