Celibacy | Blogger Priest

Priestly Celibacy: Physical & Spiritual Strength

Posted on September 8, 2013 by Father Joe

Primitive man, with the most bare-bones of civilization, seemed to appreciate that there was something singular about virginity or sexual purity. Our ancestors viewed it as giving the person a certain physical and spiritual strength. The knight makes his solitary vigil and prays before a great quest. The oracle or prophetess is untouched by men so that she might have a more intimate communion with the divine. Despite religious error and moral confusion; this peculiar truth about our nature and this sublimation came to light. Later, after the gift of supernatural revelation, the mystery of virginity or celibacy found its place in the religious dispensation for which it was properly made: centered on the Virgin of Nazareth, Mary, and upon her Son, Jesus Christ. All priestly celibacy and religious virginity find their exemplar in them, particularly in our Lord.

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Priestly Celibacy: Making Too Much of Mind Over Matter

Posted on September 7, 2013 by Father Joe

I have rewritten this post several times, struggling to express something that is hard to define. Christian celibacy emphasizes mind and will over attraction, passion, instinct, etc. But none of us exist outside of the human family and all men and women are creatures of God. Both the celibate and the atheist might place too much emphasis upon the mind. It can become a form of idolatry.

Neither an extremist celibacy that hates our biological nature nor an atheistic materialism that denies the spiritual component to our identity should be given the upper hand. It is curious that this latter group might look down upon our physicality, giving the gravity to the mind even as we tamper to improve, manipulate or mechanically duplicate elements of our constitution. Ours is the age of computers and robots. But the minds of men are more than electrical brains and the body a masterpiece beyond that of any fabricated automaton. We might suppose that the mind can do all things; that whatever we can imagine, we can make real. And yet there is also a reductionism: there is a scientific empiricism that impugns other types of truth and which looks upon human genius as something which might be replicated in the mechanical.

We were made for God. This is a truth of our nature. Atheists will sometimes embrace an exaggerated science as a place-holder for where God belongs. They will leap to assumptions or rally around conflicting math or parade man’s growing understanding of both the universe, large and small, or point to man’s technological breakthroughs. Science rests upon all sorts of philosophical presuppositions. It can act as a kind of religion for those who explicitly claim no religion. Science might overreach itself, arguing that no restraints should be placed upon what the mind can conceive, even the horrific. Some critics warn that we are playing God.

I am reminded of the controlling “IT” in Madeleine L’Engle’s A Winkle in Time. A warning, for sure, it portrays a dark disembodied Mind which takes over everything, exerting a powerful telepathic bondage over people. Do not get me wrong, the mind is a wondrous gift. Look at all the technology and breakthroughs that have been made possible by human genius. But we can wrongly regard the gift of the mind as if it is the giver of all gifts. We have fashioned weapons of war that could destroy the planet and all life upon it. Separated from will or love, the mind can be a cruel task master.

Christian celibacy is not simply the victory of the mind over the flesh. If the bestial is close to the animals, a narcissistic mental egoism is reflective of the devil. If thinking heads could be severed from their bodies so that they could devote themselves to mental deliberations unfettered by physical desires, this would not constitute an effort at perfect celibacy. True celibacy is neither the destruction of our sexual faculties nor the negation of our gender-identity. Rather, it takes all that makes us human and makes of it a sacrificial gift to God. Men and women are human beings, not angelic ones.

The fiction that man is a mind distinct and locked in a human body can lead to a terrible separatism. We are our bodies. According to their natures, both angels and men must surrender and conform to God’s loving providence. If the will is poisoned by hatred or by the wrong kind of love, then the mind alone cannot straighten us out. We would be given over to the demonic.

An emphasis upon the mind does not necessarily mean that one is good or holy. The two components of the human soul are also found in angelic beings: intellect and will. But men also have physical bodies and we cannot pretend otherwise. These bodies are liable to original sin, weakness and corruption. They also possess certain positive abilities and attributes which must be acknowledged or integrated so that we might be holistic persons.

