REAL debate thread for RELIGION

[Guillaume le Maréchal]

On a similar note, I feel that the whole priestly celibacy thing should be abolished. Living in a time where the priest shortage is getting worse, I feel that ordaining married men would help to a point. I know several married men who are very religious and would possibly join the priesthood.

A lot of people who know me expect me to be against priestly celibacy. I was only three months away from deaconate ordination (the step toward the priesthood wherein the promise of celibacy is made) when I left the seminary. People think that I left because of celibacy. Actually, this was not the case at all. When I left the seminary it was because of anything but celibacy, which I consider a great gift to Roman Catholic priests. The problem, after all, isn’t celibacy, but chastity. Most young men don’t seem to have a problem with the celibacy part... remaining unmarried seems to fit nicely with the jet set lifestyle. On the other hand, most young men definitely seem to have a problem with the chastity part... waiting until they are married to have sexual intercourse. If you think about it, everyone is or has practiced celibacy, just some better than others.

Celibacy is a great spiritual and pastoral benefit:
1. By creating such a great void in one’s personal spiritual life, celibacy allows more room for grace. Priests are called to fill this void with the love of God, so that they can become greater beacons for His light.

2. This void in a priest’s personal spiritual life gives him greater freedom for acts of charity, prayer and meditation, and the pastoral care of his parish. The greater freedom to practice virtue in a true spirit of poverty (not having to worry about supporting wife and children) has the potential to make the priest into a conduit of Christ’s ministry.

3. Celibacy conforms the life of the priest to the life of Christ, who placed His own priestly ministry before the ministry of a husband and father. The discipline of celibacy draws the priest closer to the life of Jesus, especially important because the priest acts in persona Christi in the administration of the sacraments. While the sacraments do not depend on the priest, but on the power of God, the priest is by his lofty duty called to a life that resembles to a higher degree the life of Jesus.

4. The void created by celibacy causes real pain for the priest, and in this voluntary suffering, the priest is even further conformed to the ministry of Jesus. The priest shares by this particular suffering in the redemptive act of Christ on the cross. The priest can use celibacy “to store up in himself what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ� to use Paul’s terminology (Col 2: ... hmm... I must be Catholic because I don’t know off hand the chapter and verse).

5. Celibacy is at once a voluntary denial and an attestation to the scared character of matrimony. By the priest’s commitment to chastity while living a celibate life, he can be an example to those of us who are married to suffer through our own sufferings and challenges that marriage brings the individual. In fact, the Church insists on speaking of celibacy, not as opposed to marriage or its opposite, but, as a compliment to marriage, as existing to strengthen others’ marriages.

Of course, all of these benefits require, first grace, and secondly the full co-operation with grace on the part of individual priests. The void created by celibacy doesn’t do the priest or his parish any good if he fills it with something other than grace. I’ve known priests who have had too many hobbies and pastimes... too bad prayer and pastoral care were being neglected for remote control cars and poker night. Celibacy in the wrong hands can be very dangerous, but I don’t think this danger over-rides the potential benefits, and the vast majority of Catholic priests out there do a fine job demonstrating this.

As far as the priest shortage is concerned, I think it is important to point out that there is apparently a very similar kind of shortage among Greek Orthodox priests in the United States, and they ordain married men. There has also been a general decline in student populations at established Protestant seminaries over the past 20 years. The priest shortage has more to do with present culture and social mores than celibacy. This is not to say that a married clergy can not be part of the solution. I think the American bishops really need to take a closer look at the potential pastoral and liturgical roles that can be played by the permanent deaconate; permanent deacons can be married when they are ordained.

Regards,
Dave