I was teaching a class on sacraments at a parish last night and we discussed holy orders. It was a revelation to many that celibacy is not intrinsic to the priesthood and that we had married priests for the first few hundred years of the Latin Church.


A gentleman in class then said that regardless of the aforementioned fact, the celibate life is inherently superior to the non-celibate life. To which I forcefully repsonded, No! Of course, we didn't agree and, I guess we agreed to disagree.


I am a staunch supporter and believer in the ascetic life and thus, passionately argued for the superiority of celibecay at a certain time in my life. I don't believe in its superiority any more and I am extremely bothered by the unstated assumption in this regard that persists in Catholic circles, an assumption that is tacitly supported by the Catholic hierarchy.


I know that when I once considered the priesthood, I had felt that way. However, in retrospect, I think my assumptions were such that they had to buttress my leanings towards a celibate lifestyle. What I mean by this is that if you are a celibate, but believe that the married life is superior, then you'd most likely have a conscience problem because you are consciously chosing an inferior way of life. It is natural to argue for your state in life as not-inferior to another.


My point here is that there is very little impetus on the part of celibate priest, Bishops, Cardinals and Popes, to consistently elevate the married state to a level that it deserves, and consequently to not overstate the inherence holiness or strengths of celibacy. The reason is, to do so would create an internal conflict and raise the question of why they aren't married if marriage is so great and sanctifying? When I read what the hierarchy says about marriage, I frequently get put off. I find it so patronizing and useless. I feel like the point is to make us content where we are, and where we are is at the feet of the hierarchy, only because we are celibate.


Another lady raised the issue of the time dedicated to ministry and how a family man would be unable to devote as much time, without reserve to ministry. First of all, I have seen priestly ministry up close and I am not convinced that it is inordinately overwhelming. Priests are no more busy that teachers, lawyers, doctors, nurses, business people, professionals, etc.

The fact is that in today's society many professions are very demanding and require odd work hours. It is not a crazy idea to say that celibacy frees up a priest for ministry, because it seems to sound reasonable. It just simply is not true. The interesting thing I find is that St. Paul, in Timothy and Titus, saw a Bishop's family life as a way to determine how effective he can be in church governance. If he can't govern his children well, how then shall he govern the house of God?


The Catholic hierarchy as a whole is not going to change its attitudes towards marriage and celibacy any time soon, but what I worry about is the unyielding stubborness that may cause a break in the wall. There has to be a reasonable amount of elasticity in the Church's outlook or when things change, they'll change with such a force. I only point to Vatican II as an example. For better or for worse, the magnitude of change, at so late a time, had catastrophic effects which we are still recovering from.


God bless our priests, and God knows, I have in my close circle of friends, not a few priests, so I try to be careful when I discuss celibacy so as not to make it seem like I don't like priests. But the structure of unchecked power in the hands of an undiverse group never bodes well for anyone.

So what should the hierarchy do? I'm not recommending anything, all I would like to see is an honest and frank reflection and discussion on the issue.