The Jewel of Celibacy

by Dr. Jeff Mirus, October 23, 2009

Phil Lawler is undoubtedly correct that the rule of celibacy will not be relaxed for Catholics of the Roman Rite when married Anglican priests begin to appear under a new Catholic ordinariate. He may also be correct that Eastern Rite churches will gradually permit more of their married clergy to serve in the West as we become accustomed to married clergy through a growing familiarity with our Anglo-Catholic brethren. (See The Anglicans and the Eastern Churches.)

But the official policies of the Roman Rite and the Eastern Rite churches do not exhaust the issues raised by an increase in the number of married priests. The first issue is whether those who want the Church to change the law of celibacy will use the occasion to increase their pressure. This must be answered in the affirmative by any sane observer of the dissident Catholic scene.

The second issue is whether the Church’s “celibacy morale”, so painstakingly rebuilt over the past twenty years, will be lowered once again. Will the faithful become even more confused about celibacy? Will some Roman Rite priests think it “hard” that no special provision is made for them to marry? Will some potential future priests begin to hope once again for a relaxation of the celibacy requirement? Surely all of this is likely.

After all, it is hard to justify the imposition of celibacy by law purely on the basis of “how we do things here” while maintaining the position that it is perfectly acceptable to do things another way “there”, especially when here and there are in the same culture. This is nothing new, of course, but insofar as the proposed Anglican ordinariate utilizes married priests who become familiar to other Catholics, questions and even doubts will invariably arise.

Celibacy is Always Preferred

For this reason, it is important to state the plain truth that celibacy is the preferred state for a priest of any rite. This is eloquently attested even in the Eastern Catholic churches by the fact that a priest cannot marry after he has been ordained, and that bishops cannot be married at all. The Eastern Churches will often ordain a man who is already married, but they will not permit an unmarried priest to marry later, or a married priest to remarry after the death of his spouse. Further, the fullness of the priesthood—the episcopate—can be exercised only by unmarried men.

On this last point, it will be interesting to see how the Vatican handles the problem of married Anglican bishops. We find a full-fledged commitment to married clergy only in Anglicanism, which developed largely in direct rebellion against the Catholic Church and under the influence of both the Protestant Revolt and the English monarchy. The Eastern Churches did not develop so much in rebellion against Rome, although rebellion certainly existed on the political level, as on a separate path in which a common Tradition informed the changeable provisions of ecclesiastical discipline in slightly different ways.

Some in the Eastern Catholic Churches (though not many, I think) might contest my statement that celibacy is the preferred state for a priest of any rite. But many would contest my own pragmatic reading of the current situation, which leads me to suspect strongly that only a monumental historical accident—consisting chiefly of the need to heal the grave wounds of schism—has prevented celibacy from being the rule for all Catholics of whatever rite. But since all ecclesiastical discipline is human, and no ecclesiastical discipline infallibly produces what it aims at, this is a debatable proposition. One can argue about which disciplines are inspired by the Holy Spirit and which are permitted by men “because of the hardness of their hearts”. Indeed, one can be appalled by Eastern Rite seminarians who delay ordination until they have had a chance to find wives; but one can also look askance at the attraction of Western homosexual seminarians to a celibate priesthood.

While my historical perspective is eminently debatable, however, the proposition that celibacy is to be preferred even when it is not legislated was clearly and authoritatively taught in Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Sacerdotalis Caelibatus (The Celibacy of the Priest), issued on June 24, 1967. The encyclical was promulgated not just to the Roman Rite bishops but to “the bishops, priests and faithful of the whole Catholic world”. In his encyclical, the Pope points both to the Eastern practice of requiring celibacy for bishops and the strong witness of the Eastern Fathers of the Church as evidence that a preference for celibacy is enshrined everywhere throughout the whole Church.

