"Why Are So Few Priests Holy?"

By pure chance (or Divine Providence) I read this article from the July-August 20007 edition of New Oxford Review by Fr. Matthew Kauth. Get it, read it, reread it. The profound wake-up call for me was the following line:

"... the purpose celibacy is not to be more available to the laity (which no doubt is one positive effect), but rather to be available to the High Priest."

As I tell my kids in class, "Chew on that for a while."

I always used the the reasoning of "availability" to explain celibacy to the questioning people. This line, and the whole article, have made me rethink and refine much of what I thought was the purpose of the priesthood. More to come...