Celibacy in the Service of the Gospel
A sure sign of a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ is the
pronounced desire that everything the person does even in some small way
promote the Gospel. For those who have
the charism to live this way fruitfully, celibacy has been, since Jesus
himself, an especially effective way for Christians to live a life dedicated to
Christ, proclaiming the Gospel and bearing visible witness to this dedication.
But it has never been acceptable within Catholic orthodoxy to suggest that
everyone should be celibate. It has not even been acceptable within Catholic
orthodoxy to suggest that all priests
should be celibate. The practice of the Churches of the East to ordain married
men for priestly ministry has, unlike so many other things (the date of Easter,
type of bread for the Eucharist, filioque), never in the history of theology
ever been a point of theological dispute.
Given the theological and historical facts about celibacy,
it is clear that mandatory celibacy for secular priests is a custom or
practice, no matter how old and venerable, or simply practical. As such, it is
subject to the exact same criteria that any faithful follower of Jesus tries to
apply to everything he or she does: does
this practice help promote the Gospel? In the current crisis within the
Catholic Church whereby millions of Catholics are every day left without access
to the sacraments of the Church it is difficult to justify this. Mandatory
celibacy for priestly ministry is blocking the promotion of the Gospel.
Since everyone is in agreement that mandatory celibacy for
ministry is a custom rather than a theological or moral imperative, it is akin
to other customs. It should be governed by the same standards and principles as
govern other customs. Let’s use an extremely poignant example from Sacred
Scripture: mandatory circumcision. Elucidation of the points and principles is
unnecessary. Circumcision was a cultural custom that had risen within Judaism
to the status of the law. Early Christianity, very reluctantly, abolished it as
a requirement when it became apparent that it would stand in the way of
preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles. It is not a stretch to suggest that it
was only because of the courage of the early Church to abandon the requirement
of circumcision that the Church was able to spread so quickly throughout the
Mediterranean basin. It is long past time to do the same with mandatory
celibacy for the secular clergy in the West. It is, actually, a moral
imperative. The reluctance of the leaders
of the Church to make this change is confusing. The laity have never understood
it and it has certainly never been popular among rank and file clergy.