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Priestly Celibacy – Virginal Marriage?

Posted on August 17, 2013 by Father Joe

The ritual used for the consecration of virgins praises marriage as a great natural blessing that points to the union of Christ with his bride, the Church. This acknowledgment in such a ceremony might seem strange but it illustrates the sensible attitude that celibacy is not a repudiation of the goodness of marriage. Marriage is a sacrament, a mystery foreshadowing and yet also participating in something unseen and greater than itself. By comparison, is it proper to treat consecrated virginity as something equivalent to a sacrament? Unlike marriage, celibacy is not ranked as a sacrament of the Church, at least not as something that hangs by itself. The woman virgin pledges herself to her groom, Christ. The priest signifies Christ bonded to his spouse, the Church. It is only when connected to holy orders or to consecrated religious life that virginity and/or celibacy seems to take to itself a quasi-sacramental quality. This is actually a core reason why some of us strenuously want to keep the association in priesthood as absolute as possible, with few exceptions.

Is a spiritual marriage in any way a real marriage? It should be noted, that while the formal consecration of virgins has been restored, the ritual was suppressed for some time. The ceremonial for a consecration of virginity resembles a wedding. One of the difficulties with this institution of virgins (outside of a religious house) was accountability. How does the Church insure their past, present and future virginity. These women live and work in the word. They take secular jobs and have to pay their own bills. There is no religious community to help sustain them. The Church worried that these women might have settled for virginity because of a lack of opportunity or because a tragedy left them as spinsters. Note that spiritual or moral virginity after violation would not satisfy the requirements for this consecration of virgins. If I recall correctly, the woman must be physically intact, never having had sexual intercourse. Given modern promiscuity, this consecration is very rare today, indeed. This is where the similarity with priestly celibacy breaks down. Indeed, this material or physical virginity is not mandated for sisters and nuns, either; there is a history of widows entering religious life. St. Mother Seton would be among these. She was a wife and mother. Many convents celebrate a ritual akin to a marital ceremony; the young woman approaches the altar in a bridal dress, makes her promises, is given the habit of the community and her hair is cut. Some traditional communities will place the cut hair in a wooden box. I knew parents who cherished one of these cases as a remembrance of their daughter pledging herself to Christ. Women religious, as I said, need not be physical virgins, although many of them are, and they embrace a life of celibate love and obedience to their religious superior. While we would hope that our candidates for the priesthood are virgins, such is not mandatory. They might be widowers. If they were “bad boys,” they might still be invited into the celibate priesthood, as long as they exhibit repentance and make recourse to the Sacrament of Penance.

I read one authority who suggested that marriage between a man and woman and the spiritual marriage of a consecrated virgin or a female religious or possibly a celibate priest or deacon were varying forms of the sacrament of marriage. I find this argument problematical. The sacrament of marriage overlaps or is transposed over the natural bond. A man and woman witness marriage with their vows and with their bodies. Just as we argue that only a man can marry a woman, rejecting same-sex unions, there is just no getting around the issue of physicality and complementarity. Marriages are consummated, not before a judge or before a priest and altar. They are consummated and made real or permanent in the marriage bed. The chief purpose of marriage has frequently been listed as propagation. This was not to malign the good of fidelity but there has always be a high level of awe connected to human participation in the act of creation. While there is an element of physicality in virginity or celibacy, it is only as negation or in the suppression of this faculty. Spiritual marriage, either to Christ or to the Church, may have all sorts of intangible benefits; but it remains a mystery analogous to matrimony, not materially equivalent. Further, while this analogy is often applied to nuns as brides of Christ and to priests wedded to the Church, the language becomes more strained for religious brothers outside the priesthood. It is true that if the priest is one with the groom Christ, then the congregation (men and women) collectively play the role of bride. This is tolerated of the Church but not of the minister. As a matter of fact, it plays into the argument against women priests or priestesses. As a female she cannot signify Christ the groom, and thus the realization of priestesses would usher forth a kind of sacramental lesbianism.

