Clerical celibacy (Catholic Church)
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Clerical celibacy is the discipline by which, in some of the particular Churches that constitute the Catholic Church, only unmarried men are, as a rule, to be ordained to the priesthood. The same discipline holds in some other Churches for ordination to the episcopate.
Chief of the Catholic particular Churches that follow this discipline is the Latin Rite, but, among the Eastern Catholic Churches, at least the Ethiopic Catholic Church applies it also.
In this context, "celibacy" retains its original meaning of "unmarried", and does not refer to the continence or abstinence from sexual intercourse that even the married may practise.
Throughout the Catholic Church, East as well as West, as also in the Eastern Orthodox Church and in Oriental Orthodoxy, a priest may not marry. To become a married priest, one must therefore marry before being ordained.
The Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches, without exception, rule out ordination of married men to the episcopate.
The law of clerical celibacy is considered to be not a doctrine, but a discipline. Exceptions are sometimes made, especially in the case of Christian clergymen who convert to the Catholic Church, and the discipline could in theory be changed for all ordinations to the priesthood. However, it is considered a valuable witness of Christian faith and as a way of following the example of Christ and His celibate way of life.
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[edit] Historical origins
Contemporary clerical celibacy in the Latin Rite is derived from the ancient practice of clerical continence, which is the practice of foregoing all sexual contact with a spouse. It has been argued even that, in early practice, married men who became priests—they were often older men, "elders"—were expected to refrain permanently from sexual relations with their wives, perhaps because they, as priests representing Christ, were treated as the Church's spouse.[1] When at a later stage it was clear that not all did refrain, the Western reaction was to ordain only celibates, while the Eastern Churches relaxed the rule, so that Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches now require their married clergy to abstain from sexual relations only for a limited period before celebrating the Eucharist. The Church in Persia, which in the fifth century became separated from the Church described as Orthodox or Catholic, decided at the end of that century to abolish the rule of continence and allow priests to marry, but recognized that it was abrogating an ancient tradition. The Coptic and Ethiopic Churches, whose separation came slightly later, allow deacons (who are ordained when they are boys) to marry, but not priests. The theory in question, if true, helps explain why all the ancient Christian Churches of both East and West, with the one exception mentioned, exclude marriage after priestly ordination, and why all reserve the episcopate (seen as a fuller form of priesthood than the presbyterate) for the celibate.
The earliest textual evidence of the forbidding of marriage to clerics and the duty of those already married to abstain from sexual contact with their wives is in the fourth-century decrees of the Council of Elvira and the later Council of Carthage:
- (Canon 33): It is decided that marriage be altogether prohibited to bishops, priests, and deacons, or to all clerics placed in the ministry, and that they keep away from their wives and not beget children; whoever does this, shall be deprived of the honor of the clerical office.
- Council of Carthage (390)
- (Canon 3): It is fitting that the holy bishops and priests of God as well as the Levites, i.e. those who are in the service of the divine sacraments, observe perfect continence, so that they may obtain in all simplicity what they are asking from God; what the Apostles taught and what antiquity itself observed, let us also endeavour to keep... It pleases us all that bishop, priest and deacon, guardians of purity, abstain from conjugal intercourse with their wives, so that those who serve at the altar may keep a perfect chastity.
[edit] Theological foundations
Theologically, the Church teaches that priesthood is a ministry conformed to the life and work of Jesus Christ. Priests as sacramental ministers act in persona Christi, that is in the person of Christ. Thus the life of the priest conforms to the chastity of Christ himself. The sacrifice of married life for the "sake of the Kingdom" (Luke 18:28-30, Matthew 19:27-30; Mark 10:20-21), and to follow the example of Jesus Christ in being "married" to the Church, viewed by Catholicism and many Christian traditions as the "Bride of Christ".
[edit] Scriptural foundations
Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) in Salt of the Earth also explained that this practice is based on Jesus' preaching on the eunuchs or celibates "for the sake of the kingdom of heaven" which links with God's decision in the Old Testament to confer the priesthood to a specific tribe, that of Levi, and who unlike the other tribes did not receive from God any land — an essential need for one's posterity as a wife and children are today — but had "God himself as its inheritance." (Num1:48-53)
Also of import are the teachings of St. Paul that chastity is the superior state of life, and his desire expressed in I Corinthians 7:7-8;32-35: "Indeed, I wish everyone to be as I am, but each has a particular gift from God, one of one kind and one of another. Now to the unmarried and to widows, I say: it is a good thing for them to remain as they are, as I do, I should like you to be free of anxieties. 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. An unmarried woman or a virgin is anxious about the things of the Lord, so that she may be holy in both body and spirit. A married woman, on the other hand, is anxious about the things of the world, how she may please her husband. I am telling you this for your own benefit, not to impose a restraint upon you, but for the sake of propriety and adherence to the Lord without distraction."
