BOB ABERNETHY (anchor): Last year, just over 500 men were ordained as Catholic priests in this country -- about half the number ordained in 1965. One of the reasons for the current shortage of priests is that so many men have left the priesthood to get married. Because of that, some have suggested that the Church consider making priestly celibacy optional.

To average Catholics, it may be hard to imagine their priest with a wife and children. But, to a limited extent, it is already happening. Judy Valente reports.

JUDY VALENTE: Most Catholics have never seen this before: their priest, at Mass, wearing a wedding ring -- with his wife and children looking on from the pews.

His name is David Medow. And until 10 days earlier, he had been a Lutheran minister.

(to Father Medow): Did you grow up with much knowledge of Catholics?

FATHER DAVID MEDOW (St. Mary Immaculate Church, Illinois): I grew up with no knowledge of Catholics, other than seeing these exotic blue-dressed figures walking in the streets of my neighborhood in Chicago going to a local parochial school.

VALENTE: Before he could be ordained, Medow had to spend two and a half years in Catholic seminary. He represents a small but potentially significant phenomenon in the Catholic Church: the ordination of former Protestant clergymen -- who are married.

FATHER MEDOW: I loved being Lutheran. But God has called me into this community, and I really had grown into being Catholic in many ways. Not only spiritually but theologically.

VALENTE: (to Mrs. Jane Medow): How have you been welcomed in the parish?

MS. JANE MEDOW (Wife): People have been very accepting, they're very excited about David coming here.

HANNAH MEDOW (Daughter): A lot of kids have come up to me and gone, like, "Whoa, your Dad's gonna be a priest." And they were really surprised.

NIKOLAI MEDOW (Son): We really did this as a whole family. And that's what makes it what it is: a family journey.

VALENTE: Father Medow's arrival at St. Mary Immaculate Parish did raise a few eyebrows.

FATHER MEDOW: Many folks have wondered, well what's gonna happen to Jane, my wife, after I'm ordained. As if somehow we will have to either separate or whatever. I've jokingly said to some people, "Well, she'll have to go to a convent, and we're distributing our kids to various religious communities."

VALENTE: Father Christopher Phillips, of San Antonio, had been an Episcopal priest. His transition to Catholic priesthood was easier because Episcopal seminary training is similar to that of Catholics.

In the early 1980s, after the Episcopal Church had approved women's ordination and other liberal policies, Phillips and about 20 other Episcopal priests petitioned the Vatican to let them become Catholic clergymen. Pope John Paul II said "Yes."

Father William Stetson reviews the petitions.

FATHER WILLIAM STETSON: The specific issue was the question of the ordination of women. I believe these men felt that that was a significant departure from [the] universal tradition of the church, which one branch of the church could not reach on its own. These were also men holding a strong belief in tradition.

FATHER PHILLIPS: For me the biggest issues were the moral issues. The right to life, [the] abortion question, contraception, a number of things like that.

Father Phillips has five children -- two of them born since he became a Catholic priest. The acceptance of Father Phillips and other married men as priests has raised questions about the rule that requires other priests to be celibate.

MR. RICHARD SIPE (Former Benedictine priest): I think it shows the contradiction in the church's teaching.

Richard Sipe was a Benedictine priest for 18 years. He is also a psychotherapist who has counseled members of the clergy.

MR. SIPE: I think it's an acknowledgement that married men can be as dedicated servants of the people as non-married men. I think it's a step. I think it's a link. I think probably it's a very wise step toward the evolution of a married priesthood.

VALENTE: The Church defines celibacy this way: as a special gift from God by which sacred ministers can adhere more easily to Christ with an undivided heart and can more freely devote themselves to the service of God and humankind.

Sipe calls celibacy an ideal, but often not a reality.

MR. SIPE: A person who claims celibacy and is sincerely trying to be celibate isn't always sexually abstinent. And isn't sexually abstinent consistently.

VALENTE: The Church itself has said that celibacy is not essential to the priesthood. In fact, the Vatican recognizes the married clergy in the eastern Catholic churches of the Middle East, Africa, and Eastern Europe. Here at a Ukrainian Catholic Church in Chicago, James Bankston is being ordained a deacon, as his wife and two young daughters watch. He could become a priest next year. The Eastern churches have always had the tradition of a married clergy.

FATHER RICHARD KIROUAC (Ukranian Catholic priest): Celibacy was seen as the vocation of the monk. It is a special charism. It is [a] gift given by the Holy Spirit for those who are able to accept it. The authentic tradition would see that as a gift of love, and love cannot be legislated.