Back to Basics: Priestly Celibacy and Priest Shortage

This was fascinating to me because as many times as I've heard arguments back and forth about this issue, I never saw the traditions that are observed by the Eastern Catholic Church explained.

... if a pope decides to change, modify, or end mandatory celibacy for the Western church, the Church would still maintain and follow the same tradition observed by the Eastern Catholic Church concerning married clergy. Among the married clergy in the Eastern Church, marriage must come before ordination, and if he's ordained unmarried, he must remain unmarried:

• Ending mandatory celibacy would only affect those yet to be ordained. Celibate priests who're already ordained wouldn't be allowed to marry.
• Seminarians would have to decide before ordination whether they wanted to be married. They'd have to find a wife prior to their ordination or remain celibate.
• Anyone having aspirations to be ordained a bishop would have to remain celibate.
• Catholic priests who were ordained celibate and then later left the active ministry to get married would not be allowed back into the active ministry as a married priest.
  

Catholicism For Dummies by John Trigilio

Tags: Catholicism, Christianity