It will come as no surprise to you Gods that I disagree with you. I can clearly see the Church's justification for celibacy of the clergy:
I can see the justification, but I can also see the other side/s. Often priests hear confession, or just talk to parishioners about their problems, including things like infidelity of spouses, domestic abuse, problems with children, marriage breakdowns, separation, divorce, remarrying. I've always felt it must be difficult to provide advice with no actual knowledge of what it is like to be married or be a father. It also means that they don't (often) understand the problems of women in the workforce, or women and politics ... I think being able to marry would open up a whole new dimension for priests.
It would also "normalise" their lives. Except for a few people, I don't believe celibacy is healthy.
I've read a bit about how heterosexuals act in prison ... is there a possibility that priests are attracted to boys because it is MORE FORBIDDEN to engage with women? Some Australian Catholic priest said something along those lines recently.
Having grown up in the UK as a Catholic, I found that the CoE vicars seemed to be a bit more "human" ... spending a life being celibate must take a lot of concentration ...
