I received this from a priest friend who, for reasons that are riotously obvious these days, desires anonymity.

He reflects on the discussion of optional celibacy that the Amazon Synod is sure to push. Of course the Germans, who are pouring their Rhine into the Amazon, know exactly what they want to accomplish by their ongoing destruction of all things Catholic. It’s good to think this through as, at the least, a mind exercise.

Thus, my priest friend:

So it occurs to me that allowing men to marry before being ordained (as priests) will do four things: 1) Encourage a significant portion of young men with a normal sexuality, who were open to the priesthood, to postpone that decision, to pursue marriage first. If they enter, it will be after raising a family, 20-30 years later; 2) Saddle those young men with a normal sexuality who nevertheless are willing to embrace celibacy with an additional stigma (if they still don’t marry, they must be homosexual); some subset of this group will, therefore, opt for path of option 1; 3) Have little to no effect on those young men with a disordered sexual attraction entering the seminary and becoming priests as they would face the same stigma regardless. Nevertheless, would they not inevitably become a more significant portion of the young seminarian population? 4) And, given that married priests would, as they always have, be excluded from consideration as a bishop, what now becomes more likely? In short, this would seem to be a very useful way to strengthen the “Lavender Mafia,” no?

It’s interesting to see where that mind exercise went.

I can’t say that he’s wrong! This would indeed play directly into the hands of the corrosive homosexualist agenda.

UPDATE:

I’m getting some really interesting feedback on this. One of my friends wrote:

It will push all the (even latently) same-sex attracted or those who “aren’t interested in marriage” into religious orders. All bishops will be chosen from religious orders. The diocesan clergy will then have either young men enter seminary who will have to find a wife before ordination to the diaconate; or we will only be ordaining men who are already married — and where will his wife and kids be while he is in seminary? [And there’s the problem if DIVORCED priests.] Most of the Eastern Catholic Churches have a history of issues with this, having both married men and single men often training together in the same seminary. Dating during seminary…..has its challenges. [Indeed.] Or do we wait until the man’s children are all adults, and thus we will be ordaining men who are significantly older, investing years of training for someone who might only serve 15 to 25 years at the most, instead of 40 or 50? Also, moving a married pastor means moving his whole family. Pastor’s terms (6 years) probably would have to be scrapped (not a bad thing, but…). [NB:]The dollar in the collection basket that people put in will not work: we will have to do what synagogues or some Protestant communities do and charge parishioners a membership fee (in the case of a synagogue, the cost of running the place — staff salaries, heating and electricity, music, etc. — is divided up by the number of registered members and then everyone is sent a bill; and if you are not a member, you buy a ticket at the door for the high holy days). The cost of a married man, his wife, and their ten kids (they’ll have ten, right? not just the politely contracepted 2.2 kids……) will require a lot more money — especially braces for all ten children plus their schools. etc. What about “simplex priests”? You and I both know some devout Catholic single men, middle-aged, who could be given a short program of training, just to offer Mass — they would not be given faculties for confessions or preaching, …. And after all, so few people go to confession, that it’s not like there’s a huge demand for it.

We are now getting brass tacks.