Vatican City, Oct 16, 2005 / 22:00 pm
On Friday, prelates in Rome for the Synod of Bishops continued to meet in working groups arranged by spoken language. Primary among their concerns was the shortage of priests in many regions, a problem which some said, is not the result of celibacy, but of a cultural failure to make lifelong commitments--both to the priesthood and to marriage.
Bishop Donald Wuerl of Pittsburgh, PA spoke on behalf of one of the English language groups, saying that, "among the issues at hand in celebrating the Eucharist today, “first and most significant is the fact that the Eucharist is essential to the Church.”
He added however, that “we must also take into account the seriousness of the shortage of priests in so many parts of the world”, and “also recognize the place of married clergy in the Eastern Churches.”
“Our discussion”, he said, “highlighted that celibacy is not the principal and certainly not the sole reason for this shortage. In fact the culture of today is in crisis in a number of other areas including the nature, duration and vitality of marriage.”