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Priestly Celibacy – Weeping as He Prays

Posted on August 16, 2013 by Father Joe

The Mass or Service for Marriage speaks of matrimony as the one blessing or gift given to mankind that was not forfeited by original sin or washed away in the flood. Those with noble and loving spouses regularly testify to their great joy. Just as this vocation has a great capacity for happiness and contentment; if something goes wrong, it conversely has the potential for devastating sadness and pain. One might argue, in this sense, that the sacrament of matrimony is more precarious than celibacy and entails sacrifices that it avoids. Indeed, it might seem that marriage can be more difficult than the life of a celibate priest. As one opens himself (or herself) to intimacy with another, the capacity for joy and sorrow increases. You cannot know true pain until you begin to love. If you want to avoid the worst sufferings, then the answer is to stop loving and caring. Of course, it would also mean that one would have to turn his back on living.

Any good mother will tell you that her child’s sufferings are her own. She is always afraid for her children. Spouses are called to a total offering of self for the beloved. But what happens when one gives and the other only takes? How can we really measure the pain that comes with coldness from a spouse, or worse yet, betrayal or infidelity? It takes two to make a marriage work. But the celibate priest has only himself. If he fails to keep his promises or stops loving as he should, he has no one to blame but himself. Of course, his vocation is informed by his celibacy as a particular way of loving. Celibacy is not a refusal to love but a way of loving unique to itself.

Every day the priest’s love must spill over like a waterfall in his loving service and prayer for others. Good priests try desperately to be holy so that they might be faithful to their charges and effective instruments for the perpetuation of Christ’s saving work. But, just as love brings both joy and sorrow to marriages; so too does it in his spiritual marriage to the Church and the family of faith. The priest laments his sins before the God he is supposed to love and to honor before all else. The priest weeps as he prays for his people, knowing both their sinfulness and indifference. The laity can be very cavalier about Mass attendance and the faith formation of their children. These attitudes wound the priest because he loves them. He wants them happy and holy. He wants them in right relationship with God. He gave up wife and family for them; and yet, sometimes it seems that they could not care less. Indeed, when asked about it by the media, they criticize the discipline and assert that the Church might be better off with married priests. Instead, their response should have been thankfulness that men loved the Lord and them so much, that they were willing to make real and perpetual sacrifices in love on their behalf.

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The Primacy of Peter & the Council of Jerusalem

Posted on August 15, 2013 by Father Joe

Regarding the first council of the Church in Jerusalem, note that after the debate about ritual circumcision, it is Peter who resolves the matter. The mere fact that Paul and Barnabas had come to Jerusalem illustrated their confidence in the apostolic authority there. As in any council, there was debate and dialogue; however, in the end it was Peter who stood up and supported Paul in his refusal to impose the Mosaic Law upon the Gentiles– they would not have to become Jews before becoming Christians. Citing the work of God’s Spirit in Cornelius and his household, whom they knew and accepted, Peter summarizes the core proclamation of salvation: “My brothers, you are well aware that from early days God made his choice among you that through my mouth the Gentiles would hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God, who knows the heart, bore witness by granting them the Holy Spirit just as he did us. He made no distinction between us and them, for by faith he purified their hearts. Why, then, are you now putting God to the test by placing on the shoulders of the disciples a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear? On the contrary, we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they” (Acts 15:7-11). We are told that the whole assembly was reduced to silence. The issue was resolved. Paul and Barnabas then enthusiastically recounted how God had used them as instruments to reach the Gentiles.

