“Celibacy is hereditary. If your parents didn't have sex, the chances are you won't have sex.” -Anonymous.
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“The position is undignified, the expense ruinous and the pleasure only momentary.” -The Duke of Wellington
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“Shopping is better than sex. At least after shopping, if you're not satisfied, you can exchange it for something you really like.” -Adrienne Gusoff
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I’m going to suggest that a real factor in the growing vocation shortage two root causes: first, because parents no longer encourage their children to pursue vocations in religious life or ordained ministry; and second, because Church authorities (at least that is my sincere hope) are increasingly careful in accepting men for seminary with the goal of ordaining intelligent, emotionally mature men capable of living a faithful, celibate life style, witnessing in a positive manner to the Christian life.
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Remembering that celibacy is a discipline or rule legislated by the Church, and is neither a doctrine nor a dogma, a regular married priesthood for the Catholic Church within the next ten years is possible and likely. We need to remember that the door has already been opened by Pope Paul VI. In the 1967 encyclical Sacerdotalis Caelibatus, written to reinforce the "Sacredness of Celibacy" in the face of growing calls to rethink the traditional requirement, Pope Paul VI explained that while celibacy is a "dazzling jewel," it is not "required by the nature of the priesthood itself. This is clear from the practice of the early church itself and the traditions of the Eastern churches." But while affirming the importance of celibacy as a general law of the Church, the Pope permitted that married persons who enter the Church from other Christian traditions may in some cases be ordained as priests. He emphasizes, however, that this must not be understood as a real relaxation of the law, nor seen as a first step to its abolition. There are currently three married priests in our diocese, and approximately 450 nationwide. (It is important to note that the wife of one of these priests has offered herself as the poster-child for a celibate priesthood, for reasons I will note later.) Ultimately Pope Paul expressed a doubt that relaxing the law of celibacy would help increase vocations to the Catholic priesthood, by noting that it has not done so in other Christian traditions.
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Many are outspoken, insisting that a more heterosexual celibate clergy would certainly be desirable but in itself would not end sexual scandals. As research and statistics show, heterosexuals are quite as capable of sexual misbehavior as homosexuals are, and Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart and others are disgraces to the ministry.
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Catholics, and the majority of Christian traditions, believe that Holy Orders or ordination, like Marriage, is a Sacrament (or some variation of that concept,) a source of potentially world-changing power given by God for the building up of the Church, the Body of Christ in the world. In fact, it is precisely the holiness of Marriage that makes celibacy so precious; for only what is good and holy in itself can be given up for God as a sacrifice. Just as the fasting and abstinence in this season of Lent presupposes the goodness of food, celibacy presupposes the goodness of Marriage. To reject the possibility and value of celibacy can undermine Marriage itself. But that presents the key, as the theologians of the Eleventh, Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries were beginning to understand: Holy Orders and Matrimony as sacraments call for the giving of 100% of oneself to the Other of the Sacrament. In Marriage two individuals promise/vow to commit themselves 100% and unconditionally to one another and to children. In Holy Orders the individual promises/vows to commit himself to the charism, or community in the case of Diocesan priests, 100%. The difficulty then is that married priests are committed sacramentally to 200%, which is a lovely concept but not humanly possible. Ultimately one or the other will get the short end of the stick. As a married priest friend says, “Either my wife is mad at me or the parish is mad at me. It’s practically impossible to make them both happy at the same time!” He says his wife “is the poster-child for a celibate clergy.”
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Both statistical data and experience show that simply discarding the rule of mandatory celibacy will not make priests more sexually responsible or mature. What is called for is training that is directed toward greater psychological maturity of clergy. The importance of clerical maturity is significant to the resolution of the celibacy crisis.
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Simply trying to reform current selection practices, excluding homosexual candidates from the ministry, revamping seminaries, reinforcing strict doctrinal orthodoxy, and urging candidates to greater holiness is simply whitewashing a crumbling wall. Ministry and priesthood seem at times to attract an overwhelming number of immature men who are often somewhat confused about their sexuality. The last four years of seminary is no time to work on issues of maturity. The preparation and evaluation must be done at the college level where problematic emotional baggage before entry into the final years of seminary should be managed.
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Although it is necessary to give significant attention to the learning of doctrine and theology, there is a much greater need for learning the true mission of the priesthood. In his 1973 book, The Priesthood, Karl Rahner discusses his interpretation of the sometimes overwhelming mission of the priest: "In a sense, (the priest) is always on duty, in the light of this sociological aspect of his life, the priest must clearly understand that he belongs body and soul, with all that he is, to this church, to her task, to her mission, her work, her destiny, and he can never disassociate himself from these things." (The Priesthood, p. 101.)
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"Celibacy is a freely chosen dynamic state, usually vowed, that involves an honest and sustained attempt to live without direct sexual gratification in order to serve others productively for a spiritual motive." (The Priesthood, p. 58.) It is probably true to say that many are called to be priests but not all are called to celibacy.
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In the 1940’s Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi said a celibate life was possible as long as the calling compensated as much love as a heterosexual relationship would in that particular individual. Preparation for that must begin in seminary with a most cautious evaluation of understanding and maturity. At the same time, the door cracked open by Pope Paul VI should be more freely expanded, with a national seminary on the model of the Orthodox traditions, which might prepared married men for priestly ministry. A third alternative would be a raise carefully selected permanent deacons to the priesthood. A final suggestion would be to bring back into the active ministry some of those men who followed all the proper procedures in order to leave the ministry (laicized dispensation) in order to marry. This last should be higher on the list, did not the hierarchy in Rome treat them as failed priests.
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In summary, the priesthood of the Catholic Church is not ever going to be an easy vocation to follow unreservedly. Celibate men will always have to deal with times of loneliness, depression, isolation, and resentment; divided loyalties will be a significant issue for the married men. Although we have been promised that all prayers are answered, we need to remember that “No,” is a complete sentence, and that God helps those who help themselves. If we really want good priests we must not expect that men will be flocking to seminaries any time in the near future. The sexual abuse crisis informs us that greater care must be taken in the selection and preparation for the priesthood, but we must also accept that there are alternative avenues for the Church to consider that are validated by Church tradition.
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Have you heard of Michael Rose's (and others') argument that the priest shortage can be explained in large part at the seminary-level. That is, many seminaries these days are being run by liberals (theologically-speaking)who are supportive of like-minded students at the expense of orthodox seminarians. Some of the descriptions he gives of subcultures at some of our more well known seminaries is disconcerting to say the least.
He does seem to have a point that some of the more conservative/orthodox dioceses have significantly more seminarians than the more liberal dioceses.
Posted by: Dan | July 09, 2007 at 12:08 PM
Have you heard of Michael Rose's (and others') argument that the priest shortage can be explained in large part at the seminary-level. That is, many seminaries these days are being run by liberals (theologically-speaking)who are supportive of like-minded students at the expense of orthodox seminarians. Some of the descriptions he gives of subcultures at some of our more well known seminaries is disconcerting to say the least.
He does seem to have a point that some of the more conservative/orthodox dioceses have significantly more seminarians than the more liberal dioceses.
Posted by: Dan | July 09, 2007 at 12:08 PM