The male-only Roman Catholic priesthood has never been about theology, solely about culture. Jesus lived in an orthodox Jewish culture. Only men had any power or authority. It was natural for Him to invite only other Jewish men to join his priesthood. It was about culture, not theology. If it were about theology, He would have said so. Period! They should clearly be eligible for ordination.

The male celibate priesthood has no theological or cultural argument. There are currently 80 married Catholic priests in the U.S., former Protestant or Anglican, married priests who converted to Roman Catholicism and became Catholic priests. Are these 80 worthy priests? I think they are. We have fewer than 40,000 active Catholic priests in the U.S. today. We lost 25,000 Catholic priests in the last 40 years because they honestly could not live the celibate life, and left.    

There is no theological argument I have seen that speaks against women or married priests.

William T. Brown
M.A., Theology