If Priests Could Marry . . .

On Monday, my colleague presented the following argument to our class about the Catholic Church and reproductive rights: if Catholic priests could marry, then the Church's stance against contraception and abortion would dramatically change. I have never entertained this idea before, and intuitively, it makes quite a lot of sense. After all, men who live in close quarters with women, and moreover, who are sexually active with women, are far more knowledgeable about the vagaries of fertility.

And, yet I am not yet convinced that this structural change would, in fact, change the Church's position. After all, there are countless evangelical communities with the same prohibitions, and these religious communities allow their ministers to marry, have sex with their wives, and procreate.

What do you think?