INTRO:
Catholic priests are known for their life of celibacy.
Records however, show
that the life of celibacy that the priests live is a sheer convention rather
than a hard-cast dogma of Catholic Church. What this means is that a radical
Pope can change it tomorrow. The celibate life of Catholic priests is not as
old as the Church. St. Peter, the first Pope of the Church was a married
man; and the apostles that
Jesus chose were, for the most part, married men. The tide began to turn against
marriage in 325 AD, in the Council of Nicea which decreed that after ordination
a priest could not marry. This decree hints the fact that marriages
which predated the ordinations were allowed. Thus, in 385 AD, Pope Siricius left his wife (he married a wife
before his ordination) in order to become Pope. In an obverse case, Pope
Benedict IX in 1045 AD dispensed himself from celibacy and resigned in
order to marry (his was not lucky marrying before his ordination, and could no
longer bear the sexual starvation). Following the position of the Council
of Nicea, Pope Gregory VII in 1074 said that anyone to be ordained must first
pledge celibacy: priests [must] first escape from the
clutches of their wives. The last straw that broke the camel’s jaw was the
decree by Pope Calistus II as an outcome from First Lateran Council in
1123 AD, that clerical marriages were invalid. This decree made all
the pre-ordination marriages which the Council of Nicea once allowed, a
nullity. The Second Lateran Council, and the Council of Trent in 1563
reaffirmed the decree. “To our sex-obsessed culture, priestly celibacy seems a
hard teaching of the Church, a heavy burden that must be borne with ascetic
grit and iron resolve,” Stephen Beale wrote. Several reasons have
been floated arising from the Bible, logic, and common sense why Catholic
priests should not marry. Some of them are hereunder discussed.
1/ Celibacy is Superior to Marriage: It is the belief of the Church that celibacy is
superior to marriage, and that it assists the more in achieving holiness. One
of the Church Fathers, St. Augustine once wrote that nothing is so powerful in
drawing the spirit of a man downwards as the caresses of a woman. In his
Letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul explained it in clearer terms: “An
unmarried man is concerned about the Lord’s affairs—how he can please the Lord.
But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world—how he can
please his wife,” (1 Corinthians 7:32-3). St. Paul himself was a celibate and
he wished everyone was like him, unmarried (7.7).
2/ Celibacy is a Time-honoured Tradition of
the Church: Celibacy stands out as
the pride of the Church.
It is simply the source of the formidable aura
radiating from the Church as the true institution of Christ Himself who was
also a celibate. The position of the Church is evident in the words of the
Popes of the twentieth century. In their words, celibacy is the “choicest
ornament of our priesthood” (Pius X), “one of the purest glories of the
Catholic priesthood” (Pius XI), and a discipline that makes the whole life of
the priest “resound with the splendor of holy chastity” (John XXIII). As her
most cherished tradition, Catholic Church’s body language to calls for change
on the tradition of celibacy for priests has been: we can but we won’t.
3/ Priests are Married to the Church: the Church
is often depicted as the Bridegroom of Christ in the Holy Book. Being
Christ personified, priests are also married to the Church, and as such, remain
“taken” in marriage market. In Catholic Church, priests are called “father,”
and the Church is often called, “mother,” as another pointer to the matrimonial
relationship between priests and the Church.
4/ Celibacy as a Sacrifice: In worship of God, many people have given up
several life goodies. Celibacy in the priestly ministry of the Catholic Church
is one of those sacrifices through which the faithful have approached the
worship of the Almighty God. And that appears to be the zenith of sacrifices
besides that of Christ on the Cross of Calvary. To every normal human being,
sexual desire is a pain in the neck.
5/ Celibacy as a Detachment from the
World: While praying for His
disciples, Jesus Christ hinted that the disciples were in the world but were
not of the world (John 17:16).
Through celibacy, Catholic priests live out
their detachment from the world. Marriage is a worldly institution. Jesus was
point blank: “At the resurrection they
neither marry nor are given marriage but are like the angels in heaven.” Celibacy
helps catholic priests to concentrate in the pastoral ministry without worries
from women and children that marriages bring about.
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