165 It is not without reason that we insist upon this circumstance of
being _in contact with the people_. If indeed the Russian Church
were to unite herself to the Catholic Church, and the latter,
following the toleration granted to the united Greeks, allowed the
secular Russian clergy liberty to marry, the inconveniences we have
noticed would be less felt, for the reason that, besides the fact
that the Catholic Church would merely _permit_—never, either
directly or indirectly, _compel_—priests to marry, there would
always be a regular and celibate clergy side by side with the
secular and married priests, and equally with them in contact with
the people.
However, the barrenness in apostolic labors, and the inferior
condition of all the Christian communities of Oriental rite among
whom a married priesthood is permitted, oblige us to recognize in
this permission a simple concession to human frailty; and their
condition is a powerful argument in favor of the immense advantages,
if not of the moral necessity, of ecclesiastical celibacy.