Yet it is completely closed to our most devoted leaders.

A severe leadership shortage is getting worse.

Increasing accessibility to the priesthood may help address this, and the idea is nothing new.

Countless lives have been destroyed by predators seeking unlawful and unhealthy intimacy in the shadows.  We must be the light, and respond with changes that model healthy intimacy.

Our Church mandated celibacy for priests starting in the 11th century.  Pope Francis has accurately noted: "There is no contradiction for a priest to marry. Celibacy in the western Church is a temporary prescription."

In the earliest years of the church, clergy were married men.  One or more apostles was married.  As much as Jesus requires of his followers, and as much direction as He gave them,  Jesus did not require celibacy.

All humans seek love and companionship.  Without allowing our leaders a healthy expression of lifetime love through the sacrament of marriage, we foster a clerical culture of secrecy and loneliness.