Yet another cannibalized post from the email list I’m on – I was asked about priestly celibacy. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n
Priestly celibacy is one of those things where I don’t even try to argue from Scripture \ud83d\ude42 Many Catholics will, and our official theology throws in a few Scripture verses to support it, but the honest truth about it is that it’s church policy, a rule. If Pope Benedict wanted to (which I highly doubt!) he could send out an encyclical tomorrow that basically said “OK guys – no more celibacy – have fun!”<\/p>\n
So let me walk you through a brief history (sorry!) of priestly celibacy.<\/p>\n
At first there were no priests the way we understand them now – as far as we can tell we had small communities of believers who met in each others’ homes to celebrate an agape meal in addition to their regular Jewish practices.<\/p>\n
When the faith spread to non-Jews some elements of Jewish religion were kept, but the centerpiece became the agape meal, celebrated in remembrance (anamnesis<\/em>) of Jesus.<\/p>\n When Christianity became the official religion of the Empire, house communities became impractical – you couldn’t fit 300 people in most homes. \ud83d\ude42 So communities started gathering in public places for worship. Once this started to happen, more and more people started having a select few be the ones to lead worship – “professional worship leaders” so to speak.<\/p>\n We still had a leadership structure – a bishop was in charge of large areas of Christians, overseeing them and being the chief teacher for the area. We also had deacons, who were ordered for service in particular areas\/ministries (widows, the hungry, etc). But ministers followed the normal course of life – which was to get married.<\/p>\n However, once Christianity became “mainstream” some Christians felt that the faith was “watered down.” There were no longer many martyrs, there was no longer very much danger associated with being a follower of the Way. Many people became Christian for purely political or monetary reasons. So some people moved to the solitary desert (emulating one aspect of Jesus’ life) and lived a life of prayer, meditation, study, silence, and celibacy (imitating another aspect of Jesus’ life).<\/p>\n Many Christians, after hearing of the solitary pursuit of perfection these Desert Fathers and Mothers were practicing, went to them to receive spiritual guidance. They became benchmarks of orthodoxy and arbiters in theological disputes.<\/p>\n Eventually, many of these desert fathers and mothers attracted their own communities; people came to live lives that were simple, prayerful and totally God-focused. From the ranks of these followers we started pulling priests, deacons, and bishops. They brought with them the ideal of a life of service, prayer and study. But they also brought a penchant for celibacy – giving up sexual intercourse and marriage, not because they were evil, but because they were sacrificed for a higher good: total dedication and abandonment to the will of God and the service of His people.<\/p>\n Once we had celibate bishops, then we started to have celibate Popes, and that’s when the real trouble started! \ud83d\ude42 As early as 400 AD we have bishops recommending that priests and deacons and bishops be celibate. Not a rule, law or commandment, just an observation that without family one can be totally dedicated to the service of the Christian community. It wasn’t until around the year 1000 that celibacy became more accepted, and it was shortly afterwards that it became the rule for priests. Even then, it was still ignored by many \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n During the middle ages it became more of a problem – if priests or bishops were married, when they died the church that they were serving at became the property of their offspring – this caused the loss of much church stuff, as well as much fighting among the less-then-holy offspring of some of the priests and bishops.<\/p>\n In an effort to stop the buying and selling of Church property, the Church got tough in it’s enforcement of celibacy. There was a period of time (not a good time) when priests who were still married in defiance of Church law had their families taken from them. (We’re not perfect, and this is one of those low points in my church that I wish had never happened). After a while, celibacy became the accepted norm, though I’m sure for a while after there were still priests who had lovers or secret semi-wives – stories of country priests with maids whose children looked remarkably like the priest circulated for years. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n Nowadays, most theologically astute Catholics see it for what it is: a discipline imposed on clergy by our Church. Having said that, though, there are some arguments for priestly celibacy:<\/p>\n 1) In our day and age it is a radical statement that we are not here solely for sexual pleasure. In America and Europe especially there is a tendency to see sexual intercourse as the be all and end all of life. Priestly (and religious) celibacy argues that while it is a great good, it is not an *ultimate* good.<\/p>\n 2) It does let our priests serve 24\/7 if needed – without a family to support they can spend more time out and about, which they do. Most priests have three Masses a day to celebrate (early morning, early evening, and then funerals, baptisms, prayer services, masses for special intentions, etc.); sick calls \/ hospital calls \/ prayer calls to answer; the parish itself to run; etc. They give so much of their time to the church that very little would be left over for family. [I know that Protestant ministers have much of the same things to do – as a campus minister I find my time crunched as well – however, I do think that many families of ministers suffer in silence – even though a pastor is doing the work of God, if it’s at the expense of family time or family neglect, we’re missing the point. In my previous position (working under the Bishop doing youth minister) I was working two nights a week and two weekends a month, plus making several extended and shorter trips a year for business – my family time was almost nonexistent! – so I have great respect but also misgivings for those ministers who are married and must live a life of service to their church.]<\/p>\n 3) It offers a witness of sacrifice (close to #1 above); that is, it is a living, tangible witness to the sacrifice Jesus made.<\/p>\n 4) Many priests do have a calling for a celibate lifestyle.<\/p>\n However, as many Catholics point out, not everyone has that calling (to be celibate). And as a Church we struggle with that. It may be that at some point in the next 2,000 years the rule will change – we are losing priests here in America, but gaining them (I read of a 237% boost in priests coming from Third World nations) in other places – we’ll have to wait and see \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n Blessings & Peace,<\/p>\n Hugo<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Yet another cannibalized post from the email list I’m on – I was asked about priestly celibacy. \ud83d\ude42 Priestly celibacy<\/p>\n