What Are You Looking For? Part 2: The Liturgy and the Sacraments

The Sacrament of Holy Orders: Celibacy

The Sacrament of Holy Orders: Celibacy

            In today’s world many people have an issue with the idea of celibate priests.  In reality, there are many good reasons why the Catholic Church requires that all priests be celibate.  There is actually a Biblical teaching behind it.  In 1 Corinthians 7:32-34a, St. Paul writes: “I should like you to be free of anxieties.  An unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord.  But a married man is anxious about the things of the world, how he may please his wife, and he is divided.”

            I know that this is a departure from Protestant teachings.  In the Protestant world, pastors are married.  They are expected to be married.  Their wives are seen as an essential component to the effectiveness of their ministry.  Indeed, the pastor’s wives I have known have all worked just as hard for their church as their husbands have, often while holding down a “real job” and raising their family.  Protestant pastors always have to work to find that proper balance between the work of the ministry and the care of their family.

            For Roman Catholic priests, things are different.  “Called to consecrate themselves with undivided heart to the Lord and to ‘the affairs of the Lord,’ they give themselves entirely to God and to men.  Celibacy is a sign of this new life to the service of which the Church’s minister is consecrated; accepted with a joyous heart celibacy radiantly proclaims the Reign of God.” (CCC 1579)

            This has all kinds of practical implications.  It means the priest is free to go wherever he is asked to go.  He doesn’t have to worry about how moving will affect his wife or family.  He doesn’t have to balance the demands of daily family life with the demands of the job.  He doesn’t have to choose between parent’s night at school, or his son’s football game or his daughter’s dance recital and being at the bedside of a dying parishioner. 

            In giving himself wholly to God and to the ministry, the priest is able to accept all people as his children.  He leads and guides them as a father (hence the name, Father).  It is a sacrifice he offers to God for the sake of the Kingdom, just as a married person offers the sacrifice of their time to God for the sake of their family.                   

As a society, we focus too much on priestly celibacy without taking the time to really understand it.  As the Catechism says, it is a sign.  It’s a sign of the acceptance of all that is part and parcel of the call to the priesthood.  It is a sign of someone who is willing to do what is unpopular and even misunderstood in the world for the sake of the kingdom of God.  It is a sign of his intimate union with Jesus Christ.  It is a sign to all single people that it is possible to live the celibate life, until such time as they marry because when a man accepts the vocation to the priesthood, he freely chooses to give up the vocation of marriage. 

In today’s world, the sign of priestly celibacy boldly proclaims to the world that there is a union even greater than that between a man and a woman.  That there is a union with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit that transcends all human intimacies, of which the marital embrace, is but a sign.  May God raise up more men who are willing to joyously be that sign of God’s pure love to the world.