Accessed: 9/5/19 from comments section in Catholic World Report:
Fr. Marc
As evidenced in the comments, people throw out statements as if they are factual. Truth be told, there is little historical data to back it up. A statement, for example, all the apostles lived celibate lives or that Melchizedek was celibate. In reality, no one knows! Where is that historically documented? Those are speculative statements. Fort he sake of truth and clarity, please stop! In addition, to say that the wife of a priest causes resentment in the parish is another speculative argument. Unless a person has taken a survey of the vast majority of parishes with married clergy, again stop throwing out specious statement to win an argument. It is neither objective or scholarly. Fact – there are wonderful examples of pastors who are married and celibate. Fact, there are examples of unworthy pastors both married and celibate.
Historically, we know for certain one apostle was married and that is it. Saint Paul, however, does make reference that other apostles were married. We do know also: no where does the Lord mandate celibacy for the priesthood. It was left to the individual person to choose, and it was to be lived for the Kingdom. It had nothing to do with priesthood. As identified in Sacred Scripture, whether one reads the Gospels or the Letters of Saint Paul, no where was celibacy associated with the priesthood. Celibacy was associated with a vocation, just as marriage. The common denominator in both states is that a vocation should be lived in community, every vocation is ecclesial! Christianity is the experience of the Trinity. The Trinity is a Community of Persons united in love. The two vocations of the Christian are therefore really to be married or monastic (in the West another form of monasticism evolved called consecrated life.)
Since the earliest of days of Christianity, priesthood has been associated with ministry. The teaching about a priest being radically conformed to Christ is a late development and has brought about many problems in the West. Scripturally and according to the early Church all the baptized are conformed to Christ, it is the universal call to holiness. Again, priesthood is a service for the building up of the Body of Christ. Otherwise, one of the pitfalls is to view the priesthood somehow as a higher state of life than the lay state, because the priest is more conformed to Christ. Automatically that excludes women from being more perfectly configured to Christ and for that matter all the laity.
First conclusion, on the one hand, as evidenced in the early centuries of the Church, both East and West, a priest could be married or celibate. Nevertheless, it did not effect his ability to minister the sacraments and preach. On the other hand, men and women who have the grace to live more radically the Gospel and be configured to Christ could choose freely to live the radical state of celibacy, however, in community! One side note, looking at the tradition, all Christians are expected to live some form of celibacy throughout their lives- even the married person.
What we know as well: the Old Testament priesthood married, and the Lord chose for sure one married man, Peter, to be an Apostle, priest and bishop. The Lord did not come to abolish but fulfill the Old Testament. It would seem in continuity with the Old therefore to maintain a married priesthood in the New Testament; again, because priesthood is a ministry in service to the Church – old and new. In the comments above, certain persons remarked that the apostles became celibate. That is speculation and no one knows how that may have looked. Therefore, comments about living with their wives, living separately, living continence are sheer conjecture. Commentators also make another egregious error. They associate and interchange the words apostles and priesthood and make the unverifiable claim that priests in the early church lived as the apostles. The New Testament and early Church writings however do not make such an association. According to the tradition there was a genuine distinction between an apostle and priesthood.
We know also that Saint Paul encouraged those who could live celibacy for the Kingdom to do so, but it was a personal opinion of his and was not a divine commandment. A married clergy has been around since the beginning, but mandatory celibacy has not. That is factual and historical! The cited authors, above, such as Cochini and Stickler document it. There is historical evidence of perfect continence among the married clergy. Nonetheless, they were married. Mandatory celibacy was a slow evolution over the course of centuries; it is a Church and man-made discipline for good or ill -nonetheless, it is not a divine commandment. Thus, a married clergy is of apostolic origin. Mandatory celibacy evolved and is an ecclesiastical discipline; it is not apostolic. Both the Eastern and Western Churches emphasize different aspects of the tradition, and a married clergy is one of those examples. As noted in some comments above: there have been many noble and dedicated Christ-like priests who have served the Church that were married and celibate.
