Reply #5: My priest is married...

[pelagius]

...which is not such a big deal since I'm an Episcopalian. His wife, however, is painfully shy -- although a delightful woman -- and does not in any way serve as the "queen bee" for the church. In fact, she's not at all active in the parish life, although she serves as librarian for our day school.

I'm glad my church is enough on the ball to respect this, but my traditionally-minded Protestant mother -- who thinks I'm lost to popery by being an Anglican! -- pointedly asked me when she visited our church, "And where is the minister's wife?" I told her she was not very visible in the church and was, in fact, somewhere else that Sunday.

"How nice for her," my mother said between clenched teeth, but as far as I'm concerned my priest has the vocation and, unless we want to put her on salary, the wife is not a member of the church staff.

I see pros and cons to married clergy, but think the single best argument in favor of a celibate priesthood is the amount of time and energy freed up to serve God in His Church.