An Irish bishop, Leo O’Reilly, has proposed that his colleagues should respond to Pope Francis’ invitation to be creative in solving problems of ministry by themselves considering the ordination of married men to the priesthood. Dioceses such as Dublin, with only two priests under the age of 40, and 44 over 70, and parishes of over 11,000 Catholics without a priest, surely cannot afford to wait the decades which it will take to resolve such a laudable and necessary initiative. Is it not now time, then, for priests in Britain forcibly to advise our episcopal and religious superiors that we urgently want to welcome back the many hundreds of priests who are excluded from active ministry precisely because they have married, and who would find both spiritual and emotional fulfilmen