'Married priesthood is a jewel'

Fay Hancock, who blogs at Fay's Catholic Thoughts, interviews a Maltese married Catholic priest:

I had the pleasure and honor to interview Fr. Daniel Bartolo, a Maltese married Catholic priest. I hope you enjoy his answers to my questions as much as I did.

Q: Were you ordained a priest before or after your marriage ? If after your marriage, then how did you get the approval of the Catholic church?
A: I was ordained before choosing to live with my wife. I did not ask for the approval of the church nor did I get one. I simply moved on..

Q: Do you think not allowing married priests in the Catholic church will hurt the recruitment of Catholic priests in the future and vise versa?
A: I think that married priesthood is a jewel as much as celibate priests. It should appeal to today's generation for various reasons. If presented well to the people it would add to the beauty of priesthood. It could be the missing link in today's vocation camp. Consequently it would help the recruitment of Catholic priests..

Q: What do you think of the gay Catholic priests? Do you think it's fair to almost ban gay men from the priesthood?
A: I don't see why we put all this emphasis on the sexual part or intentions of a person. Why don't we focus on other qualities which surely are needed for today's ministers: understanding other people; delivering the right message for the right people; planning pastoral action; reading the signs of the times, leaving the comfort of the cloistery to live in the world etc.....I don't have any problems with gay people and I don't see why they shouldn't be ordained..

Q: Do Catholics represent a minority or majority in Malta?
A: The Catholics represent the majority according to the baptism register. According to other criteria, then things are changing pretty fast. In fact, when studies are done in order to find what people believe and what they do in everyday life, the surprises are the order to the day.

Q: What's the best Maltese meal? :-)
A: There are various meals: rabbit, widow's soup [widow's soup was supposed to be for very poor people ie. Literally boiling water with some vegetables. Today it has become a heavy meal!] (!!), local fish (el dorado), local cow's meat, local bread together with tomatoes, olives, oil etc...

A brief history of the celibate priesthood by Robin Mejia