Among the early Church statements on the topic of sexual continence and celibacy are "Decreta" and "Cum in unum" of Pope Siricius (c. 385), which asserted that clerical sexual abstinence was an apostolic practice that must be followed by ministers of the church.
[edit] Eleventh century developments
It is sometimes claimed that celibacy became mandatory for Latin-Rite priests only in the eleventh century; but others say, for instance: "(I)t may fairly be said that by the time of St. Leo the Great (440-461) the law of celibacy was generally recognized in the West,"[2] and that the eleventh-century regulations on this matter, as on simony, should obviously not be interpreted as meaning that either non-celibacy or simony were previously permitted.[3]
[edit] Eastern Catholic Churches
It remains law today for Latin Rite Catholics, but not for Eastern Catholics. Until recently, the Eastern Catholic bishops of North America would generally ordain only unmarried men, for fear that married priests would create scandal. Since Vatican II's call for the restoration of Eastern Catholic traditions, a number of bishops have returned to the traditional practice of ordaining married men to the presbyterate. Bishops are still celibate and normally chosen from the ranks of monks.
[edit] Controversy
The Latin Rite discipline continues to be debated for a variety of reasons. First, many believe celibacy was not required of the apostles. Peter himself had a wife at the time of Jesus' ministry, whose mother Jesus healed of a high fever.[4] However, others think the apostles did leave their wives.[5] Second, this requirement excludes a great number of otherwise qualified men from the priesthood, qualifications which according to the defenders of celibacy should be determined not by merely human hermeneutics but by the hermeneutics of the divine. Third, some say that resisting the natural sexual impulse in this way is unrealistic and harmful for a healthy life, a criticism which is countered by the faith in the power of grace and of man, made in the image of God who is Love. Sexual scandals among priests, the defenders say, are a breach of the Church's discipline, not a result of it, especially since only a small percentage of priests have been involved. Fourth, it is said that mandatory celibacy distances priests from this experience of life, compromising their moral authority in the pastoral sphere, although its defenders argue that the Church's moral authority is rather enhanced by a life of total self-giving in imitation of Christ, a practical application of Vatican II teaching that "man cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of himself."[6]
[edit] Since the Second Vatican Council
The Holy See has officially re-affirmed the discipline of clerical celibacy in the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church. Pope John Paul II in Pastores Dabo Vobis stated that the "unchanging" essence of ordination "configures the priest to Jesus Christ the Head and Spouse of the Church." Thus, he said, "The Church, as the Spouse of Jesus Christ, wishes to be loved by the priest in the total and exclusive manner in which Jesus Christ her Head and Spouse loved her."
However, the Latin Church now admits married men of mature age to ordination as deacons, provided that they intend to remain permanently as deacons and do not intend to advance to priestly ordination[7] (ordination to the order of deacon is part of the process through which priests pass on their way to priestly ordination)[8]. Ordination even to the diaconate is an impediment to a later marriage, though special dispensation can be received for remarriage under extenuating circumstances.[9]
[edit] Exceptions
Exceptions are sometimes made (including in Latin Rite Catholicism), granted by authority of the Pope, when married Protestant clergy become Catholic. Because the rule of celibacy is an ecclesial law and not a doctrine, it can, in principle, be changed at any time by the Pope. Doctrines, on the other hand, cannot be changed. Nonetheless, both the present Pope, Benedict XVI, and his predecessors, have spoke clearly of their understanding that the traditional practice was not likely to change. (For a detailed history of celibacy in the Catholic Church, see the Catholic Encyclopedia's article on "Celibacy of the Clergy" at http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03481a.htm.)
[edit] References
- ^ Roman Cholij,Priestly celibacy in patristics and in the history of the Church
- ^ Celibacy of the Clergy. Catholic Encyclopedia. Retrieved on September 16, 2006.
- ^ Gregory VII: Simony and Celibacy 1074. Medieval Sourcebook.
- ^ Matthew 8:14
- ^ cf. Luke 18:28-30
- ^ Pope Paul VI (December 1965). Gaudium et Spes. Vatican. Retrieved on September 16, 2006.
- ^ can. 1042.1 CIC 1983
- ^ can. 1032, CIC 1983
- ^ Cong. for Divine Worship and Displine of the Sacraments, Circular Letter to Diocesean Ordinaries..., June 6, 1997, Prot. N. 263/97, 8; in Origins 27 (1991) p 171