The Reasons for Ecclesiastical Law

The question, then, is not whether celibacy is to be preferred but whether it should be prescribed by ecclesiastical law. While recognizing the respect due to the alternative approach taken by the Eastern Churches, and to those among their priests who happen to be married, Pope Paul stresses the immense value and intrinsic superiority of celibacy for priests. This superiority consists in a greater conformity to Christ, who was celibate; a greater sign of the supernatural Kingdom in which we will neither marry nor be given in marriage; a greater sign of total service to the Church and to the nurture of souls; a greater self-possession and self-discipline; and a greater charity which, properly developed, will bear more abundant fruit in ministry.

It is this superiority, both as a sign and as an incomparable means of being configured to Christ, that led Pope Paul VI, in direct response to the near-overwhelming agitation for the elimination of celibacy in the 1960’s—and after carefully reviewing the major objections to it in the first part of his encyclical—to reaffirm that celibacy is as valid and important to the Church now as it has been at any time in history. He therefore established that it was wholly right and good to continue to give this singular Catholic tradition the force of law in the West. All Catholics, of both East and West, were intended to benefit from a deeper exploration of his reasons.

A. Conformity to Christ

The Pope’s points in favor of celibacy are divided into two parts. The first centers on conformity to the priesthood of Christ. “The Christian priesthood,” Paul writes, “being of a new order, can be understood only in the light of the newness of Christ, the Supreme Pontiff and eternal priest, who instituted the priesthood of the ministry as a real participation in His own unique priesthood” (19). The human priest looks to Christ directly as his model, Christ who brought forth a new creation through his total consecration to the will of the Father.

While matrimony “continues the work of the first creation”, Christ is the mediator of “a superior covenant”. As such, He has “also opened a new way, in which the human creature adheres wholly and directly to the Lord, and is concerned only with Him and with His affairs; thus, he manifests in a clearer and more complete way the profoundly transforming reality of the New Testament” (20). The Pope's namesake, St. Paul, gives advice to all Christians along these same lines: “The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord; but the married man is anxious about worldly affairs, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided” (1 Cor 7:32-34).

As Paul VI points out, it was “wholly in accord” with his mission that Christ remained celibate throughout His whole life, “which signified His total dedication to the service of God and men.” This deep connection between celibacy and the priesthood of Christ is reflected “in those whose fortune it is to share in the dignity and mission of the Mediator and eternal Priest” (21):

To them this is the mystery of the newness of Christ, of all that He is and stands for; it is the sum of the highest ideals of the Gospel and of the kingdom; it is a particular manifestation of grace, which springs from the Paschal mystery of the Savior. This is what makes the choice of celibacy desirable and worthwhile to those called by our Lord Jesus. Thus they intend not only to participate in His priestly office, but also to share with Him His very condition of living. (23)

B. Supernal Charity

The second part of the Pope's argument centers on charity. “The free choice of sacred celibacy,” Pope Paul states, “has always been considered by the Church ‘as a symbol of, and stimulus to, charity’: It signifies a love without reservations; it stimulates to a charity which is open to all” (24). Just as the priest is more perfectly conformed to Christ through celibacy, so too does he partake more fully in “the charity and sacrifice proper to Christ our Savior”. Thus the bond between the priesthood and celibacy should be seen “as the mark of a heroic soul and the imperative call to unique and total love for Christ and His Church” (25).

Here it is important to recall the mystery of the marriage relationship which St. Paul ascribes to Christ and the Church (see Ephesians 5, concluding with verse 32). Paul VI explains that through consecrated celibacy, priests manifest the “virginal and supernatural fecundity of this marriage, by which the children of God are born, ‘not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh’” (26). Owing to his own life of marriage to the Church, the priest is called to meditate daily on the prayer of the Church, to be nourished by the Word, to united himself totally with the Eucharistic sacrifice, and so to permit his life to acquire “a greater richness of meaning and sanctifying power” (29).

“Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone,” says the Pope, quoting the Eternal Priest, “but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (30). He goes on to explain also that the celibate priest is a richer sign of the heavenly kingdom, in which marriage between men and women passes away (e.g., Mt. 22:30). He also points briefly to all the practical considerations that make it both easier and more appropriate for an unmarried man to give himself totally to the service of his people.

