Priestly Celibacy Gerry O’Shea
The name of
Charles Scicluna is unlikely to resonate with readers, yet he is playing a
major role in deciding whether the Catholic Church should change its regulation
on priestly celibacy. Alone among the main Christian denominations, the Vatican
insists that at ordination, its ministers must pledge to remain single and
chaste.
Scicluna
serves as the Archbishop of Malta, and, more importantly, he has Pope Francis’
ear. With advanced qualifications in civil and church law, he was highly
regarded by then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who appointed him as the principal
investigator of clergy sexual abuse crimes. So, he has heard the stories of the
dark side of human nature.
The most
coherent institutional argument for ending this celibacy requirement comes from
the parishes, which are understaffed and struggling to provide presbytery
services comparable to those available as late as fifty years ago.
The number
of priests in the United States has decreased dramatically from 59,426 in 1965
to 34,344 in 2022. And today, over one third of these priests are retired and
inactive while 95% of diocesan priests were still active in 1965.
Talk to
Irish people about the huge changes in their home parishes and they will relate
about one priest covering the work of what used to engage three or more. This
diminution in clergy numbers represents a huge change – for better or worse –
in communities all over Ireland.
While the
shortage of priests remains the main argument for changing the celibacy
mandate, it is not the archbishop’s primary consideration. He clearly states
that his mandate does not include solving the ecclesiastical personnel crisis.
Instead, he
focuses on the plight of individual priests, the challenges and contradictions
in their lives, how these impact the women and children involved, and the
inevitable hypocrisy of pastors living double lives.
In an
interview with the Times of Malta he explained that priests involved in
long-term intimate relationships with women must be acknowledged as a global
phenomenon, and right now, they are faced with an unenviable choice: continue
in their romantic relationships while pretending to be honoring their vow of celibacy
or leave their job as a minister in the Roman church.
One of his
main concerns points to people living a dual life, which he correctly stresses
is mentally unhealthy. Priests, he explained, who pledge to follow a celibate lifestyle
in their early twenties “may mature and enter new relationships, including
loving a woman.” All very natural, but it places him in an unenviable
situation.
Siccluna
worries about the dishonest and fraudulent life that a committed pastor must
live while being true to his romantic partner. How does he maintain the
integrity of his priestly mission which requires an honest and healthy lifestyle?
The celibacy
regulation goes back to the papacy of Gregory V11 (1073-1085), who mandated an
end to priests' marriages. The culture in 11th-century Rome can be fairly
described as a miasma of licentiousness and skullduggery, and the image and
behavior of the church and its ministers were ensnared in this corruption.
The pope
decided that the church needed to uplift the prestige of the priesthood, and he
also wanted to obviate claims by priests’ children for monetary or property
entitlements.
An
additional argument sometimes heard for Gregory’s discipline centers on a
belief that a special spiritual grace comes with ordination that sets the
priest apart and places him higher even than the angels in heaven in some
imaginary celestial pecking order. Readers who scratch their heads as they try
to comprehend this clerical gobbledygook may suspect – with good reason – that clever
theologians came up with this rationalization to enhance the priestly status.
The absence
of a wife and family can undoubtedly be seen as enabling the priest to devote
all his energy to his work. Removing the humdrum everyday demands of raising a
family can be viewed as facilitating the priest in his vocation.
On the other
hand, Christ mainly selected married men as his apostles. The four gospels have
nothing to say about celibacy, and Jesus showed no inclination to preach about any
sexual issues that somehow have preoccupied popes and prelates since St.
Augustine’s time. In recent years, we have heard loud denunciations of
homosexuality, contraceptive use, in vitro fertilization, and medically
approved transgender procedures.
Fr. Peter
Daly, a writer and retired priest in Washington, echoing a theme of Archbishop
Scicluna, claims that around 50% of priests, bishops and cardinals are or have
been involved in sexual relationships of one kind or another.
The abuse
crisis by a small minority of priests has done immense damage to the church.
Celibacy certainly played some part in this awful scourge. While only a few
bishops and cardinals participated in the sordid abusive behavior, nearly all
members of the hierarchy failed to act decisively in dealing with it.
Marie Keenan,
the distinguished Irish professor of psychology, makes a very cogent point in
reflecting on the crisis: “Abusive priests are not isolated monsters but are
products of human and psychological formation that fixated them at an
adolescent level of sexual development.”
The question
of clerical celibacy engaged Fr. Daniel O’Leary, a distinguished spiritual
writer from Rathmore, a village in County Kerry. He authored ten books on
spiritual matters and wrote regular columns for the prestigious English weekly
Catholic newspaper The Tablet. He spent most of his life ministering in
the diocese of Leeds in England and was in demand as a retreat leader for
diocesan priests.
Based on his
own personal reflections and from listening to his fellow priests, he condemned
mandatory celibacy as “a kind of sin, an assault against nature and God’s
will.” He is very clear about the serious damage to a man who is forbidden an
intimate relationship with a female partner, cut off from “expressions of
healing and the lovely grace of tenderness.”
He also
argues that it is very hard for a priest to maintain a sense of personal
authenticity while struggling with sexual and emotional drives and pretending
to his parishioners that all is well in his life.
The Rathmore
spiritual writer’s distress call pleading for change before his death from
cancer, pointed to the inevitable loneliness of men who are compelled to avoid
sharing their intimate feelings with a partner who can relate in a loving way
to the inevitable ups and downs of life, “the slings and arrows of outrageous
fortune.”
Charles
Scicluna realizes the urgent need for change from Pope Gregory’s rules made a
thousand years ago. I expect a positive response from the Vatican in the next
few years.
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