A married priesthood?

Pope John Paul II has been emphatic about celibacy, and the issue has been off the table for 25 years. But in a daring step designed to put it on the table, some of his faithful priests in the United States are urging publicly that the Catholic priesthood be opened to married men.

The impetus comes not from the clergy sexual-abuse scandal, but from another long-developing crisis in the church: the shortage of priests. With fewer men entering seminaries and an aging clergy, some 16 percent of US parishes are without priests. The situation is worse overseas.

The shortage "could signal the most momentous structural change in the Roman Catholic Church since the Protestant Reformation," according to the late sociologist Richard Schoenherr.

"People are saying this is like the elephant in the living room - everyone knows we have a declining priesthood," says the Rev. Joseph Aufdermauer, one of the Milwaukee priests spearheading the call. "If we don't get more priests, the next generation is not going to have the Eucharist; many don't have it now."

While a number of denominations face a clergy shortage, the priesthood and Eucharist are at the core of Catholic belief, and some worry about a "protestantizing" of the faith should lay leaders, who cannot celebrate mass, have to run parishes.

The shortage is already felt by priests and lay Catholics alike. Many priests are overworked, trying to serve more than one parish; some Catholics are seeing their parishes close down or cannot find priests in time of need.

The archdiocese of Milwaukee is in its second five-year planning cycle on how to deal with the shortage. "Five years ago, the plan was to close some parishes, put in some parish directors, and ask priests to do more work," says Father Afdermauer. "Now it's obvious in the second phase that the approach will be the same." Despite an aggressive program to seek recruits, it became clear, he adds, something had to be done to broaden the pool of candidates.

So more than 160 Milwaukee-area priests last month signed an unprecedented letter to the US bishops conference. The letter urges that celibacy be optional, and also speaks of an "ever growing appreciation of marriage and its many blessings so compatible with priesthood and even enhancing of priestly ministry."

The Rev. Bob Silva, head of the National Federation of Priests Councils, called the letter "courageous" and said he'd ask that a US bishops' committee discuss it.

In the past week, associations of priests in major cities - Chicago, New York, Pittsburgh, and Boston, plus southern Illinois - announced that they will consider the issue this month and probably take similar actions.

"This is a significant step forward because there's been a malaise on the part of ordained clergy throughout the country," says the Rev. Donald Fisher, of the Association of Pittsburgh Priests. "I'd expect even certain bishops would be smiling."

But Bishop Wilton Gregory, president of the US Conference on Catholic Bishops, told AP last week that he opposed any reconsideration of the celibacy requirement.

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