Many distinctions need to be made about Peter. He is certainly much altered after the Christ has suffered, died, and risen. The Holy Spirit on Pentecost grants him a special charism of authority and infallibility. This did not mean that either Peter or his successors would be impeccable and unable to sin. The miraculous truth in the long history of the Church is that even weak and sinful men have seemed changed by the office of Peter. Without such an authority, we would suffer from the same endless fragmentation and deviation from Gospel truth that other religious communities experience. We believe we have Christ’s Rock to preserve and protect the deposit of faith. Given to Peter, this gift of infallibility is for the entire Church. This forum demands brevity, but we see it observed when the Holy Father makes a formal proclamation of dogma as the universal shepherd (the Vicar of Christ) on a matter of faith or morals. Neither the Pope, nor the bishops, nor an ecumenical council can manufacture new beliefs– they define something which has always been taught and believed, but reformulate it in a more concise and solemn way. A papal declaration along these terms is an exercise of his Universal Extraordinary Magisterium.

The unanimous teaching of all the world’s bishops in union with the Pope is called the Universal Ordinary Magisterium. This latter expression of infallibility is much more common. The laity and the religious of the Church also enter into this mystery. The Sensus Fidelium (sense of the faithful) among Catholics who have informed their consciences according to Church teaching and who live out the faith also touch upon this mystery of faith. (Admittedly this latter aspect is usually only mentioned by dissenters these days; however, they cite people who have largely rejected the deposit of faith and the Christian life– the ones to whom it does not really apply.)

The question arises, what is the significance of James’ input? As the bishop of the Jerusalem Church, he rose after Peter and directed that a letter be written and promulgated to the other churches. While a special charge is recorded as given to Peter, the apostolic community also respected the familial relationship of John and James to Jesus. James, John and Peter accompanied our Lord when Jesus raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead. These three also witnessed the Transfiguration. These “sons of thunder” remained close to Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Peter’s unique authority was real and yet the structure by which authority was exercised was much more fluid during the apostolic period. Peter did not remain with the Jerusalem church but traveled elsewhere in exercise of his universal charge. James remained with the Jewish community in Jerusalem and became its bishop. Jerusalem is viewed as the Mother Church and James operated the council since it was within his jurisdiction.

Peter is listed as first among the apostles; he is given the new name Rock and our Lord said that he would build his Church upon this Rock; and he is named the chief shepherd by name. Jesus prays for him by name in order that his “faith may not fail” and that in turn he might “strengthen your brethren” (Luke 22:32).

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Priestly Celibacy – Consecrated Virginity

Posted on August 14, 2013 by Father Joe

Restored in 1970 and attributed to Pope Leo the Great, our esteem for priestly celibacy can be amplified by a parallel ritual and promise made by women who are consecrated as perpetual virgins. We read:

“You have poured out your grace upon all peoples. You have adopted as heirs of the new covenant sons and daughters from every nation under heaven, countless as the stars. Your children are born, not of human birth, nor of man’s desire, but of your Spirit. Among your many gifts you give to some the grace of virginity. Yet the honor of marriage is in no way lessened. As it was in the beginning, your first blessing still remains upon this holy union. Yet your loving wisdom chooses those who make sacrifice of marriage for the sake of the love of which it is a sign. They renounce the joys of human marriage, but cherish all that it foreshadows. Those who choose chastity have looked upon the face of Christ, its origin and inspiration. They give themselves wholly to Christ, the son of the ever-virgin Mary, and the heavenly Bridegroom of those who in his honor dedicate themselves to lasting virginity.”

Pledged to say the Liturgy of the Hours and to regularly participate at Mass, these wonderful women must make their own way in the world while vowing themselves as brides of Christ. Suppressed for a time, it is fitting that this vocation should be restored in a day and age when most do not prize virginity. Much that is said about it could also be said of priestly celibacy, although the priest is signified on the male or groom side of the analogy. Those who fault priestly celibacy would even more ruthlessly attack consecrated virgins. However, this opposition is more the reason why both celibacy and virginity must be preserved as constitutive features for callings in the Church.

