Isn't it contradictory to allow some Catholic priests to be married but not others?

[clintjw]

It is my understanding that the tradition of the Latin rite church has been for priests as well as bishops to take vows of celibacy, a rule that has been firmly in place since the early Middle Ages. Even today, though, exceptions are made. For example, there are married Latin-rite priests who are converts from Lutheranism and Episcopalianism. But if some Catholic priests can be married and others can’t, isn’t this contradictory?

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

No. Most Latin-rite priests enter the seminary knowing that it is a disciplinary requirement for them to take a vow of celibate chastity in order to be ordained as a priest in the Latin rite of the Catholic Church. Married clerical converts, on the other hand, entered ministry without that expectation. The Church allows them to be ordained, even though they are married, with the understanding that if their wife predeceases them, they will be bound by the same celibate chastity as other Latin-rite priests and may not remarry.