The priesthood is not "an occupational choice or career path..."

Monsignor Thomas G. Bohlin, the U.S. vicar of the Catholic organization Opus Dei, addresses the issue of priestly celibacy in a post on the "On Faith" blog:

The men inspired by Pope John Paul to embrace priesthood wanted to make the sacrifice of celibacy. It was their choice, and of course there is nothing wrong with choice.

That doesn't make it any less bewildering to the general public for whom some people go into religion the same way others go into medicine or teaching. Religion is what they like and are good at. Celibacy doesn't have anything to do with it, except to turn away qualified candidates.

But Catholic tradition doesn't see priesthood as an occupational choice or career path. And the Church is not really interested in recruiting clerics who are "good at" religion and who may even make a great name for themselves as religious leaders.

Unfortunately, some Church leaders, such as Archbishop Rembert G. Weakland of Milwaukee, do see the nature of the priesthood and the even the moral teachings of the Church as malleable and ever-shifting, able to be changed based on the needs and desires of the moment (in Weakland's case, the desire for homosexual sex). But, Monsignor Bohlin points out, that simply isn't possible, even while the discipline of celibacy is itself able to be adjusted as needed:

In the Church there is only one priest, Jesus Christ, and those who are chosen to participate in his priesthood should be ready to leave everything, including career and family, to go where he wants and to serve in the way he wants. They become "less" so that Christ may become more. Their ministerial priesthood asks them to disappear and serve the priesthood of the lay faithful which is the priesthood that plays out in the workplace and the family. Celibacy is part of the self-giving that makes all of that possible.

True, priestly celibacy is not a dogma but a discipline of the Roman Church. It is not unchangeable and it admits of exceptions; for example, the married Anglican priests who have been allowed to continue to serve as priests after they have come into the Catholic Church, The Eastern Church has a different discipline. Celibacy is required only of bishops and of priests who are unmarried at the time of their ordination.

While some are called to a life of celibacy, all Catholics are called to a life of chastity. Which is why the media hubbub over ending priestly celibacy is so wrong-headed: it either ignores or is oblivious to the fact that men such as Fr. Cutie and Archbishop Weakland broke their vows of celibacy by failing the Church's universal call to be chaste: "The life consecrated to God is characterized by the public profession of the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience, in a stable state of life recognized by the Church." (CCC, par 944). The Catechism also states:

Chastity includes an apprenticeship in self-mastery which is a training in human freedom. The alternative is clear: either man governs his passions and finds peace, or he lets himself be dominated by them and becomes unhappy.  "Man's dignity therefore requires him to act out of conscious and free choice, as moved and drawn in a personal way from within, and not by blind impulses in himself or by mere external constraint. Man gains such dignity when, ridding himself of all slavery to the passions, he presses forward to his goal by freely choosing what is good and, by his diligence and skill, effectively secures for himself the means suited to this end." (par 2339)

All the baptized are called to chastity. The Christian has "put on Christ,"  the model for all chastity. All Christ's faithful are called to lead a chaste life in keeping with their particular states of life. At the moment of his Baptism, the Christian is pledged to lead his affective life in chastity. (par 2348)

Christ is the model of chastity. Every baptized person is called to lead a chaste life, each according to his particular state of life. (par 2394)

Among the sins gravely contrary to chastity are masturbation, fornication, pornography, and homosexual practices. (par 2396)

Bottom line: the dominant culture, the MSM, and the progressive dissenters are not, in the end, opposed to celibacy as much as they are opposed to chastity, which is "the integration of sexuality within the person. It includes an apprenticeship in self-mastery" (CCC, par 2395). Which is why it is important to understand and see celibacy within the larger framework of the Church's moral teachings and her vision of what it means to be authentically human, whole, redeemed, and holy.

Comments

[LJ]

"Bottom line: the dominant culture, the MSM, and the progressive dissenters are not, in the end, opposed to celibacy as much as they are opposed to chastity..."

Which is why it is critical to hold the discipline of celibacy in this age more than ever. It is sign of contradiction against the culture. It brings chastity to mind. It irritates the culture and it shows that chastity is attainable and of a higher order.

Which is also why the culture watches like a hawk for those priests and religious who stumble and fall. So we must pray for them all the more.

[jack]

I think of celibacy as more a gift of God given to the man called to the priesthood. He is strengthened and opened to love the Church as his spouse in imitation of Christ.

[jack]

I think of celibacy as more a gift of God given to the man called to the priesthood. He is strengthened and opened to love the Church as his spouse in imitation of Christ.