DENTING THE RATE OF SINGLENESS

Am I hearing right? Roman Catholic priests have been giving some thought to relaxing the rules of celibacy? From what I understand, that is one side of the discussion. The other side is that some of the priests do not have a clear idea that the issue of celibacy and its proposed "relaxation" has nothing to do with other issues such as sexual abuse, pedophilia and buggery (charges and scandals which have been rocking the Catholic Church in Europe over the last few months). Those are different issues in and of themselves.

Let us imagine that the Vatican agrees to "relax" the rules of celibacy and allow priests to have a little sex every now and then, what would be the defining rules surrounding this "relaxation"? Would it be defined by guidelines such as:

• Priests are only to have sex when the urge is unbearable (in this case, how would unbearable be quantified and justified) and,
• Priests are only to have sex with consulting adults (the choice of male or female is up to the individual's priest's sexual orientation)

Can't think of anymore right now but could this discussion eventually lead to priests being allowed to marry? That would certainly increase the number of men available for marriage and put a dent into the high rate of single women's existence.