Are married priests the answer? One of the Herald’s chaplains answers your questions

Concerned Catholic: With the shortage of priests, the bishop has sent us an Ordinariate priest. He is terribly nice and so is his wife, who involves herself in all the parish activities. It has made me think: why can’t our own diocesan priests marry? I am sure that would solve the vocations problem.

Chaplain: It is good to hear of your positive experience with your new priest: the contribution of the Ordinariate to the life of the Catholic Church is much appreciated. Many Ordinariate priests are married. Even before the Ordinariate was established, it had been the practice of the Church over several decades to allow married former Anglican clergy to be ordained and to minister as Catholic priests. In both cases, the Church sees this as a sensible and practical exception to the normal rule of celibacy observed by Catholic priests throughout the Western Church. Nevertheless, the Church shows no sign of a general abolition of her rule of celibacy. As a celibate priest myself, I think this is the right decision. Nor do I think that abolishing celibacy would resolve the vocations shortage – for reasons I will give below.

Before doing so, however, it is necessary to ask: why does the Church require priests to be celibate? The standard secular answer is that celibacy is a man-made law introduced in the 12th century to prevent priests and bishops passing on property to their children and thus alienating the wealth of the Church. This answer contains a grain of truth – but it is nevertheless inadequate and misleading. The Church only began to develop systematic canon law from the 12th century, so it is not surprising that we start to find laws about celibacy being written then.

More importantly, this answer fails to acknowledge that celibacy has always been seen as the ideal for the priest, going right back to apostolic times. The reason for this is that Jesus was himself a celibate. As Christ is the ultimate model for all priests, so too celibacy will always be the model and the most fitting and appropriate way for a priest to live. In this context, it is worth noting that in the Orthodox Church, and among Catholics of the Eastern Rites, only celibate men can become bishops – indicating that celibacy remains an ideal there.

To this argument, two objections might arise. First, Jesus was divine – isn’t celibacy too much to ask of a mere human being? Of course, the Lord’s virtues and holiness will always exceed that of any human person, even the greatest saint. However, we can certainly aspire to follow him in all things, including celibacy. He himself says that there are some who are called to be celibate, and those so called should embrace it for the sake of the Kingdom (Mt 19:12). Second – even if celibacy is indeed the ideal for all priests, isn’t it wrong to demand it as a norm, as is now the case in the Western Church?

Just as Jesus’s celibacy was a sign of his unconditional commitment to his Father and to the Kingdom, so priestly celibacy allows the priest to dedicate himself more fully to God and to his people.

Precisely because celibacy is not a divine law, it is in the Church’s power to determine whether or not it should be required, and the Church continues to ask this of her priests for good reasons: because every priest should strive to follow as closely as possible the model of Jesus Christ (and indeed the example of those great priestly saints who themselves embraced the celibate life), and because of the great practical blessings which celibacy brings to the Church and has done for many centuries. Just as Jesus’s celibacy was a sign of his unconditional commitment to his Father and to the Kingdom, so priestly celibacy allows the priest to dedicate himself more fully to God and to his people.

This practical aspect of celibacy – being “without distraction” – is commended by St Paul (1 Cor 7), who was himself celibate and one of the greatest missionaries who ever lived. Celibate missionaries also led the great expansion of the Church in the centuries which followed the Counter-Reformation: men and women who had sacrificed everything for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven. Even in the more settled life of the West, there is a unique bond between the celibate Catholic priest and his people which would be very sad to lose.

Would the abolition of mandatory celibacy lead to a significant rise in vocations? I think this is very unlikely. If you look around your own parish church, I suspect you might struggle to find large numbers of young married men who would offer themselves for priesthood if celibacy were abolished. In many churches, finding any young married men might be a challenge!

Especially in the West there is a crisis of faith affecting vocations to marriage no less than those to the priesthood or religious life. The answer to this crisis lies not in tinkering with canon law but in something more radical – a rediscovery of our faith. This will include being unafraid to call young people to follow Christ courageously: whether in the priesthood, religious life or marriage, with all the sacrifices that might entail, for still greater reward. I encourage you to pray daily for your priests, for vocations and for the Church.

This article appeared in the March edition of the Catholic Herald. To subscribe to our award-winning, thought-provoking magazine and have independent, high-calibre, counter-cultural and orthodox Catholic journalism delivered to your door anywhere in the world click HERE.

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