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Priestly Celibacy: A Witness in the Scientific World

Posted on September 6, 2013 by Father Joe

There is no intrinsic or necessary link between atheism and science. One of the most brilliant men I have ever known was the late Dr. Hank Dardy. A genius, he ranked with Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, and yet he worked for the Navy Department and gave his ideas away to others who made billions. He helped perfect HD television and there was a part of him in the guidance system of every ballistic missile in our country. There is a long list of advances made under his team in engineering, physics, and computers. Diverse in his research interests, he even assisted Spielberg in the fabrication of his virtual dinosaurs in the Jurassic Park film. And yet, this first-class mind and scientist was also known by the religious title, Deacon. He was a devout Catholic and clergyman who assisted at Mass, preached, was qualified to perform baptisms and to witness marriages. Further, while most deacons were married; Deacon Hank was celibate. His whole life was dedicated to his work for our country and for the Church. His celibacy was an important ingredient in who he was and in how he approached the world. Although worth a small fortune, he lived simply. There was his work and his prayers. He did not even have a television set, not because he did not want one, but because he watched what he wanted on the computer (which was more so than not, work related). A poverty of spirit matched up with his celibacy in a marvelous way so rarely realized in today’s world. He exemplified the value of faith, commitment and celibacy. Priests could learn a great deal from this deacon.

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Priestly Celibacy: In the Face of Atheism

Posted on September 5, 2013 by Father Joe

Atheists claim to be the ultimate integralists in that they deny the spiritual component in the human being. They have a high appreciation of the mind but define it wholly in terms of the brain which they regard as the most important organ in the human body. They are right to say that people are their bodies. They are wrong to claim that these bodies are not animated by souls. We are, in their estimation, thinking and loving meat. They propose a high or lofty estimation of man; but they demean him as entirely an animal or a biological machine. The intellectuals among them would consequently equate or compare human knowing with the ever-increasing computational power of computers. As materialists, they would likely suppose that a day will come when a technological invention will rival or surpass the human mind. Science fiction has already given us such characters in Space Odyssey’s Hal and Star Trek’s Data. The critique I would render is that to surmise such is a form of errant reductionism. We should not reduce the human mind to computation, no matter how complex. Machines like animals might mimic man and his sentience, but without the infusion of a soul by God, that is all they will ever do. We mistakenly try to close the gap by restricting the abilities of the human mind, denying its self-reflective knowledge, literally bending back unto itself— which would be impossible without the soul.

Why this apparent aside in a reflection about priestly celibacy? It is simply to acknowledge the unbelieving and even hostile environment where the priest finds himself. It comes down to a fundamental element. If there were no God and nothing of man that could survive death, then the very institution of the priesthood would be ludicrous. It would be an utter waste of time, resources and energy. Celibacy would be the tree topper on a Christmas tree voided of meaning. This touches the essential demarcation where people of faith and those without part ways. Without the gift of faith, the testimony of Scripture will not move atheistic critics. The Church has placed great confidence in reason and philosophy but not all atheists are all that reasonable. They reject logic and philosophical proofs as language games. “Show me heaven with my telescope. Reveal to me the Eucharistic change under the microscope. Where is God in a world where the innocent suffer and evil flourishes?” When it comes to a discipline like mandatory celibacy, they would argue that it is a waste of the only life a person will ever have. A priest-friend many years ago was taken in by such assertions, and by the inherent skepticism that permeated his graduate studies in anthropology. “Given that there are so many religions, how could we be certain that any are true? Would it not be easier to say that they are all equally false?” He left the ministry and got married. After an accident, he felt abandoned. He stopped believing entirely.

It occurred to me, ever since, that men seeking ordination must be totally certain of the Church’s claims. Dismissal from the seminary is no cause for lasting shame; defection from the priesthood brings with it a lasting stigma and possible scandal. A good priest can work miracles of faith, even if he cannot clearly see the fruits. A bad priest is a devil that can do incalculable harm to souls. The priest will face fire from every side. Only if he is absolutely convinced of his faith and calling can he endure both the emotional assaults and the possible challenges from the various academic disciplines. He must be smart, holy and loving. Our men must be celibate priests in a world that has stopped believing and where many believers have become practical atheists, living as if there is neither divine judgment nor resurrection.

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Priestly Celibacy: Absolute & Forever

Posted on September 4, 2013 by Father Joe

While certain laity and religious take temporary vows of celibacy; the richness of priestly celibacy is its permanence. A short-term commitment would be long on show but short on substance. The whole point is that one is not simply delaying gratification or the opportunity to be a husband and father; but rather that these goods are being forever taken off the table. The witness of Christ’s celibate and sacrificial love is manifest as absolute and forever. He is no part-time Savior and there should be no part-time priests. God will never break his covenant with us. It is an everlasting covenant. The pledge of this agreement is the redemptive blood of the Cross. Dying might seem permanent enough; but our Lord would not stay dead. It is his resurrection that is constant and that touches eternity. The promises of marriage speak to our constancy unto death. Priestly celibacy embraces the endless share and glory we are given in Christ’s resurrected life. Marriage ends with death. The priesthood will endure into the eternity of the heavenly kingdom.