To equate celibacy with missionary zeal is a bogus argument, exemplifies western ignorance and insults the East. It was not the western church that evangelized the entire asian continent; it was the Churches of the East – the ones with married clergy. The eastern Church evangelized much of Eastern Europe, all of the Middle East, Russia, parts of Africa, Japan and Alaska, not the Church of the West. The Eastern Churches had evangelized parts of China and Mongolia long before Poland was evangelized. That is a lot more territory than the West ever evangelized. The collapse of missionary activity was due to one major factor: Islam. The Christian East went from a thriving, evangelizing Church into self-preservation mode. Read also the history of how the Irish clergy in the late 1800s and early 1900s treated the eastern Catholics in the United States. It was pretty disgraceful and oppressive!!!!!! Please westerners set aside your biases about the East. The first one thousand years was dominated by the East in so many ways and provided the foundation upon which the western Church was able to build in the second millennium. As so common, the western church evolved and developed doctrines and practices that actually deviated from the more ancient traditions upheld by the East. One case in point a mandated celibate clergy.
Finally, the East has a better appreciation of human nature and its theology emphasizes better and more correctly the Communitarian God. If a man chooses to live celibacy he should be living in a community of other celibates and in a ecclesial- life that respects, understands and supports the gift of celibacy. Why? Man is made in the image of a Triune God. The human person, including the priest, should be living in some kind of ecclesial community or domestic church rather than as individuals isolated, disconnected and alienated, which is the common experience of diocesan Latin Rite priests in the United States, today. Due to such isolation and alienation, many celibate priests live their celibacy selfishly – to spend it on themselves – to deal with the harmful effects of loneliness. They turn toward alcoholism, materialism, excessive traveling, sex, etc. The human person is social, communitarian by nature and needs intimate friendships, i.e. a community of some sort whether it be marriage, an oratory or a monastic group. Personally, I have found more times than not the Eastern married clergy much friendlier, humane, human, healthy, kind and down to earth than the Latin celibate clergy who tend to come across cold, institutional, bitter and defensive. Worse, in the celibate monarchical structure of the diocesan life too many priests live lives with little accountability to anyone. They live as bachelors. They tend to live better than most of their parishioners and do not have to make the sacrifices married men must for the sake of their families or a celibate living in a community where there is accountability and sacrifice. Married men who own their own businesses have the demands 24/7 of running a business along with the demands of family life and all the burdens to meet the family’s financial burdens. They are fortunate to have maybe one day to rest. Meanwhile, the celibate priest has a fairly comfortable life – guaranteed employment, guaranteed salary, guaranteed health insurance, guaranteed place to live, and takes one to two days off, takes vacation time, and for all intense and purposes is not accountable to anyone, etc. Frankly, a married man – priest and layman – often times lives a life of greater sacrifice in this Country than the celibate priest.
Second conclusion: God is Trinitarian – Communitarian. In Genesis, God created Eve so that man would not be alone in his mission. Even the Lord had Twelve Apostles with Him during His entire public ministry and before His death He entrusted Mary, His mother, to John. If the western Church will continue to mandate celibacy of her priests, the Institution needs to be reformed on how it is lived. It should never be lived in isolation, otherwise, such a state lends itself to becoming a psychological burden and a source of loneliness. In a culture predisposed toward rugged individualism it has taken a serious toll on the priesthood in the United States. What is more, the Church by nature is ecclesial and the the baptized person is called and made to live in community. Might this be part of the discussion!!!
Since the earliest of days of Christianity, priesthood has been associated with ministry. The teaching about a priest being radically conformed to Christ is a late development and has brought about many problems in the West. Scripturally and according to the early Church all the baptized are conformed to Christ, it is the universal call to holiness. Again, priesthood is a service for the building up of the Body of Christ. Otherwise, one of the pitfalls is to view the priesthood somehow as a higher state of life than the lay state, because the priest is more conformed to Christ. Automatically that excludes women from being more perfectly configured to Christ and for that matter all the laity.
First conclusion, on the one hand, as evidenced in the early centuries of the Church, both East and West, a priest could be married or celibate. Nevertheless, it did not effect his ability to minister the sacraments and preach. On the other hand, men and women who have the grace to live more radically the Gospel and be configured to Christ could choose freely to live the radical state of celibacy, however, in community! One side note, looking at the tradition, all Christians are expected to live some form of celibacy throughout their lives- even the married person.
What we know as well: the Old Testament priesthood married, and the Lord chose for sure one married man, Peter, to be an Apostle, priest and bishop. The Lord did not come to abolish but fulfill the Old Testament. It would seem in continuity with the Old therefore to maintain a married priesthood in the New Testament; again, because priesthood is a ministry in service to the Church – old and new. In the comments above, certain persons remarked that the apostles became celibate. That is speculation and no one knows how that may have looked. Therefore, comments about living with their wives, living separately, living continence are sheer conjecture. Commentators also make another egregious error. They associate and interchange the words apostles and priesthood and make the unverifiable claim that priests in the early church lived as the apostles. The New Testament and early Church writings however do not make such an association. According to the tradition there was a genuine distinction between an apostle and priesthood.
