To the Sentinel:
We continually hear about how many Catholics have fallen away from the Church. I have a solution: Let’s allow priests to marry! We would no longer be continually complaining about a lack of priests and instead of there being one priest for every 4,000 or so Catholics (which I think is almost a mortal sin!) there could easily be one for every 500 or so Catholics. Our parishes/prayer communities might have to be smaller but that would be better because it would foster a more close-knit Christian community.
As a traditional, conservative Catholic, I was aghast at all the abuse problems in the past and the horrible way the bishops tried to hide the mess. The sin of pride was clearly evident. Bishops sometimes make the wrong choice. It’s time for lay people in the church to not be treated as second class members of Christ’s mystical body through a starvation of priests! We need more priests to administer more sacraments and to better lead us in this challenging world! The bishops blew it on clergy child abuse; they are also wrong about keeping the ministry closed to married priests.
One word from Peter’s successor could vastly improve and invigorate the Church almost overnight. Christ did not limit the priesthood to single males, the Roman Catholic Church did! Our Eastern Orthodox brothers and sisters have it very right on this one! As do our Protestant brethren.

Frank Amato
Milwaukie