This piece was first published in The
Universe
Is Priestly Celibacy Mandatory?
By Dwight Longenecker
The scandal
of paedophile priests in America is being used by many people
as an opportunity
to call for change in the church. The horror of priestly
child abuse and the subsequent cover up has caused people
to call for an end to the discipline of priestly celibacy.
Would such a change stop the
crime of child abuse? No. Being married doesn’t have much
to do with it. Bishop Peter Smith has rightly pointed out
that married men are statistically far more likely to abuse
children than celibate priests. If a man is addicted to child
sex, being married won’t stop his habit. In addition, the
majority of the paedophile cases are homosexual in nature.
People seem to think that a man would not abuse young boys
if he had a loving wife at home. They don’t seem to understand
that a man who has an overpowering attraction to teenaged
boys isn’t actually attracted to women anyway. Homosexual
paedophiles are seriously disturbed men who have given themselves
over to evil. They are not the sort who would be able to
establish a happy marriage. The problem of homosexual paedophilia
is far too complex to be solved simply by changing the celibacy
rule.
Getting rid of the
celibacy rule won’t solve
the paedophile issue. It won’t solve other problems with
the priesthood either. There are some who argue that getting
rid of the celibacy discipline will solve the vocations crisis
in the church. ‘If married men could be ordained, ‘ they
say, ‘we won’t have such a shortage of priests.’ Ordaining
married men would certainly ease the crisis, but I don’t
think it would solve the problem. You only have to look at
the other Christian denominations. They allow married clergy,
but they are going through a manpower crisis too. Allowing
married men to be ordained hasn’t solved their vocations
shortage.
Others argue that the celibate
life is terribly lonely and that the rule should be done
away with so that priests will not be so isolated. This is
not a very good reason for doing away with the rule of celibacy
for priests. There are plenty of people who are lonely even
though they are married. Likewise, there are many single
people in all walks of life who are very happy and fulfilled.
I know from my experience as an Anglican priest that being
a married minister often caused more problems than it solved.
If the Catholic Church had married priests we would have
to deal with unhappy clergy marriages and clergy divorce.
In addition, priests would have to cope with the stress and
strain that all married people experience. Getting rid of
the celibacy rule wouldn’t necessarily make our priests any
happier, and it might cause more problems.
The celibacy rule mustn’t be
changed just because we think it is a solution to other problems.
If the rule is going to be changed it should be changed for
positive reasons. We need to ask ourselves whether the priesthood
is all that it can be by being made up totally of celibate
men. Wouldn’t the priesthood be better balanced if some priests
were married with families? Celibate priests dedicate their
lives totally to God and his church. The vast majority of
them provide a wonderful example of total Christian service.
But wouldn’t their example be complemented if we had some
equally dedicated married men serving as priests? Celibate
priests show us the way of total self giving as single people.
Married men would show us the way of total self-giving as
husbands and fathers. We shouldn’t change the celibacy rule
because we think it will solve tricky human problems. Instead
we ought to think about changing it because the church would
benefit from having married men with families working as
priests.
The Eastern Orthodox
allow married men to be ordained, but they also value the
celibate ministry. There
are creative but traditional ways to make the change while
still granting celibacy an honoured place. While priestly
ordination changes a man for life, the vow of celibacy doesn’t
need to be permanent. Why not make the vow of celibacy a
temporary vow? That way a man could serve as a celibate priest
for five years, but review the situation with his superiors
before finally making a lifetime vow. This is how monks and
nuns approach their vows. They move forward to a lifetime
vow gradually, and it is possible to be a monk or a nun for
a long time without taking the final step of a lifetime vow.
There are many positive
ways to consider changing the rule. At present we don’t have the infrastructure
to make the change. However, if the change could be brought
in gradually the support system could grow gradually. Rome
now allows individual bishops to apply for a dispensation
from the vow of celibacy for former Anglican clergy. If they
allowed the same dispensation for ordinary married Catholics
who wanted to be ordained, then suitable men could begin
to come forward. In addition, the dispensation from the vow
of celibacy could be applied to some men who left the priesthood
to marry. Technically they are still priests. With proper
pastoral oversight, couldn’t the Church dispense their vows
and allow them to return to priestly ministry?
Most Catholics
I speak to are in favour of such a change, but there is an
important hurdle
to be overcome. While I hear many lay people advocating married
priests, they often quieten down when I suggest that they
will have to pay for it. If we are to have married priests,
then individual parishes will have to come up with the added
funds to pay for their ministry. Are ordinary Catholics really so
committed to change that they would be willing to pay an
extra ten pounds a week to support a married man with a family
as their parish priest? It is possible if we had enough vision.
We only have to look at the example of non-Catholic congregations
who pitch in to support their married clergy.
From the conversations I’ve had
with Catholics in America and Britain, the real question
concerning clerical celibacy is money. Shortsighted Catholics
approve of married men being ordained, but they soon complain, ‘We
can’t afford it!’ Are we really so lacking in faith? We forget
that with God nothing is impossible. In the end the church
will decide if the ordination of married men is the right
step forward. The decision needs to be made for positive
and constructive reasons, not just as a quick fix for the
problems of a few. If it is the right way forward, then we
must make sure that something as insignificant as a lack
of money doesn’t stand in the way.
Dwight Longenecker is a former Anglican
priest. His new book, St Benedict
and St Therese—The Little Rule and the Little Way is
published by Gracewing.