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Priestly Celibacy: Off the Radar in our Society

Posted on September 3, 2013 by Father Joe

Although his existence might be denied, it seems obvious to honest believers that the devil is exerting an oppressive influence upon the modern world. There are all sorts of “how to” books on the mechanics of love-making and seduction while spirituality is reduced to a form of self-seeking psychology. Masquerading prayer focuses upon the horizontal instead of the vertical. Prayer becomes wishful thinking or inspirational slogans. If the supernatural is acknowledged, it is in terms of New Age occultism or media fantasies. MTV ran an awards program in 2013 which paraded Miley Cyrus in a song and dance spectacle that was straight out of the routines used at strip joints. She came on to a married man, touched herself and exhibited the most vulgar of sexual simulations. Brushing aside any pretense, she even appeared in the papers wearing horns like a female devil. Until recently she was a Disney teen icon and the role model for 14 year old girls across the nation. I suppose this will set the stage to a side-line modeling career, given that clothing in stores would already have young girls dress like street-walkers. Both in abortion and in a pedophile culture, our society is feeding our children to the beast. People are being corrupted early on so that they might be entirely desensitized to the values and meaning of traditional religious faith.

Taking delight in foul music and lurid images does not help prepare one for pew sitting on Sunday or living in Christian marriage or hearing a call to celibate priesthood. No one can run far or fast enough to escape the rampaging eroticism. It is mainstream and makes the message of the Church seem ridiculous or out of touch with man’s bestial nature. Politicians want marriage for gays at a time when heterosexuals no longer want marriage at all. Celibacy is not even on the radar. There are further efforts, not simply to redefine marriage, but to rewrite the book about personhood and human nature. Callous that we are usurping God’s prerogatives; it is as if secular men do not care. They have made man the measure of all things. It does not seem to matter if anything corresponds to the truth or not. Efforts are underway to create various degrees of marriage contracts. No fault divorce already illustrates how the notion of permanence has been stripped from the definition. It was once a motto that promises were made to be kept; however, today it is truer that promises are made to be broken. Some legislators are seeking to establish marriage contracts with built-in term limits. Such licenses would marry couples for a period of five years. At the end of the five years, the couple could either renew the contract for another term or allow it to expire automatically. Once expired, they would be free to seek out another sexual union or marriage. The Church could never have any part in sordid relationships like this. These tactics will not safeguard marriage or preserve a society that has become fearful of commitment; rather, it would signal its complete collapse.

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Priestly Celibacy – Awake for the Master’s Return

Posted on August 30, 2013 by Father Joe

The bridal imagery sometimes worries us, particularly when connected to men. Of course, the female connection can also evoke nervous giggles, as if Christ is a patriarch who is awaiting his harem of many brides. The Church, as a whole, is the bride of Christ. It does not belong solely to the consecrated virgin or woman religious, individually or corporately. However, there is a spiritual sense in the context of the evangelical counsels that these virginal brides of Christ participate in the great mystery of betrothal just as the ordained priest participates in the high priesthood of Christ. The virginity of our Lord makes possible any and all Christian celibacy. Another bridal image that makes us nervous is that of Mary, who foreshadows all that the Church hopes to become. The difficulty here is the clash of titles. Mary is Mother and yet also reckoned Virgin and as spiritual Bride. Catechesis upon this point requires a degree of precision and discretion. The bridal image emphasizes that the woman’s hand has been given and that the marriage is certain. The bride belongs to the groom. The Church belongs to Christ.

A more common image that is applied to the celibate man is the biblical figure of a faithful servant, a steward or watchman, entrusted with his master’s business, awaiting his return. References in Scripture to the watchful sentinel refer not only to men who put off sleeping but who also dismiss the distraction of the marriage bed. While it has largely gone out of fashion, the use of a personal man-servant by wealthy men, like the comic book Alfred to Batman or the literary Jeeves to Wooster would help illustrate the point. He sacrifices his personal life for that of his master. The celibate priest is the ultimate man-servant, to Christ and to his holy Church. His is a radical response to the Gospel summons, ““Gird your loins and light your lamps” (Luke 12:35). He does not simply work a nine to five job; rather, his commitment is perpetual. He is always on call. Married clergy might do a fine job but they are forced by practical necessity to compromise this commitment. There are facets of their priestly service which they must departmentalize. As I heard one married priest explain, “When I am ministering to parishioners, I am pastor and Father with a capital ‘F.’ When I am home at the dinner table, I am husband and daddy or father with a small ‘f.'” It does not work this way with the celibate priest.

