In the current debate over the possible abolition of celibacy for priests of the Catholic Church of the Roman Rite, profound and valid theological and spiritual reasons are put forward in confirmation of the value of celibacy: an added value, a strength, a choice and a beautiful and indispensable calling. Theologically, the Catholic Church sees in priestly celibacy a particular conformity to Christ, who gave Himself totally to the Father and to the Church. The celibate priest can thus express with his whole life an undivided dedication to God and to the service of His people. Celibacy is therefore a gift and a testimony to the Kingdom of God, a concrete way of anticipating already in the present life the future reality of communion with God.
The spiritual and theological reasons in favour of celibacy are therefore profound and far from outdated. But there are also very concrete reasons, connected with daily life and with the very way in which priestly ministry is exercised, which are often overlooked by those who propose abolishing celibacy and admitting married men to the priesthood.
Marriage, in fact, would introduce into priestly service a series of new responsibilities, obligations and problems that cannot be ignored. These are not theoretical questions: one need only look at the difficulties already experienced by Orthodox priests and Catholic priests of the Eastern Rites, or, even more evidently, by pastors of Protestant communities, in whom ministry is intertwined with married and family life.
We will suggest a few examples.
MONEY AND PROPERTY?
Think of the chaos that a marital breakdown could cause in the life of a parish priest. Or the housing issues: who would support the family? The Church? The parishioners? And what use could family members make of parish property and premises? What problems would arise in their dealings with parishioners? Eastern Europe has thousands of negative experiences of such cases. And, in the event of the parish priest’s death, who would take care of his family?
MOBILITY AND AVAILABILITY?
A parish priest should be available (and, if he were not even as a celibate, he would not be a good priest) and willing to go wherever there is a need.
A man who has children and a family cannot offer the same availability.
School, finding work for the children, keeping the wife’s job.
Concrete problems. One cannot move easily.
And when this were to happen, the costs could be too high, both economically and in terms of the hardship caused to the family.
A JOB OR A VOCATION?
How many people would be tempted to use the Church to support their family and live the priesthood as a job?
Let us not think only of wealthy countries: let us think of the peripheries of the world.
VULNERABILITY TO BLACKMAIL?
Think of priests in frontier contexts: Asia, South America, Africa, metropolises, Western suburbs, ghetto neighbourhoods, Mafia-controlled neighbourhoods.
A priest who, in his preaching, must denounce evil, propose the good, explain the teaching of the Church and work for the good, fight against injustices or against structures that threaten the Church even only at a spiritual or cultural level, how much freedom would he have to speak and act if he had a family whose faces, home and life were known to everyone?
Very little. Very, very little.
A husband thinks about his family. (Rightly so.)
A magistrate or a police officer faces the same risks, but at least his family members are not visible.
SUNDAYS, SUMMER CAMPS, RETREATS
Saturday afternoons and Sundays are the peak days for every priest… and they are also perhaps the only time when families have more time to be together.
The example of Orthodox priests is unsuitable because in Orthodoxy there is no oratory, there are almost no missions, prayer groups or catechism, and parishes often only celebrate Mass and administer the sacraments and then close…
Not to mention summer camps, holidays and retreats.
Can a husband leave his wife and children for such long periods?
CONFESSION AND SPIRITUAL DIRECTION
Would you like to confess your sins or ask for spiritual advice from a man who has a wife? Would you feel equally free?
Furthermore, how does the faithful person’s relationship with the parish priest get affected by the lifestyle of the wife and children?
CHASTITY AND THE CASSOCK
Is it really the same to relate to a person who knows how to be chaste and who wears a cassock (by the way, why are so many priests ashamed to be identified as priests?) as it is to someone who dresses like everyone else and has a wife.
CHASTITY AND FIDELITY
A classic objection to celibacy is: “Better that they be married than that they have a mistress.”
But a man who does not know how to be faithful to celibacy will not be faithful to his wife either.
We will have married priests who are also unfaithful to their wives.
THE FAILED EXPERIENCE OF PROTESTANTS
In English-language Protestant bookstores you can find entire sections of books about the problems faced by pastors’ wives and children and about the difficulties of managing the “community” and the “family”.
Saint Paul saw far ahead: “The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord; but the married man is anxious about the affairs of the world, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided!” (1 Cor 7:32-34, NRSV-CE), so that he may devote himself body and soul to service.
We could go on.
Beyond the spiritual and theological question, there are a thousand other reasons to prefer priests to be chaste and celibate.
Even if in the future there were fewer of them than there are today, for the Church and for us Catholics the only thing that matters is that they all belong to God, that they spend their time praying, proclaiming the Gospel and administering the sacraments.
We have no use for married priests: deacons are enough for us. Whoever wants to serve the Church can still do so in the thousand other forms of service of which there is an immense need everywhere.
We need priests who are even more chaste. Celibate men who love only God. Who have only the souls of the faithful at heart. Priests who desire to bring people to Heaven.
The rest is propaganda.
Paolo Botti
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