I've come to the conclusion that a celibate priesthood has been a mistake from the beginning. It deprives us of a more masculine cadre of priests. It also pushes otherwise holy and devout men away from the priesthood.
Let's look at some Catholic arguments against it.
First, St. Peter, aka Simon Peter, the rock on which Jesus built his church, the first pope, was married. From Luke 4:38 we have this.
After he left the synagogue, he entered the house of Simon. Simon’s mother-in-law was afflicted with a severe fever, and they interceded with him about her. He stood over her, rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up immediately and waited on them.Second, we have Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 7.
A wife does not have authority over her own body, but rather her husband, and similarly a husband does not have authority over his own body, but rather his wife. Do not deprive each other, except perhaps by mutual consent for a time, to be free for prayer, but then return to one another, so that Satan may not tempt you through your lack of self-control.Then we have the Catechism. From the guidance of Church Father St. Thomas Aquinas, it teaches us that when established science and theology conflict, theology must be re-examined because God does not make contradictions. I think we know a wee bit more about sexual biochemistry now than we did before.
We have St. Augustine's teachings about sex as well. He claimed that unlike other actions of our bodies, sexual desire was something outside of our wills. I can't find a Scratching Post-safe excerpt to quote here, so you'll just have to find it yourself.
Finally, there is 5 Things Women Need To Know About Men, written by Dr. Allen Hunt, published by that most Catholic of all American Catholic groups, Dynamic Catholic. Number 3 on his list is a physical relationship which he says is a need, not a want.
So there are some Catholic arguments against celibacy. Now how about a pro football argument?
The Lavender Mafia of Catholic prelates have managed to lose Ireland, thanks to their own hideous sexcapades. Ireland! How do Catholics manage to lose cultural dominance in Ireland of all places? That's like getting obliterated in a football game by a close rival. After that happens, some serious, fundamental questions need to be asked and answered.
We're not there yet, I guess. Maybe we need to experience a few more thrashings.
Note: The Bears coaching staff that oversaw this slaughter is no longer with the team.
Yes, that's something I've noted for a long time.
ReplyDeleteWhat the church wants is for celibacy to be a bar to show that their priests, brothers, and nuns are truly dedicated to the Church, to the point that they are willing to deny one of their most basic urges in order to glorify God.
What the church is willing to accept is that this makes the priesthood a magnet for people with little or no sex drive who are looking for a career where their relatives won't be after them to get married and have kids.
What they all too often get, though, is people who are so ashamed of their sexual urges that they are trying to actively suppress them. They join the priesthood because they think it will help them keep their urges tamped down and make it easier to avoid acting on them. And, of course, this often doesn't work. In particular, it doesn't work when you take a bunch of young, repressed, gay men and stick them all together in a seminary. If that's not setting them up for failure, I don't know what is.
I'm interested in your thoughts on brothers and deacons. One group is celibate, the other isn't. Both have similar roles as I understand it.
ReplyDeleteYears ago we had a priest who talked about his daughter. Putting the pieces from his homilies together, it seems that he had a full career as an Army lawyer, complete with family. Wife died, he became a priest. I never did get the full story on that one.
Tim, I'm sure the requirement for celibacy is rooted in logic and derived from some solid first principles. Everything in Catholicism is. Having said that, you are right on the money about the priesthood being a magnet for evolutionary misfits, if you get my drift. I also completely agree with you that throwing a bunch of sexually hyper-frustrated men, many of whom are gay, together in close quarters for long periods of time is simply asking for exactly what we got. Add prelates who are happy to act as pimps/sodomizers/ringleaders/coverup experts and you end up with what we have now.
ReplyDeleteWay to go, guys.
tom, one of our parish priests has a daughter as well. He's one of the most stable, competent priests I've ever met. The guy has huevos, to be sure. I've got lots of friends who are deacons and the way it works is that if they become widowers before a certain age, they can enter the seminary and finish the last steps to priesthood.
ReplyDeleteOne more thing - remember when we took in a bunch of Anglican priests a while back because the Anglicans had decided that God was a transgendered lesbian or something like that? A bunch of them were married and we made an exception for them. If it worked for one group, why not others?
The Orthodox churches have two classes of priests -- a married man can become a priest buy cannot move up in the church hierarchy, e.g., become a bishop. (This is a not cheirothesia, but actually ordained priests by laying on of hands.)
ReplyDeleteHaving been part of another religion with married clergy, there is no bigger pain in the backside, them and their family. I've thought for a long time Catholic Church had the right idea.
In the town I grew up in, the Catholic priest there are widowers, plus one guy from Sudan, and another guy from India.
We've developed into a horribly prurient society -- everything is about sex. Good gracious -- just watch television. It's crazy.
"Tim, I'm sure the requirement for celibacy is rooted in logic and derived from some solid first principles. "
ReplyDeleteI'll explain it to you --
1) it is a natural aspect of the psychology of (normal) human males to put the interests of his group ahead of his own interests, even to the point of sacrificing his life for the group;
2) when a (normal) man is married, his primary group naturally becomes his wife and children.
3) the bureaucrats of The One True Bureaucracy -- which base their absurd claim to universal dominion over the souls of mankind upon a deliberate mis-reading of a single verse -- require its priests to be unmarried for much the same reason that generals (and street-gang thugs) would rather their soldiers be young and unattached: it's far easier to turn that natural masculine instinct to serving *your* ends if there isn't a woman (and children) mucking things up.
lee: "Having been part of another religion with married clergy, there is no bigger pain in the backside, them and their family."
ReplyDeleteYes, there is that, too.
Ilion: "2) when a (normal) man is married, his primary group naturally becomes his wife and children."
ReplyDeleteThat's probably why they are such pains in the backside.
It's almost like we're fallible, sinful, fallen creatures and there's no perfect solution!
ReplyDelete:-)