Rectory staff were surprised and amused years ago when my mother called and asked for me as “Father Jenkins,” but such was her respect for the priesthood. My brothers and sisters might call me by my first name, but no one else. It is even my preference that nieces and nephews call me Uncle Father Joe. I am always on duty. I keep a stole in my pocket and oils in the car. Like any good soldier, I keep my arsenal against sin close at hand. Continuing with a military connection, the Armed Services will often restrict volunteers for the most dangerous missions to single men without families. Similarly, the Church must engage in battle with the most dangerous enemy of all and so she calls forth celibate men to her priesthood. This minister of Christ is called to lay down his life for his flock. He belongs to no one woman but to a community of women and men. He belongs to Christ. Every time he processes down the aisle to the altar at Mass, he is Jesus entering Jerusalem to die.

Celibacy is about so much more than refraining from sexual activity, entering marriage and having children. It signifies the urgency of proclaiming the kingdom and the immediacy of Christ’s presence. The celibate priest is the genuine messenger who goes about his assigned task without looking back. Just as the apostles abandoned their father, the fishing boats and their nets to follow Jesus; he also wants to share Christ’s life and mission in a radical way. Our Lord promises to make them fishers of men.

Men are not angels but they can be angelic, an expression going back to the patristic period in the Church’s history. The word angel means messenger and thus, in mission but not nature, men can share with them the sublime duty of manifesting divine truth, glory and will. Angels are not hampered by weak bodies. They are free and move at the speed of thought. While men cannot match their metaphysical properties; the celibate priest is compelled not to tarry in God’s service because of any natural obligations proper to married men.

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Priestly Celibacy – Eschatological Sign

Posted on August 29, 2013 by Father Joe

When speaking about celibacy, St. Paul often becomes the point man in the argument. Nevertheless, the Gospels also give us much food for spiritual reflection.

Matthew 19:9-12 – “I say to you, whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful) and marries another commits adultery.” [His] disciples said to him, “If that is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” He answered, “Not all can accept [this] word, but only those to whom that is granted. Some are incapable of marriage because they were born so; some, because they were made so by others; some, because they have renounced marriage for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Whoever can accept this ought to accept it.”

Jesus explains that many misunderstand the true meaning of marriage. Next he talks about those who were born eunuchs, those made so by men, and those who embraced such a life for “the kingdom of heaven.” We hear angry debates these days about homosexuals and whether they were born with the disorientation or it was inflicted by others through trauma or seduction. At least for the so-called eunuch, both scenarios are true. Jesus is acknowledging that some men are naturally inclined to a negligible sexual drive. Some critics contend that he actually includes homosexuals in this category of eunuch since by nature or intervention, they can only live a moral or holy life if they abstain from improper sexual relations. Slaves who watched over harems were sometimes made into physical eunuchs by the removal of their testicles. A similar practice existed in the Western world where young boys were castrated to preserve their high pitched singing voices. Such a practice would rightfully be condemned today as a form of mutilation. Jesus did not approve of such procedures; he merely acknowledged that these interventions happened. His real emphasis was upon the spiritual eunuch or virgin or celibate. The celibate is a living and visible sign of what we shall become when this world passes away and sacramental signs make way for the beatific vision and divine unity.

Matthew 22:30 – “At the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like the angels in heaven.”

While we shall rise from the dead, like the angels, we will find our completion and union directly in God. There will be no more marriage or giving in marriage. We see this teaching also in Mark and Luke.

Mark 12:25 – “When they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but they are like the angels in heaven.”

Luke 20:34-36 – Jesus said to them, “The children of this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. They can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise.”

Right now, in the mortal world, we must have children to insure the survival of the race. However, in the world to come there will be no more death. Like the angels, the number of men and women will be fixed. There will be no more propagation and thus no need for marriage. The celibate priest seeks a spiritual propagation through the conversion of souls. He finds his joy in the regeneration of new sons and daughters to the heavenly Father through spiritual adoption. Men and women will not become a homogeneous humanity in the risen life of the kingdom and neither shall we be strictly angels or ghosts. We shall share characteristics with angelic beings, no more suffering or death, friendship with God, etc. But we shall be restored in body and soul. Angels, properly speaking, were never born and have no physical bodies. Just as not all angels are the same and they are ranked; it is my thought that maleness and femaleness will be ingredients in our demarcation. Of course, our matter has also been informed by our earthly life, our experiences, choices and perception. In other words, we will still have gender and our real selves will be resurrected; but it will be apart from marriage, the sexual drive and the generation of children. That plainly makes it all very different from how we currently understand, employ and struggle as physical-sexual ensouled beings. We count it as true because Christ has revealed it to us. Nevertheless, how it can be true and what it shall make of gender currently remains a puzzle to us. This is a far cry from the graphic and carnal afterlife imagined by many Moslem men in light of promises from the Koran. This makes the Catholic view one that is “in media res,” between a purely spiritual existence and one that merely mirrors, with some amplification, what we currently experience in the body.

