Most priests in Poland want to marry

Sixty percent of Roman Catholic priests in Poland want the right to marry and have families, according to a survey published by Poland`s respected Tygodnik Powszechny (TP) weekly, which caters to Poland`s Catholic intelligentsia. According to an as yet unpublished study, however, only a third of young priests who quit the priesthood do so for the sake of women, IANS reported Monday.

'The main reason (for quitting the priesthood ) are existential problems and ideals,' says the study`s author Jozef Baniak of Poznan`s Adam Mickiewicz university. 'A woman, if she appears, is in the background.'

'First there is a crisis of the priest`s identity and then he looks for someone in whom he can confide his problem,' says Baniak.

Jesuit Father and psychologist Jacek Prusak told TP more and more priests consider leaving the priesthood because they feel lonely, isolated and misunderstood. 'Not everyone can cope with the fact that at the beginning of the 21st century priests are no longer regarded as the priest they knew in their youth,' he said.

Poland is one of the world`s most staunchly Roman Catholic countries with more than 90 per cent of its people calling themselves Catholic.

Source:lifestyle.monstersandcritics.com