Why do priests do not get married?
The majority of priests in the Catholic Church do not get married. Unlike celibacy for lay people, the celibacy of the priest is determined by the free and conscious choice made by a psychically mature man. Celibacy is not imposed. It is accepted freely and after much deliberation.
When the terrible child abuse scandals hit the church in the United States of America a few years ago, some people even suggested that the tragic events of child abuse by priests happen because our priests tend to be celibate. These people would submit that there would be no sexual abuse if priests were not celibate. Unfortunately however one finds people, both men and women, who abuse children sexually even in other walks of life. Some are married. Others are not.
The late and much loved Cardinal Basil Hume of Westminster, himself a celibate Benedictine monk and priest once said that to those who ask him why he is celibate, he replied that His Master, Jesus, was celibate. Following his Master meant that he chose to be like Christ, and that was enough for him.
Jesus lived as a celibate, and for this reason he was able to devote all his energy to preaching the kingdom of God and to serving people, with a heart open to all humanity, as the founder of a new spiritual family. His choice was truly "for the sake of the kingdom of heaven."
So what is right about celibacy? Jesus chose it. He never got married, according to the Bible. If Jesus chose it for himself, there must be a lot that is right about it.
Pope John Paul II explained that there is an “inner consonance” between priestly celibacy and being consecrated to God. He said that celibacy belongs to “the logic of consecration”.
He summarised what is right about celibacy by outlining a number of points:
- Celibacy gives a more complete adherence to Christ, loved and served with an undivided heart;
- It gives greater availability to serve Christ’s kingdom and to carry out their own tasks in the Church the most exclusive choice of a spiritual fruitfulness;
- It allows the priest to lead a life more like that definitive one in the world to come, and therefore, more exemplary for life here below.
The priest, "chosen from among the people to act on their behalf in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins" promises celibacy for the sake of the kingdom of God.
It was Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta who once said that by freely choosing priestly celibacy the priest renounces earthly fatherhood and gains a share in the Fatherhood of God. She explained “Instead of becoming father to one or more children on earth, he is now able to love everybody in Christ. Yes, Jesus calls his priest to carry his Father’s tender love for each and every person. For this reason, people call him ‘Father’.
“Priestly celibacy is not just not getting married, not to have a family. It is undivided love of Christ in chastity. Nothing and nobody will separate me from the love of Christ. It is not simply a list of don’ts, it is love. Freedom to love and to be all things to all people.”
In his First Letter to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul states that he had resolved to take this path and shows the coherence of his own decision, declaring: "An unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord. But a married man is anxious about the things of the world, how he may please his wife, and he is divided!"
Pope John Paul, commenting on this text once said: “It is certainly inappropriate for someone to be "divided", someone who, like the priest, has been called to be concerned about the things of the Lord.”
Having said all this, the Catholic Church does have priests who are married. These are always married men who were ordained priests, married first and then ordained while still married. Converted clergy from the Anglican Communion are married and some of these married priests legitimately and fruitfully function in a small number of our Scottish parishes. Married priests are also a feature of most Eastern Churches in communion with Rome.
Pope John Paul continues: “Even in those Churches, however, bishops are celibate, as are a number of priests. The difference in discipline, related to conditions of time and place evaluated by the Church, is explained by the fact that perfect continence, as the Council says, "is not demanded of the priesthood by its nature."
“It does not belong to the essence of the priesthood as Holy Orders, and thus is not imposed in an absolute way in all the Churches. Nevertheless, there is no doubt about its suitability and indeed its appropriateness to the demands of Sacred Orders. As was said, it belongs to the logic of consecration.”
“By his example Jesus gave an orientation that was followed. According to the Gospels, it appears that the Twelve, destined to be the first to share in his priesthood, renounced family life in order to follow him. The Gospels never speak of wives or children in regard to the Twelve, although they tell us that Peter was a married man before he was called by Jesus.”
In other words Jesus did not promulgate a law, but proposed the ideal of celibacy for the new priesthood he was instituting. This ideal was increasingly asserted in the Church.
Truly enough, in the first phase of Christianity’s spread and development a large number of priests were married men, chosen and ordained in the wake of Jewish tradition. We know that in the Letters to Timothy and to Titus, one of the qualities required of the men chosen as presbyters is that they be good fathers of families, married only once (i.e.: faithful to their wives).
Pope John Paul explained this as “a phase in the Church’s process of being organized, and, one could say, of testing which discipline of the states of life best corresponds to the ideal and the "counsels" taught by the Lord.”
He added that on the basis of experience and reflection the discipline of celibacy gradually spread to the point of becoming the general practice in the Western Church as a result of canonical legislation. It was not merely the consequence of a juridical and disciplinary fact: it was the growth of the Church’s realization of the appropriateness of priestly celibacy not only for historical and practical reasons, but also for those arising from an ever better awareness of the congruence of celibacy and the demands of the priesthood.”
One important point needs to be added by way of conclusion. The demand of celibacy does not exceed human capacities: Christ himself shows us the way when he bids us to seek perfection. The conscious quest for holiness is not against the individual, but against our individual paltriness and leads us to transcend ourselves. A full realization of priesthood and celibacy develops the human personality to its full potential and hence makes it easier to achieve the objective to which we all are summoned, namely holiness.
