FOOD FOR THOUGHT	CELIBACY
	Fr Francis Marsden
for 6 Sept. 1987

Travelling recently on a Wigan to London train, I was seated opposite a young couple from Liverpool. At one point, the boyfriend knocked his British Rail cup of tea all over our table. The girl was obviously very embarrassed at his clumsiness, especially in front of a clergyman. “Can’t take you anywhere,” she whispered to him. Out came the tissues and together they mopped it up.

The clerical collar obviously intrigued her. Shortly after, I heard him explaining to her “Cos Catholics believe you should give yourself completely to God.” I hadn’t been listening in, but I presume the question had been, “Is he married?” or “Why don’t priests marry?” Some spiritual intuition (or perhaps. the absence of a lady wife by my side) must have revealed to them that I was a Catholic priest, and not a Church of England vicar.

The question “Why can’t priests get married?” is common enough. Sometimes it is presented as if the Church infringes a priest’s human rights in preventing him marrying. On the contrary, the priest accepts celibacy by his own free will. Surely, a man has the right to refrain from marriage because he wishes to concentrate on preaching the Gospel?

Before a man is ordained deacon in the Latin rite, the bishop asks him:  “In the presence of God and the Church, are you resolved, as. a sign of your interior dedication to Christ, to remain celibate for the sake of the Kingdom and in lifelong service to God and mankind?”

The candidate answers “I am.” The bishop adds, “May the Lord help you to persevere in this commitment.” Amen.

What is the great importance of celibacy, such that the Latin rite (usually) insists upon it for priestly ordination? The bishop’s address tells us that it is “a sign and a motive of pastoral charity, and a special source of spiritual fruitfulness in the world.”

It helps a man “to adhere more easily to Christ with an undivided heart,” and to be “more untrammeled in the ministry of Christian conversion and rebirth.” It gives witness that God is to be loved above all else.

To worldly minds, celibacy is nonsense, an archaic peculiarity, bizarre and unhealthy. However, those who have the Spirit of God can see its value. It is closely linked with the spirit of prayer, poverty and obedience to Christ. Obviously, it leaves a priest freer to serve God in his ministry. He does not have to spend time and energy caring for a wife and children.

On a more profound level, celibacy is intended to facilitate a closer relationship with Our Lord, a deeper friendship with Jesus. It is, one can say, a form of marriage and total consecration to God. It is a literal imitation of Christ, who remained unmarried for the sake of his mission. Celibacy conforms a man to Christ more closely. It is a sign to all people — even the couple on my train — that our ultimate destiny is with God, and it is He whom we should serve above all others.

The celibacy of the Latin clergy is a matter of Church law rather than divine law. However, Church law itself has been guided in its development by the Holy Spirit. Celibacy has a long and venerable tradition, going back to the council of Elvira (AD 306). This was the first Council to impose total sexual abstinence upon married bishops, priests and deacons. Century after century, synods and councils exhorted married priests and deacons to continence (abstinence from sexual relations).

Moreover, although married men could be ordained, it was never permitted for priests already ordained to enter upon a new marriage. Since Holy Orders involved this call to continence, the wife’s consent to her husband’s ordination was essential.

Transgressions of the laws on celibacy and continence were frequent. Pope Gregory VII (1074) started a major reform and tightening up. The four Lateran Councils (1123-1215) continued this.

Today celibacy is a valuable sign of contradiction and self-sacrifice in a world grown indulgent over sexual matters. It is by no means certain that the relaxing of the celibacy law would help the western Church. In terms of vocations, Churches with married clergy are often worse off than the Latin Catholic Church.

For example, in Yugoslavia (1970) the Orthodox Church (9 million members) had 800 seminarians for its married priesthood. The Catholic Church (7 million) had 4,500 seminarians for its celibate clergy. The Lutheran Evangelical Church of the Rhineland (married clergy) had 1527 pastors for 4 million faithful. The corresponding Catholic archdiocese of Cologne had 1717 priests for 2.8 million faithful. In England, there are far more vacant Anglican and Methodist livings than priestless Catholic parishes.

The bishops of Vatican II declared themselves (7.12.65) in favour of retaining priestly celibacy in the Latin Church by 2390 votes to 4. Given the perspective of centuries, any sudden development towards married priests would seem unlikely. More likely perhaps is the ordination of married men in the Third World, provided that they take a vow of perpetual continence, following the usual tradition back to the 5th century.

Cardinal Höffner (Cologne) made an important point when he wrote:  “Like consecration to celibacy, consecration to the priesthood stems from a decision taken in a spirit of faith. In the course of her history, the Church has always renewed herself through increasing her donation to Christ, never by diminishing it.”

In the words of Roger Schultz, prior of the ecumenical community of Taizé, “Men and women who live a life of celibacy for Christ’s sake, receive in so doing a mission of openness to everyone and anyone without any boundaries, and a profoundly human understanding of every situation, of every fellow human being.” They are called “to become brothers and sisters, of all men for the sake of Christ and the Gospel.”

A shining ideal. Please pray for your priests, that we may be better able to live up to it.