Reply #4: I need to clarify the effects of the marriage ban in response to your posts

[Ken Burch]

Because, and I'm sure you did this without meaning to, your post confused a couple of things.

If a priest had the proclivity to sexually abuse children, allowing that priest to marry would not prevent him(or eventually, perhaps, her)from doing so. The fact that there are huge numbers of non-clerical married men who have committed sex crimes against children is evidence of this.

What lifting the ban on married priests WOULD do is make it easier to replace priests who have molested children, because there would be a much larger pool of people in the priesthood. The main reason offenders in the priesthood have not been barred from contact with children(let alone, in most cases, turned over to the criminal justice system)was that the Catholic Church has had a "labor shortage" among the priesthood.