Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options

Heading a southern Lebanese diocese in a complex part of the world, the one problem Melkite Archbishop George Bakhouni of Tyre says he does not have is finding priests. The archbishop knows all the arguments against relaxing the celibacy requirement in the Latin church, but he said that ordaining married men is the most naturally pastoral response to every Catholic’s need for regular access to the sacraments. “Christianity survived in the Middle East because of the married priests,” the bishop said. Because they are married with families and homes, they tend to stay, even when conflicts and hardship send many celibate priests fleeing to safety. “We always propose this to the Latin church…but we always feel a lot of reticence when we mention this issue,” he said.

Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.

The latest from america

Despair is easy for anyone who takes seriously the call to love your neighbor as yourself. But hope can come in two ways.
Thomas J. ReeseJuly 16, 2025
A Homily for the Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, by Father Terrance Klein
Terrance KleinJuly 16, 2025
The majority of survey respondents cited their Marian devotions as having played an important role in the discernment and living of their call to religious life.
A young woman kneels and prays at a pew, looking toward the altar of a Catholic church. (iStock/roman_sh)
I have questioned the ethical implications of belonging to an institution with so many members sympathetic to MAGA politics. But I can still rediscover the hope of the Eucharist in my parish.
Kathleen BonnetteJuly 16, 2025