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Priesty Celibacy – Qualified to Speak on Marriage

Posted on August 28, 2013 by Father Joe

No doubt due to the extensive infection of secular humanism, neither Christian marriage nor celibacy is popularly understood or lived out. People think they understand marriage and human sexuality when they actually do not. A person condemns celibacy because the lover left and he or she was forced to abstain. Celibacy is judged in light of their personal experience of abandonment, loneliness and sexual frustration. But, of course, what they endured was not true Christian celibacy. It is as upon the subject of spiritual poverty. A materially rich person may live simply and exhibit tremendous generosity. A poor person might be green with envy, dreaming dreams of wealth and a life of luxury. His heart is troubled because he is only poor by accident or laziness. This is all very different from a person who deliberately embraces poverty. Celibacy can be similarly compromised. There should be a harmony in desire and in action.

Moving on, a person might claim expertise in sexual matters, not because of any philosophical or ethical awareness, but because he has become practically proficient in the mechanics of “love-making.” I recall a person arguing that I was not qualified to prepare couples for marriage because I was not married. “What do you know?” she asked pointedly, “You have never been in love!” She was presumptuous about my heart. As she continued, her illogic both shocked and made me shake my head when she said, “I know all I need to know about marriage; after all, I was married three times before!” She must have thought that practice made perfect. Unfortunately, a history of failed marriages testified that she had not learned from her mistakes. It would be funny if it were not so sad. If anyone needed the full regimen of counseling, she did.

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Priestly Celibacy – The Virginity of Jesus & Mary

Posted on August 27, 2013 by Father Joe

Part of the problem in discussions about virginity and/or celibacy is that most critics have only generic dictionary definitions about these disciplines. The Christian discipline is focused upon Jesus Christ and demands a graced calling. The discipline is not arbitrary. The consecrated virgin has a real sense of vocation to a life of purity and devotion to the Lord as a bride of Christ. The religious finds his calling within the context of community and a certain charism. The celibate priest is centered upon a drastic identification with Christ. He acts in the person of Christ. Our Lord’s celibacy is a profound mystery at the heart of his identity and mission. The celibate priest shares in this mystery. The practical living out of this gift can be assisted by temperament and personal discipline (self-control); and yet, such factors alone would not distinguish it from any secular version of celibacy. It is Christ and divine favor (grace) that makes it distinctive and meritorious. This Christian celibacy belongs to Jesus Christ. Just as the ordained man can participate in Christ’s priesthood; he can also have a share in his virginity. Christ is a divine person; but he is also a perfect man, the new Adam. Despite contemporary stereotypes, the perfect male, indeed the supreme witness of manhood, is in Christ’s virginal masculinity. This parallels the perfection of womanhood in the new or second Eve, the Blessed Virgin Mary. God’s providence is not capricious. Evidently, in the eyes of the Almighty, this quality of virginity and/or celibacy was vitally important for the incarnation. What many regard as expendable and optional was regarded by God as an important ingredient in the work of our salvation. Why is sex or the mechanism for human generation avoided at the incarnation, in the daily life of Christ and finally in his resurrectional appearance? Despite Discovery Channel sensationalists, there is not the slightest hint in the Gospels that Jesus enjoyed any sexual encounter or got married. It is against this backdrop that priestly celibacy seems not only likely but is interpreted as integral to the sacramental equation.

Many models for Jesus are put forward today. While most reflect the biblical witness, a number do not. Our Lord was not a failed zealot or revolutionary. He cannot be recast as a female Messiah as certain radical feminists seek to do. These postulations are a sampling expression of the subjective mentality today; but truth is what it is, not what we might want or imagine it to be. Jesus is not androgynous, containing within himself all male and female potentialities. Some in the East thought this was necessary given the maxim, “Whatever is not assumed is not redeemed.” But God can do as he likes and it is enough that humanity should be saved, not that every individualization of mankind should be immediately realized in the Christ. St. Thomas Aquinas was infuriated by the notion of androgyny. The scholastics suggested that the distinction between male and female humanity might be a matter of degree, with maleness reflecting the greater or higher perfection of humanity. I think the answer rests instead with the special participation of the Blessed Virgin Mother. Together, we have the new Adam and the new Eve. Mary is preserved from sin by her Son and in turn given a singular role to play at the Cross where she surrenders Jesus, who himself, lays down his life for all of us.

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