The very conservative Church of Greece, part of the Eastern Orthodox communion of churches, yesterday launched a campaign to convince Greek women that life with a priest (who are allowed to marry before taking their final vows) is good. In an age of materialism and self-centeredness, the church has found that few Greek women are attracted to what they see as an austere, self-sacrificing lifestyle as a priest's wife.

The church announced that a new committee would examine "pastoral methods to obtain and prepare priests' wives." One unidentified priest interviewed by the Kathimerini, Greece's international English language newspaper, said, "They just need to be told convincingly that life with a priest is not substantially different from that with any other husband."

Church officials were quick to say that they would not be disrupting any ordinary church education or action in order to encourage young women to marry priests -- saying that, for example, church catechism classes would not be transformed into matchmaking courses.

For the full story: Church Seeking Wives for Priests.