We know also that Saint Paul encouraged those who could live celibacy for the Kingdom to do so, but it was a personal opinion of his and was not a divine commandment. A married clergy has been around since the beginning, but mandatory celibacy has not. That is factual and historical! The cited authors, above, such as Cochini and Stickler document it. There is historical evidence of perfect continence among the married clergy. Nonetheless, they were married. Mandatory celibacy was a slow evolution over the course of centuries; it is a Church and man-made discipline for good or ill -nonetheless, it is not a divine commandment. Thus, a married clergy is of apostolic origin. Mandatory celibacy evolved and is an ecclesiastical discipline; it is not apostolic. Both the Eastern and Western Churches emphasize different aspects of the tradition, and a married clergy is one of those examples. As noted in some comments above: there have been many noble and dedicated Christ-like priests who have served the Church that were married and celibate.
To equate celibacy with missionary zeal is a bogus argument, exemplifies western ignorance and insults the East. It was not the western church that evangelized the entire asian continent; it was the Churches of the East – the ones with married clergy. The eastern Church evangelized much of Eastern Europe, all of the Middle East, Russia, parts of Africa, Japan and Alaska, not the Church of the West. The Eastern Churches had evangelized parts of China and Mongolia long before Poland was evangelized. That is a lot more territory than the West ever evangelized. The collapse of missionary activity was due to one major factor: Islam. The Christian East went from a thriving, evangelizing Church into self-preservation mode. Read also the history of how the Irish clergy in the late 1800s and early 1900s treated the eastern Catholics in the United States. It was pretty disgraceful and oppressive!!!!!! Please westerners set aside your biases about the East. The first one thousand years was dominated by the East in so many ways and provided the foundation upon which the western Church was able to build in the second millennium. As so common, the western church evolved and developed doctrines and practices that actually deviated from the more ancient traditions upheld by the East. One case in point a mandated celibate clergy.
Finally, the East has a better appreciation of human nature and its theology emphasizes better and more correctly the Communitarian God. If a man chooses to live celibacy he should be living in a community of other celibates and in a ecclesial- life that respects, understands and supports the gift of celibacy. Why? Man is made in the image of a Triune God. The human person, including the priest, should be living in some kind of ecclesial community or domestic church rather than as individuals isolated, disconnected and alienated, which is the common experience of diocesan Latin Rite priests in the United States, today. Due to such isolation and alienation, many celibate priests live their celibacy selfishly – to spend it on themselves – to deal with the harmful effects of loneliness. They turn toward alcoholism, materialism, excessive traveling, sex, etc. The human person is social, communitarian by nature and needs intimate friendships, i.e. a community of some sort whether it be marriage, an oratory or a monastic group. Personally, I have found more times than not the Eastern married clergy much friendlier, humane, human, healthy, kind and down to earth than the Latin celibate clergy who tend to come across cold, institutional, bitter and defensive. Worse, in the celibate monarchical structure of the diocesan life too many priests live lives with little accountability to anyone. They live as bachelors. They tend to live better than most of their parishioners and do not have to make the sacrifices married men must for the sake of their families or a celibate living in a community where there is accountability and sacrifice. Married men who own their own businesses have the demands 24/7 of running a business along with the demands of family life and all the burdens to meet the family’s financial burdens. They are fortunate to have maybe one day to rest. Meanwhile, the celibate priest has a fairly comfortable life – guaranteed employment, guaranteed salary, guaranteed health insurance, guaranteed place to live, and takes one to two days off, takes vacation time, and for all intense and purposes is not accountable to anyone, etc. Frankly, a married man – priest and layman – often times lives a life of greater sacrifice in this Country than the celibate priest.
Second conclusion: God is Trinitarian – Communitarian. In Genesis, God created Eve so that man would not be alone in his mission. Even the Lord had Twelve Apostles with Him during His entire public ministry and before His death He entrusted Mary, His mother, to John. If the western Church will continue to mandate celibacy of her priests, the Institution needs to be reformed on how it is lived. It should never be lived in isolation, otherwise, such a state lends itself to becoming a psychological burden and a source of loneliness. In a culture predisposed toward rugged individualism it has taken a serious toll on the priesthood in the United States. What is more, the Church by nature is ecclesial and the the baptized person is called and made to live in community. Might this be part of the discussion!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment