Celibates on celibacy.

During the last half-year, two church renewal organizations, Call to Action and FutureChurch, have conducted anonymous surveys of priests in fifty-three U.S. dioceses. Priests were asked: "Do you favor an open discussion of the mandatory-celibacy rule for diocesan priests?" Sixty-seven percent of respondents (2,589 of 3,846) said yes. The survey response rate was 27 percent.

Priests aged 41 to 70 most strongly favored open discussion, with 74 percent replying affirmatively. Priests over 71, retired, and religious-order priests also favored discussion by majorities of 61, 66, and 70 percent respectively. But among younger priests (ages 25 to 40), only 42 percent were in favor, while 54 percent were not.

More than 547 priest respondents made additional comments, many of which were poignant. A number were discouraged at the apparent inability of church leaders to make necessary changes so that Catholics could continue to have access to the Mass and the sacraments. An Oklahoma priest wrote: "How can our religious leaders prefer that thousands and millions of Catholics have no Sunday Eucharist than to have them attend a Eucharist celebrated by someone who shared his bed legally with a loving spouse?" (Visit www.futurechurch.org for results and comments by diocese.)

Survey results are consistent with a 2001 Lilly Endowment study by Catholic University professor Dean R. Hoge which found that 56 percent of all priests think celibacy should be a matter of personal choice.

Surveys of the laity consistently support optional celibacy. American Catholics: Gender, Generation, and Commitment by Professor Hoge and William V. D' Antonio (Alta Mira Press, 2001), cites surveys conducted in 1987, 1993, and 1999 that reported lay support for a married priesthood at 63, 72, and 71 percent respectively. Lay surveys in 1985 and 1993 also indicated support for ordaining women, at 50 and 64 percent respectively. The surveys are one part of an international campaign to raise the issue of the priest shortage at the International Synod on the Eucharist which will be held next year in Rome. Organizers are circulating petitions asking that discussion of mandatory celibacy and of women deacons be placed on the agenda.

Christine Schenk, CSJ, is executive director of FutureChurch in Cleveland, Ohio.