“I do not want to become the poster child for the anti-celibacy debate,” Father Alberto Cutie told me a week after pictures of him embracing a woman on Miami Beach were published by a gossip magazine, causing a big commotion among his followers and in the Catholic community here and abroad. But the resurgence of the  
centuries-old debate in the Catholic Church has become inevitable.

The popular priest has been criticized by some who say he wants to have it both ways. In widely viewed television interviews, he admitted he is in love, and said he tried with all his might to be true to his celibacy vows, but failed. He claimed that celibacy is a good thing and that he doesn't support breaking it, but then again, maybe, just maybe, it should be optional.

It turns out that Padre Alberto is not alone in his thinking. The idea of “optional celibacy” is actually part of an international movement by Catholic priests who believe that a change in the church's position is not only necessary, but possible.

The Latin American Federation of Married Catholic Priests (yes, it does exist) is preparing to present a proposal to the Vatican later this year. The organization says its position is the same as that of the International Confederation of Married Catholic Priests and Wives, which is to work for optional celibacy, while still believing that celibate priests enrich the church. The International Confederation claims there are more than 150,000 married priests in the world.

Theirs is actually not a contradictory position, but rather a view that has existed throughout the history of the Catholic Church at the highest level. Since the church's inception, there have been at least seven popes who have married, 11 who were sons of other popes or other clergy themselves, and at least six who had illegitimate children.

To begin with, Jesus designated St. Peter, a married man, to be the first pope. But during the 4th century, major changes began to emerge. Although married men could be priests, they were not allowed to sleep with their wives, and ultimately they were prohibited from marrying after ordination. Sexual desire was considered a sin by church fathers, making it intrinsically evil. In the year 401, St. Augustine wrote, “Nothing is so powerful in drawing the spirit of a man downwards as the caresses of a woman.”

Almost a century later, and for many more to follow, there was a return to marriage and even the keeping of concubines by priests. But as the wealth of the church increased, its position on marriage among clergy began to shift. By the 11th century, descendants of priests were forbidden from inheriting property. It is believed that the celibacy rule became official in the 15th century and has remained that way ever since.

In the 20th century, after the Second Vatican Council, the church approved celibacy dispensations for priests who decided to leave the cloth and get married. It is a long and complicated process that takes away the rights of the clergy to celebrate mass and administer sacraments, but allows them to remain as clergy. Just like the Catholic Church believes that marriage is forever, a priest remains a priest until the day he dies.

Celibacy is a very complicated matter. There are people in and out of the church who willingly take chastity vows and live with their decision their entire lives. But for the Catholic Church, the choice is made at the moment a man decides to be ordained and dedicate himself to God, and there is no turning back.

Padre Alberto says he feels like a 21st-century priest trapped in an institution stuck in the 18th century. “Beneath this cloak, there are pants. I am still a man,” he said. He is now in the process of reflection, trying to decide how he can best serve God while following his heart. A poll conducted in South Florida by Bendixen and Associates among 400 Catholics shows support for his position. Seventy-four percent oppose the church's prohibition of priests marrying, and 81 percent believe “the celibacy requirement is antiquated and no longer viable.”

Padre Alberto does not want to be the poster child for the anti-celibacy campaign, but it might turn out that this is his new calling.

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(Maria Elena Salinas is the author of “I AM MY FATHER'S DAUGHTER: LIVING A LIFE WITHOUT SECRETS.” Reach her at www .mariaesalinas.com)

© 2009 by Maria Elena Salinas

Distributed by King Features Syndicate