A Brilliant Jewel

In the remainder of the encyclical, the Pope takes up and answers various questions regarding the potential negative impact of celibacy on those who are unsuited to it, or on human nature generally (as was often urged in the years following the sexual revolution), and he considers the importance of proper discernment and formation. These considerations need not detain us. What is most important in today’s context is that, by urging the value and importance of celibacy and by maintaining it in law, Pope Paul VI hoped celibacy would again become a sign and stimulus of a greater reliance on Divine grace, first on the part of the Church’s ministers, and consequently for the entire body of the faithful. Consider the following inspiring passage:

Supported by the power of faith, We express the Church's conviction on this matter. Of this she is certain: if she is prompter and more persevering in her response to grace, if she relies more openly and more fully on its secret but invincible power, if, in short, she bears more exemplary witness to the mystery of Christ, then she will never fall short in the performance of her salvific mission to the world—no matter how much opposition she faces from human ways of thinking or misrepresentations. We must all realize that we can do all things in Him who alone gives strength to souls and increase to His Church. (48)

In the context of the differences among Rites and ordinariates, which are likely to bring the question of celibacy to the fore again in ways that are not entirely welcome, it is vital that we try to capture the essence of the Pope’s argument in Sacerdotalis Caelibatus. Its essence is this: Celibacy in the Roman Rite is not to be tolerated as a dull burden but, in Paul VI's own words, to be “guarded as a brilliant jewel”.

The first issue is whether those who want the Church to change the law of celibacy will use the occasion to increase their pressure.

1 posted on 10/25/2009 4:31:30 PM PDT by Salvation

To: nickcarraway; Lady In Blue; NYer; ELS; Pyro7480; livius; Catholicguy; RobbyS; markomalley; ...

**it is important to state the plain truth that celibacy is the preferred state for a priest of any rite. This is eloquently attested even in the Eastern Catholic churches by the fact that a priest cannot marry after he has been ordained, and that bishops cannot be married at all. **

Food for discussion.

2 posted on 10/25/2009 4:32:31 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)

To: Kolokotronis

3 posted on 10/25/2009 4:33:27 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)

4 posted on 10/25/2009 4:35:47 PM PDT by wombtotomb

5 posted on 10/25/2009 4:36:11 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)

To: Salvation; crazykatz; JosephW; lambo; MoJoWork_n; newberger; The_Reader_David; jb6; ...

Orthodox/Catholic ping.

Although mnastic celibacy is the crown jewel of The Church, celibates, in my opinion, belong in monasteries.

6 posted on 10/25/2009 4:39:10 PM PDT by Kolokotronis (Christ is Risen, and you, o death, are annihilated!)

The solution would seem to be to abolish the formal hierarchical type priesthood and replace it with a more general priesthood of all believers that would include the married and unmarried.

That way the doctrine of celibacy is not disturbed and those who worship it may continue undistrubed.

In the meantime the Catholic church in America might well survive and thrive.

Guys, you can't make it doing little more than picking up a few Anglicans here and there. The people hunger.

Not that I'm proselytizing here ~ just giving advice ~

7 posted on 10/25/2009 4:43:38 PM PDT by muawiyah

An observation here, based on the matrimonial aspect in the article. I have posted an article I wrote on this topic below. I think one of the greatest issues in the modern day church on this issue is due to the fact that no one understands exactly WHAT matrimony IS, therefore they do not understand why it impedes a man in his vocation to the priesthood. The article attempts to explain the marriage covenant. My apologies if this post is long...

Falling in love. One of Gods most wonderful gifts, and lifes most incredible pleasures. That moment when you realize, this is THE one. Your heart skips a beat every time you see him, and you cannot believe he feels the same way as you. Wedding bells toll, and so begins the first day of your new life.

Marriage is an incredible gift. It is horrifying that over half of the people who enter into it, including Catholics, leave when it gets tough. While I know that there are cases where seperating or even divorcing may be necessary, it is absolutely and without question a very low number; the same kind of numbers we are talking about for getting an abortion in the case of the mothers life being in grave danger - extremely low.

