With respect, might we be overthinking this? "The church" refers mainly, I think, to the institution or system, not to the folks in the pews. The nature of a system or institution is protect itself and its prerogatives. The calls I got the last few days to go to hospice, the ER, or just to be with folks, were not to a system or institution, but to a person who is delegated by the church institution to help them in their need. The folks are raising these question of priesthood while the institution is defending its position. To me the folks are the church and management is the institution. The folks, in general, do not have the institution's hangups on married or women priests. The folks will realize there is a shortage of priests when their individual personal needs, e.g. anointing, funerals, etc, cannot be met. IMHO the Holy Spirit is very active these days, moreso in the questions than in the same old answers which are really to querstions nobody is asking. Time to dialogue.