Another argument is that mandatory celibacy is the tradition, and it should be kept that way. The vow of celibacy is a distinguishing characteristic of the Roman Catholic Priesthood. The Catholic Church's principle of celibacy has been defined as a spiritual process of imitating Christ (Bamberg). Pope John Paul II said that priests must live celibate lives and avoid scandalous behavior (Campisi). He also states that, "The value of celibacy as a complete gift of self to the Lord and his church must be carefully safeguarded" (Campisi). In dealing with tradition, the church values celibacy as a way for priests to model our lives after the life of our lord. Since we know the Lord was celibate. Celibate life is a commitment to the church and its people, and a preparation for heaven, where such distinctions as husband and wife won't exist (Campisi). Overall, the Vatican says celibacy is an "ancient tradition.".
The third and final argument is that if a Roman Catholic priest were allowed to marry and have a family it would cost the church more money overall. The church would now have to have enough money to support a family instead of just one single man. The church won't allow optional celibacy for this reason. Critics of the vow say money and power continue to be the real obstacles to married clergy (Roe). They also say that making celibacy optional today could force the church to pay its married priests a family wage and diminish its ability to transfer priests at will (Roe). Paul states, "Although married is good, celibacy is better" (Roe).
Despite opponent's claims that priests would get distracted by their marriage and family life, therefore they would have less time to devote to the church. This would priests if they were allowed to marry. When Byrne states some of their duties, one of them is that they counsel couples getting married. One question to ask your self, "How could a priest that has no experience of a married life help council couples?" Priests that have never been married and never have had a family should not be counseling marriages.
