Very often I’m asked “Should priests be allowed to marry.” “Only if they really love each other,” I reply. It’s an old joke in response to an increasingly popular question. The evangelical counsels or the vows, as they are popularly known, are seen by society at large as increasingly anachronistic. We live in a world that values money, sex and power above all, so we must ask do the vows of poverty, celibacy and obedience have anything to offer? (more…)