Note that virginity is accented as a great honor or benefit. It makes possible an elevation of dignity. If celibacy were a miserable sacrifice, one would hardly know it from the joyous ritual. The young woman is dressed in a wedding gown. She will be presented with a ring and a veil. I recall recently seeing photographs of a beautiful young woman being consecrated to perpetual virginity. Her friends and family were excited and happy for her. Others objected to the ceremony and what it would entail. Controversy was bred because many really no longer believe. They thought she was wasting her life. She would never marry and from that day forward would never date or pursue a romantic interest. All her talk about a spiritual spouse in Christ angered the critics. Did she hate men? What was wrong with her maternal instinct? Jesus was no where to be seen, if he even still existed, how could he be a husband to her? Their practical atheism was full in force: invisible equals absent. Hers was a relationship with the Lord that had blossomed; theirs, if they ever believed, had been aborted or feigned altogether. Those who did not understand were said to pity her and women like her. The same negative sentiment is held out for priests who are faithful to their celibacy. But the happy priest views it as a treasure, a great prize, yes, even as an exultation. The traditional warning for the celibate was to guard against pride.

It cannot be denied that there were abuses in the traditional negativity toward marriage. While it is a great mystery that signifies the unity of Christ with his Church and an awesome participation in the creative work of God; the mechanics of the marital act externally resemble the sexual congress of animals. The Church counsels that passion and not lust should accompany the act, but this admonition falls largely on deaf ears. Human bodies are objectified and made interchangeable. Viagra facilitates erections and contraception insures infertility. Sex is separated from marriage, first in fornication and cohabitation, and second in adultery. Pornography makes possible a voyeurism over interaction; indeed, it establishes a virtual adultery. Critics fail to understand virginity and priestly celibacy just as they generally confuse the meaning of sexual love in marriage.

A Christian culture and society has collapsed all around us into a neo-pagan one. Values have not merely shifted but in some cases, reversed. Virginity was once regarded as such a premium that theologians had to make concerted efforts to protect and support matrimony. But today it is virginity that is spurned while marriage, or at least sexual congress, is paraded as essential and in unqualified demand.

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Priestly Celibacy – Based Upon Christ

Posted on August 13, 2013 by Father Joe

Discussions about priestly celibacy usually cite the universal catechism or Pope John Paul II or canon law or an elevated asceticism. Indeed, there are theologians who quote ecclesial laws as if they were Sacred Scripture. Do not get me wrong, our laws are important, but only in so far as they keep good order in the Church and safeguard essential truths. We do not follow the law for the law’s sake. The conditions for holiness are not limited to those who most renounce the world or who engage in the most rigorist of mortifications, penances and sacrifices. Marriage does not close the door to holiness and celibacy does not guarantee it as a merited prize. Ultimately, everything for the Christian comes back to Christ and everything is gift. Ours is not a religion of a book or of laws or a philosophy of life and meaning. No, the Catholic Christian faith, as complex as it may seem, still comes down to a personal and corporate faith in Jesus Christ. We follow a person, the eternal Word, the incarnate Christ, God made man. Jesus is Lord and Savior and Messiah. His is the saving name. There is no other way to the Father except through him. He is the one high priest. He is the pontifex or bridge from the mortal world of sin and death to the promised kingdom of salvation, eternal life and communion with God and the saints. Both the priesthood and celibacy find their measure in Jesus. Ordained men share in his priesthood. They act in his name. Priestly celibacy resonates in harmony with the virginal priesthood of our Lord. The Church deems this as having significant value and so she makes celibacy mandatory and absolute, at least for most of the presbyterate.

Celibacy is rooted in Christ’s life and witness; much of the rest is window dressing. While celibacy gives the priest a wonderful freedom and facilitates his charge as an agent of the Church, this is only a fruit of his sacrifice, not its cause. It is also not motivated by any desire to escape the ordinary cares of the world and the demands of the flesh. These side-effects may be overly emphasized, but he is not so much running away from the world as he is racing toward the kingdom. The Reformed Protestant theologian, Karl Barth, speculated that the sin of the fallen angels was that they “tarried” or hesitated to do God’s will. Ultimately, there can be no hesitation, either from angels or from men. We cannot look back. Jesus tells a disciple to let the dead bury the dead. While there is a degree of hyperbole, he says that he who would turn back even to assist family is not worthy of him. There is an urgency to the coming kingdom and the work that must be done. Celibacy, in Christ and in his priests, communicates this divine imperative.

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Priestly Celibacy – Visions of the Church

Posted on August 12, 2013 by Father Joe

It is in light of serious debates over the substance of faith and morals that certain critics wonder why we have purposely sidelined ourselves to apologetics over the accidental of celibacy? They would say that if it be not essential and of original divine mandate, then we are needlessly complicating the dialogue of faith and hampering evangelization. What is more important, the priesthood or celibacy? What is more pressing, making sure that priests sleep alone in their beds or staffing parishes where the flock hungers for the Eucharist? Is the millennium-long tradition of celibacy worth deprivation of hurting people from the healing sacraments and from the absolution of their sins? These critics feel the argument over celibacy is a cuckoo in the nest, a substitute for the real egg that should be there. However, it is my contention that the meaning and value of celibacy comes not just from men but from God. It cannot be honestly dismissed out-of-hand.

Celibacy and marriage are both vocations but also themes that intersect how we bring the saving kerygma to the world around us. Marriage speaks to cooperation and partnership. It is open to dialogue with the world. Celibacy is representative of being a sign of contradiction. We are called to do battle with the world, the devil and the flesh. We struggle as Catholics with both attitudes. Much of this has fueled the tension after the Second Vatican Council. We embrace a certain religious freedom for ourselves, and by practical necessity, for others; and yet, all the while maintaining the proposition that error has no rights. The Catholic Church is the true Church. We pursue a course of ecumenism but always skirting the perilous cliff of religious indifferentism. The kernel or seed remains the same; we embrace dialogue over anaphora for the same purpose, the conversion of souls to Catholic truth. There is give-and-take about accidentals; but there can be no compromise upon substance. Truth is not relative but objective and fixed. We can look at it from different perspectives. Our appreciation can grow deeper but the deposit of faith is passed on only, not reinvented. Marriage and family life is the vocation of dialogue: entailing compromise, diplomatic speech, intimacy, touching, and sometimes confusion and messiness. Celibacy is the vocation of decree: along with obstinacy, command, distance, bulwarks, discipline and order. These themes are not absolute but they are illustrative of the necessary tension that is maintained in the Church. One might argue that the eclipse of celibacy would bode poorly against the dogmatic quality we find vital in Church authority and structure.

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Priestly Celibacy – Short-changing the Church?

Posted on August 11, 2013 by Father Joe

A question that is increasingly coming into vogue with the emergence of Catholic Eastern rites in the West and the accommodation for former Anglicans is this: why should our priests of the Roman rite be deprived of modeling Christian fatherhood and spousal love as do the clergy of Protestant denominations? While there is no denial that a celibate priest can teach and preach on matters of marriage and sexual morality; this perspective merely stresses that we may be depriving ourselves of a wonderful witness for family life from the men who stand at our pulpits and altars. There is no denying that a married minister brings a certain experiential knowledge that has value. Similarly, though, the celibate priest brings a certain distance that may help us to discern issues from a more dispassionate or panoramic view. We can alternately be too far from an issue to offer any applicable solutions or too close to problems to see any available remedies.

The question remains, have we shortchanged ourselves without the recourse of optional celibacy or optional marriage for candidates seeking priestly ordination? Many of us would contend that the way out of this apparent conundrum is to better train and employ our married permanent deacons. They cannot celebrate Mass, hear confessions or anoint the sick; however, they can still witness as married men in sacramental ministry. Eastern rites and former Anglicans aside, just because Protestants have something that we do not is an insufficient rationale for a change. Many non-Catholic faith communities also have women ministers and Pope Francis has reiterated the infallible prohibition of both Benedict XVI and John Paul II that priests must be male. However, we can again cite our current Pope who invites us to be more inviting and enterprising at finding authentic ways for women to serve the Lord and his Church.

