I have been meaning to write some posts on the topic of my upcoming ordination as a deacon. I thought maybe I could explain a little bit about what a deacon is and does, and what is involved in ordination to the diaconate. Today, an article caught my attention regarding priestly celibacy and I thought this might be a good starting point. Most people are aware that Catholic priests in the west make a promise of celibacy, but many are not aware that this promise is not actually made during the priesthood ordination, but rather at the diaconate ordination.
The article that caught my attention was a summary of remarks made by the notorious Fr. Richard McBrien. If you’ve ever seen a priest on TV that seems to be completely contradicting the teaching of the Church and saying ridiculously un-Catholic things…it was probably him. He seems to enjoy the spotlight of public dissent quite a bit. At any rate, his latest comments were regarding priestly celibacy and one comment particularly caught my attention.
“Can you imagine what kind of candidates we would attract to the U.S. Senate, for example, or to any other high-ranking political, corporate or academic office if a commitment to lifelong celibacy were an essential, non-negotiable requirement.”
I actually rather like the question. Let’s think about it for a minute. Taking the example of a senator, the first thing that comes to my mind is that you’d have to be pretty serious about wanting to be a senator. You’d be staking your whole life in dedication to service of your country. You’d be saying that the awesome responsibility of meeting with constituents to accurately represent their wishes in the Senate was so important that you felt you couldn’t give the time needed to this service and to raising a family. You’d be admitting that the office of senator was such a high calling and privilege that it requires a total lifetime commitment.
If senators could only be chosen from a pool of people committed to celibacy for this “high calling” then another thought comes to mind. We would quickly weed out most all of the people that are only in political office for fame or to wield power. While not foolproof, the odds increase dramatically that someone who’s willing to sacrifice so much to be a senator is probably in it for the “right” reasons. Imagine that we even took away the big salaries and fringe benefits of the senators. This would further increase the chances of getting candidates who were seriously committed and unselfishly motivated solely by a love of their country and a desire to be of service.
It seems like the above qualities would be something that we would all like to see more of in our elected officials. Wouldn’t it be nice if they thought of us at least every now and then rather than themselves? So, why not try the celibacy approach? The answer is simple. Neither we, nor anyone who would potentially run for office, really think that the office of senator is important enough to warrant such a commitment. There are certain things to which you can make a total commitment of life, to stake everything on, and political office just isn’t one of them. It’s important, but no one really thinks it’s “that” important and so no one is going to be celibate for the sake of the senate…and this is a good thing. We should love our country, but we know that it is not a good so high that we can give a total gift of self to it lest we make our country an idol.
The same is not true of priesthood. Priests and the faithful rightfully recognize that God himself really is the highest good and worthy of a total gift of self. Likewise the tradition of choosing priests from only celibate men does have the potential benefits that we saw in our hypothetical senate case above. While again not foolproof, the odds increase dramatically that men willing to commit to a life of celibacy for the sake of the kingdom are much more likely to be “in it for the right reasons” and have an authentic calling from God. There are still temptations to want to wield power and feed one’s own ego. One can certainly be a selfish, disgruntled, celibate. However, in the overwhelming majority of cases, celibacy is an authentic witness that we who are called to be priests really are willing to stake our lives on the truth of the Gospel.
In committing to celibacy there are indeed the practical, functional, gains that were present in our senatorial example. The celibate is freer to devote his whole life to being with his people and ministering to them. He is not divided (as St. Paul reminds us) between the responsibilities of caring for his parish and caring for his family. Celibacy does testify to the fact that ministry to the people is so important that it requires a total commitment and doesn’t allow for a second commitment which would shortchange both endeavors. However, the call to celibacy is not primarily for any of these “practical” and worldly gains.
Despite all the advantages we just listed, none of them really justifies celibacy. After all, we could come up with other ideas that would require great sacrifice to be a priest and thus limit the pool of men having the strength of commitment necessary. There could be lots of “weed out” requirements that could help achieve some of the same ends mentioned above. So what is so special about celibacy that it has remained for centuries and is not likely to change any time in the near future?
The answer is that celibacy is not primarily a witness to the importance of a thing, like the senate, or even a group of people, like parishioners. Celibacy is primarily a witness to a person, the person of Jesus Christ. We who are called to be priests freely choose celibacy not for any worldly gain that might come out of it, such as being more available etc. We choose celibacy because Jesus has chosen us and the only response to such a gift is a total gift of self in return.
All of the benefits mentioned above do in fact come as fruits of this gift. Yes, we are more available to our people, but not just in a worldly way. While maybe most Catholics don’t think explicitly about the gift of celibacy in the priesthood very often, they instinctively know it’s there. They know that the priest is there totally for them. They don’t hesitate to call their priest at 3:00am with their troubles. They also without thinking about it experience the credibility that comes from celibacy. With all the various religious communities and TV evangelists around, one is instinctively suspect; “Why should I listen to him?” They know that really anyone could “give a try” at being “pastor” for a while. Not so with the priest. The people instinctively know that when a priest testifies to the truth of the Gospel, he has in fact backed this up with the unique and total gift of his life in the witness of celibacy. The Kingdom of God is real and the celibate shines as a lighthouse to the faithful, a witness that is all the more important in the dark times in which we live.
Fr. McBrien reaches quite a different conclusion in his remarks. He thinks the real fruit of a celibate priesthood is that we just get primarily “sexually immature or sexually dysfunctional candidates.” Pray for the conversion of Fr. McBrien and thank your priests for their authentic witness. Celibacy is often much joked about and insulted in the media today (even by priests, as we see). Many waves are battering the lighthouse of the priesthood. As for me, four weeks from today I will make my own promise of celibacy for the sake of the kingdom. I pray that I may be faithful and ask you to pray for me.