The reason for this astronomical divorce rate is tied to the same mentality as the astronomical abortion rate - the lack of understanding the sacredness of life, and by extension, marriage. The change that occurs when a couple stands before God and declares their consent to be joined together is an unbreakable covenant, no matter the difficulty.

The change that occurs at the altar is no less profound than the one that occurs on the altar. There is a complete and total giving of self to the spouse. In Gods eyes, and the Churches, I am no longer me, but us. My husband is no longer him, but us. The two have become so completely one that we are indistiguishable as an individual.

The mystery of the covenant of marriage is mirrored in the mystery of Transubstantiation. The bread BECOMES the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Christ. It is not a symbol. It is not a bunch of words the priest says and then we hope God accepts the gifts of bread and wine as His Son; it is the complete, total, and absolute change from bread and wine to the Eucharist that occurs, same as when 2 people stand at the altar. The accidents of bread and wine are still present after the consecration, same as our married bodies are. This does not, however, diminish that which took place; we are one flesh!

With this view, the very way God sees us after marriage, divorce becomes an absurdity. The only thing you get when you divide one is half of one. You cannot be complete outside your vows. You lack that which made you whole. You cannot unring this bell.

To drive home this point even further, God in His infinite wisdom, designed us to participate with Him in our married love to bring forth life. The married state can be looked upon in design as a model of our Triune God. Two become one, and from that union as one, the family grows to become 3, or more! God speaks to us about His love, through the joining of the 2 who became one. The love you feel for your spouse in your most intimate moments is about as close as our human hearts can get to Christs love for His Bride, the Fathers perfect love for the Son, and by extension, His adopted children - all of us. God wanted us to know life giving love, and what better way than to make love life giving!

Sadly - love, commitment, and marriage have been divorced from sex in our culture. We find all kinds of ways to remove the life-giving aspect from love, and therefore, remove God from marriage. The end is predictable; contraception, infidelity, divorce, abortion, spousal abuse, pornography, the list goes on and on. Each time we make love to our spouse, we are renewing the covenant we made on that day. By removing God and His Will , we are reduced to having sex steered only by our fallen nature, and our covenant is weakened and eventually destroyed. We “fall out of love” with our spouse and start seeking that which we think will fill us with happiness again.

Jesus had some specific things to say about divorce when He was questioned on it. He told us that divorce was never in Gods plan, but OUR hardness of heart made it necessary for Moses to allow. He said that whatever God joined together, man could not divide. He said that a man should leave his mother and father and cleave unto his wife, as the two were now one flesh. That we have forgotten this is evidenced by all the divorce and “shacking up” going on today.

The Church is the Bride of Christ. He refers to our entrance into Heaven as coming to the marriage supper of the Lamb. He refers to Himself as the Bridegroom. We must, as a Church, begin to take our vows and marriage covenant deadly serious; it is apparent all through Scripture that Christ uses marriage as an analogy to our relationship with Him. I can only pray that His view of the marriage covenant is not what we have allowed ours to become.

8 posted on 10/25/2009 4:46:30 PM PDT by wombtotomb

How dare the Hierarchy create such an open Hypocracy and expect the morale of Catholic Priests to remain high.

In order to lead people in any work situation, the rules must be equal and fair through out the work environment or anger and Chaos will prevail.

I’ve spent my life leading men and such a prospect like this is intolerable.

These Guys in the Vatican are Nuts.

9 posted on 10/25/2009 4:50:40 PM PDT by chatham

To be honest, I have mixed feelings about this.

Unfortunately, we live in a sex saturated society and I think we have lost a lot of good people who have fallen prey to that culture. I am also afraid this attracts a lot of homosexuals and pedophiles to the priesthood as we have witnessed in the news lately.

I think celibacy is a virtue, but I really despair more and more every day that it is realistic anymore.

Just saying..please don’t stone me for being honest.

10 posted on 10/25/2009 5:04:23 PM PDT by Infidel Heather (In God I trust, not the Government.)

Since “celibate” really means “Not married” (not “doesn’t have sex”) this is a totally non-sensical thing.

In addition, it was my understanding that Anglicans who came to the RC church were allowed to stay married, and (presumably) fulfilled their vows of physical relations, a vow made very explicitly in the RC vows. What changed?

11 posted on 10/25/2009 5:24:13 PM PDT by TWohlford

To: Kolokotronis

celibates, in my opinion, belong in monasteries.

You won't mind if I remain at large, and celibate. I'm not even Catholic.

/johnny

12 posted on 10/25/2009 5:33:08 PM PDT by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)

I am not one to want to change my Church lightly. I still miss the Latin Mass and some other aspects of Church tradition but I'm wavering on how I feel about this. I don't know how many priests are at your parishes but at mine we have one. He is spread pretty thin and cannot as hard as he tries be in two places at once. Deacons and other laity now distribute communion something that I never saw as a child but is common today, they also give the marriage and baptism courses required. These are things the priests use to do. We have a real shortage of priests and if being allowed to marry might attract a man of faith to the priesthood than maybe it's not a bad idea.

13 posted on 10/25/2009 5:44:40 PM PDT by mimaw

I agree with you 100%.

I have also been told this is not a dogma of the Church and priests and popes were married up till sometime in the Middle Ages. (Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.)

14 posted on 10/25/2009 5:57:44 PM PDT by Infidel Heather (In God I trust, not the Government.)

To: Kolokotronis

Celibacy is a gift of neo-platonism, not Scripture.

15 posted on 10/25/2009 5:58:22 PM PDT by LiteKeeper (When do the impeachment proceedings begin?)

I do hear of parishes like yours, on occasion. I must be either very out of the loop or this is not the norm. I have attended churches in the following places as a parishoner

New Jersey
South Carolina
Florida
and as a visitor in
Delaware
Tennessee

In all of the parishes I have attended, there have been at the very least, 3 priests at each, with 2-5 deacons per church. The one I am at now, there is a Pastor, plus a full time priest, a retired priest who does Mass on occasion AND a priest who has no parish right now so our pastor is allowing him to stay at the rectory and do masses for a stipend. We also have a full time deacon. There are 5 other catholic churches in the area (within 30 minutes of my home) and all of them have at least 3 priests as well. Our seminary is graduating 17 more this spring, with full classes each year after (my son will be entering seminary next fall).

Fear not, vocations in traditional seminarys and convents are way up, many have waiting lists. My theory is that some of the more liberal orders, seminaries, and dioceses may be suffering a shortage, but as the old ones die off or are retired, there is a young, traditionalist, vibrant bunch just waiting to fufill their call.

16 posted on 10/25/2009 6:02:48 PM PDT by wombtotomb

To: JRandomFreeper

Even if I werent Catholic I would choose to remain celebate/single.

It is a liberating lifestyle choice. IMO.

I still enjoy the sight of handsome men. That will never change. ( I am female before anyone reading this gets the wrong idea)

17 posted on 10/25/2009 6:06:47 PM PDT by Global2010 (Strange We Can Believe In)

**The solution would seem to be to abolish the formal hierarchical type priesthood and replace it with a more general priesthood of all believers that would include the married and unmarried.**

This is already true for all of us at our baptism, ism’t it?

18 posted on 10/25/2009 6:08:13 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)

I hope your right but when my father took a turn for the worse we were not able to get the last rites performed before he died as our priest was giving them at a nursing home. Some of our parishes have at least two priests and laity but there is not an over abundance of priests here.

19 posted on 10/25/2009 6:09:29 PM PDT by mimaw

**The Church is the Bride of Christ. He refers to our entrance into Heaven as coming to the marriage supper of the Lamb. He refers to Himself as the Bridegroom. **

Our icon is entitled St. Edward and the Heavenly Bridegroom.

20 posted on 10/25/2009 6:09:47 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)

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