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Priestly Celibacy – Qualified to Instruct Couples?

Posted on August 10, 2013 by Father Joe

Marriage preparation can be quite an ordeal for the celibate priest, not because he is ignorant or because he is envious of what these couples possess; but rather due to the lack of faith that is increasingly brought to these forums. Couples are often having sex and living together before marriage. They want a church wedding for aesthetic reasons or because of parental pressure; but they, themselves, neither practice their faith nor give much thought to Catholic truths. The priest comes across as an intrusive busybody who wants to know their business and then tries to tell them how to behave. The response is either anger or ridicule. “Who are you to tell us what to do? Just because you cannot ‘get laid’ is no reason to tell us that we should not have sex! We love each other. If only you loved someone or had someone to love you, then you would know. You’re not even fully a man! Just tell us what is the minimum we have to do to get married. That is all we want from you!” As an effort to avoid such confrontations, either the priest relinquishes his moral authority behind silence or humor, or the couple will purposely deceive the priest and conceal fornication and cohabitation. Such a situation might be similar for a married minister, with the exception that he would not be mocked as an ignoramus for being celibate. Nevertheless, it is into this setting that the celibate priest should still instruct upon the sacrament of marriage, the openness to human life, the value of coming to the marriage bed undefiled, and the theology of the body. Retaliating against criticism, some priests will argue that a celibate priest can speak about such themes just as a doctor can be informed as to how to treat cancer, without having cancer, himself. The problem with this analogy is that marriage is compared to a disease. A better analogy might be with the astronomer. He can tell you all about the moon even though he personally has never walked there. Similarly, before you drove a car, you studied and had to pass a test on the manual which gave you pointers and rules for the road. Sex and marriage are far more complicated than driving. The priest speaks not for himself but from the experience of the Church and her teachings, as in the universal catechism. Important guidance is given as to how couples can live out their marriages, sacramentally and naturally. Love and joy are enhanced by such positive direction, yes, even if it comes from a celibate priest. But he does not stand alone. There are many married Catholic lay men and women who stand with him and give witness to the truth and value of Catholic teachings.

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Priestly Celibacy – The Loss of Credibility

Posted on August 9, 2013 by Father Joe

Given the loss of esteem given celibacy and the higher levels of education available in the West to the laity, the teachings from a priest, monk or nun on the subject of sexuality and marriage have lost a great deal of credibility. This is a fact that we must acknowledge and seek to resolve. In days gone by, the priest was one of the few people in a community who could read and had gone to school. Many of the immigrant families tell me that their grandparents would seek the priest’s advice for about everything, not just on faith and morals. The celibate priest was given incredible moral authority. The enemies of the Church knew well that the only way to undermine Catholic teaching and values was to devalue the clergy. The criminal abuse cases had accomplished what our enemies long desired. The abuse scandals, the defections of priests from ministry, and publicizing their affairs in books, has also done much harm. They might argue that such was only to force a discussion; but the actual effect has been scandal and ridicule against the so-called institutional Church. The defectors, themselves, clamor that no institution can demand perpetual celibacy. Little or nothing is said about personal culpability, promises freely made and then broken, and entanglements with women that were sinful.

The infamous Father Cutie scandal in Florida is a case in point: he has an affair, gets caught, jumps to the Episcopal church without a word to his bishop, marries a divorced woman, writes a book, and is given a forum from the secular news to continue spreading his rebellious discontent. There is almost nothing about what he did that one could judge as commendable. He was a disgrace from beginning to end. Now he belongs to the church of priestesses, contraception, multiple marriages, and gay unions. If he has no ideological issues with that then good riddance…they can keep him. I do not see how any authentically Catholic-minded priest could suffer such nonsense, and bring excommunication upon himself and judgment down on someone he claims to love. But that is me. God will be his judge.

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Priestly Celibacy – Will Any Answer Satisfy Critics Today?

Posted on August 8, 2013 by Father Joe

Some reasons for priestly celibacy do not impress people today. For instance, the argument that it focuses personal energy or that it optimizes the available manpower might not convince one as a typical “ends justifies the means” argument. The institution is requiring a great deal of the individual: the perpetual abnegation of a major natural right. Many men find a sense of fulfillment, purpose and self- development in marriage and family. All this is denied the celibate priest. Certain Catholics, themselves, bewail the loss from the gene pool of those Catholic men who are the most fervent and intellectual in their grasp of faith. They contend that we short-change the men and the Church. The next generation would probably supply the Church men and women with similar gifts and a ready willingness to serve others. Instead, they argue, we leave these men personally stunted, alone and barren. He will have no helpmate to share his life. There will be no children to give him joy. It is a pretty dark picture. What they do not see is that celibacy makes possible another whole level of fulfillment and spiritual fruitfulness. The future of the Church does not depend upon his priestly loins, but rather upon the spiritual fruits of his priestly proclamation and his exercise of the sacraments. The priest delivers himself entirely into the hands of God, the divine supernatural agency. It is God who will make the sacrifices of a priest worthwhile and efficacious. The celibate priest gains more than he loses, even if the world cannot see the spiritual value.

The celibacy of the priest, although an accidental by comparison to the male humanity of the priest, is another marker that connects the ordained minister to Christ. Christ is the pure and unblemished Lamb that is sacrificed on our behalf. The ordained priest participates in the one high priesthood of Christ. He acts “in the person of Christ” the head of the Church. He is a living and breathing “icon” for the Lord. While marriage is it’s own expression of Christ and his covenant with his bride in a particular or individual fashion; the priest is most uniquely groom in a universal or corporate way while celebrating at the marriage banquet altar of the Mass. He signifies Christ the groom to his bride, the Church. His celibacy speaks loudly that he belongs to no one woman, no single cell in the body of Christ; rather, he is in spousal relationship to the Church as a whole. It is a spiritual marriage and yet, also very real. Christ gives himself to us as priest and victim, as spiritual food and as oblation. The priest sacrifices his individual life so that the body might know the forgiveness of sins. He is servant or slave. His obedience, celibacy and poverty joins him to Christ as the victim who dies to self so that others might live. Celibacy insures that the priesthood will never be just a job with regular work hours. The priest surrenders a basic human right that most men take for granted. He does so, not to suffer needlessly, but so that others might benefit from the ministry of Christ that is perpetuated through him. This ministerial identification is a great mystery. All of us were made in the image of God and are called by grace to share in his likeness. But the ordained priest has been set apart. He is just a man and yet he is not an ordinary man. An indelible character marks his soul. While marriage is “until death do we part,” the priest will still be a priest in heaven, and God forbid, if he should damn himself and suffer as a Judas, in the lowest circle of hell. He has been given special graces for holiness; however, the maxim remains true, the more that one has been given, the more one will be held accountable. That is why some of the saints feared that it was easier for a priest to suffer perdition; unlike other souls, he could neither claim ignorance of the truth nor distance from the saving sacraments. Celibacy is a safeguard to help the priest in maintaining perspective about how important and unique his vocation actually is. He says at the altar that “this is my body…this is the chalice of my blood.” Similarly, at confession, he extends his right hand and says within the absolution prayer, “I absolve you….” Both at the altar and in the confessional, the priest speaks in the first person. Here is the great mystery. Never had God in the history of the world given such power and authority to men as he gave to priests. God is called down from heaven and sins are forgiven. The priest is still a man and a sinner but he is also so much more. Celibacy speaks to this element of “more.” Because of this man we hear Christ speaking. Because of this priest, Christ is present both in his person and in his saving activity. Celibacy prizes in a unique way who the priest is and who he becomes for the community of faith. He belongs to the Church and no other woman shares his bed. He is consumed for the love of his bride and on fire for the salvation of souls.

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