Most Polish priests want to get married and have children

This article, "La mayoría de los curas polacos quieren casarse y tener hijos", originally appeared in Spanish on the Terra.es Web site courtesy of the Spanish news agency EFE. English translation supplied by Rebel Girl. A more reliable and detailed source of the same information for those who are blessed with ability to read Polish is this article in the Polish Catholic newspaper Tygodnik Powszechny which Rocco Palmo summarizes in his blog. The articles are somewhat contradictory with respect to the primary motivation for men leaving the priesthood. The Tygodnik Powszechny piece quotes Prof. Baniak as suggesting that priests leave due to identity and ideological issues and then get married later, while the article translated below suggests that celibacy is the primary motivator.

Sixty percent of Polish priests want the right to get married and have children, according to the findings of an [unpublished] study on the attitude of priests towards celibacy.

The study, which was done by professor Jozef Baniak of Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, confirms that the desire to have their own families is supported by a majority of Polish priests.

The daily "Super Express", which published the findings, also quotes the opinion of Kazimierz Franczak, a priest who has studied the celibacy problem and who asserts that for the last ten years, most Polish priests have wanted the right to form a family.

Acoording to data gathered by Baniak in recent years, in 1998 32 percent of priests supported the right to marry and have children, while 57 percent did so in 2004 and 60 percent in 2006.

Celibacy is the main reason for leaving the priesthood for most Polish priests who choose to renounce their vocation.

In three diocese in the last year alone, 60 priests left the priesthood and subsequently formed families.