Frank Muscat, Sliema
Obligatory clerical celibacy
In his column entitled ‘A scandal called priestly celibacy’ (The Sunday Times, August 8), Fr Joe Borg shies away from tackling obligatory clerical celibacy head on.
Given that he paints a comprehensive picture of how a growing number of people in our culture perceive clerical celibacy either as a waste of time, or perversion, or the root of several of Catholic Church’s problems, I would have expected Fr Borg to rebut these misconceptions in more detail.
Instead, Fr Borg focused on the Pope’s exhortation on the “scandalous” aspect of celibacy during the late-night vigil concluding the Year of Priests on June 10. Why Fr Borg refrains from conveying his opinion on the noble vocation of mandatory celibacy, as the Pope seems to have been alluding to, boggles the mind.
There is no question in my mind that voluntary celibacy is a noble goal, a great sign of faith and of the presence of God in the world.
Celibacy is the renunciation of marriage, implicitly or explicitly made, for the more perfect observance of chastity by all those who receive the Sacrament of Orders in any of the higher grades. The vow of celibacy is not an essential aspect of the priesthood regardless of the statements of recent popes who claim that they lack the authority to change the requirement for ordination.
It is becoming increasingly clear that celibacy is honoured more in breach than in observance. According to Richard Sipe, the basic figures of Roman Catholic clergy sexual activity recorded in his 25-year ethnographic study still has validity and presents an accurate profile of celibate observance in the US. At any one time at least 50 per cent of Roman Catholic clergy are sexually active in one way or another (Celibacy – Sex and Research, June 2009).
In all fairness, Mr Sipe’s research is limited to the US; however, he argues that every study he has done in connection with other cultures worldwide, regardless of the method used, came to the conclusion that between 45 and 50 per cent of the priests, respondents or observed, were sexually active in the previous three-year period.
In 1993, Cardinal José Sanchez, secretary of the Dicastery for the Clergy, faced an interview from BBC television, who asked his opinion on studies, recent at the time, which claimed that at any one time, 45 to 50 per cent of Catholic clergy were not practising celibacy. The Cardinal’s response was: “I have no reason to doubt the accuracy of those figures.”
Mr Sipe’s research and mental health counselling lead him to believe three factors contributed to the steady corrosion of the credibility of the Catholic Church: the Catholic doctrine on sex; the psychosexual immaturity among a significant proportion of the clergy; and clerical loneliness.
According to Mr Sipe, theological writing about sex (and one cannot consider celibacy and disregard sex) is fraught with judgments of behaviour that is labelled intrinsically evil.
He opines that Catholic teaching on masturbation, contraception, and homosexual acts are among the most “inherently evil” acts among the multiple choices a person can make. It makes no sense that pastoral understanding and forgiveness (as well as authoritative judgments on human sexuality) are in the hands of priests bound by obligatory celibacy and perpetual chastity (Celibacy Today: Practice and Pretence).
Mr Sipe argues that a significant proportion of the clergy worldwide are psychosexually immature since the clerical system and culture fosters and preserves this immaturity that can, and does, allow priests and bishops to absolve themselves from personal responsibility for their sexual behaviour.
His assertion was substantiated by a paper delivered by Conrad Bears to bishops in 1971 that outlined the problems of psychosexual immaturity of a majority of Catholic clergy.
The study concluded that two-thirds of priests were psychosexually underdeveloped (Celibacy – Sex and Research).
Obligatory celibacy militates against living a life of chastity. It compounds the problem of loneliness among the clergy. It challenges the daily combat that St Augustine wrote about “where the victory is rare”. St Augustine acknowledged that chastity is the most difficult Christian conflict and that it is a daily battle.
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Joe Zammit
Sep 5th 2010, 21:19
Thank God, there are over 400,000 Catholic priests in the whole world. Most of them are hardworking and faithful to their vocation. No pseudo-statistics will undermine the holiness of our priests.
Of course, priests can fall into sin as well. In hell there are priests among the damned. But this does in no way prove that celibacy is a wrong step. All priests undergo a number of preparatory years before their ordination. So they know for what they are heading.
The Catholic Church has now made celibacy compulsory for the Latin Church over 1000 years ago. Celibacy is a Church rule, not of divine origin. The Church has the power to remove it as it had the power to introduce it. But the Pope is guided by the Holy Spirit and will not do anything that is not according to the will of the Holy Spirit.
We must always remember that it is possible for all of us, priests and lay people, to lead a chaste life according to our state in life. All of us have temptations and we can win them always.
victor pulis
Sep 6th 2010, 08:27
All priests undergo a number of preparatory years before their ordination. So they know for what they are heading. That is why it is strange that the church allows priests to leave the priesthood and marry. Like married couples they should get only one chance. Celibacy is a Church rule, not of divine origin. If it is inspired by the holy spirit is divinely inspired. the Pope is guided by the Holy Spirit and will not do anything that is not according to the will of the Holy Spirit. Can the holy spirit change his mind? I think not so celibacy, like marriage should be forever. But the church wants the cake and eat it too.
Joe Zammit
Sep 5th 2010, 20:52
The last word of the letter is ‘battle’. Yes, there is a battle going on between God and the devil. It has started with Original Sin. It is still under way. Many Catholics are unaware of this battle. The devil tries to deceive by picturing as good what is bad, by trying to convince us that our conscience is above God’s law.
This battle takes different forms, one of which are temptations against chastity. All people have these temptations but it is false to say that these are invincible temptations. Yes, by God’s grace I can assure everyone that it is possible to overcome temptations of any kind, including those against chastity.
It is false to think that on getting married one is free from these temptations. Marital chastity is a virtue as well and from time to time married people need to practise it as well. If a priest can succumb to the temptation against chastity, so can he do if he gets married.
victor pulis
Sep 5th 2010, 16:54
cont. part 2 Skip to Genesis 3;22 And he (God) said Behold, Adam has become as one of us knowing good from evil, now, therefore lest perhaps he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life and live for ever@ and the lord God sent him out of the garden to till the ground from which he was taken. The serpent didn't lie. Adam became as God knowing good from evil and there was another forbidden tree in paradise, the tree of life. This myth has more meaning than meets the eye.
renald williams
Sep 5th 2010, 14:12
Obligatory clerical chastity is against 1OldTestament, 2Gospels, 3rest NewTestament, 4ChurchCatechism and 5ChurchHistory.
1.il-qassis… jiehu xebba b’martu… Leviticus 21:7, 13-14.
Qassis… jiehdu xebba… Ezechiel 44:22.
2. a priest named Zacharias… had a wife… Elizabeth his wife became pregnant… she gave birth to a son… Luke 1:5, 24, 57.
Jesus came into Peter’s house, He saw his (Peter’s) mother-in-law. Matthew 8:14, Mark 1:30, Luke 4:38.
3. Uhud jitilqu mill-fidi, billi jaghtu widen… ghal taghlim tax-xjaten … ma jridux zwieg. 1 Timothy 4:1-3.
Ha jkun imweggah iz-zwieg f’kollox. Hebrews 3:4.
4. Il-Katekizmu tal-KnisjaKattolika Pagna 348 Paragrafu 1577
Ara 1 Tim 3:1-13, Titus 1:5-9.
1 Timothy 3:1-13. l-isqof… jkun ragel ta’ mara… ragel jaf imexxi tajjeb id-dar tieghu; u li jzomm lil uliedu… Ghax jekk wiehed ma jkunx jaf imexxi ‘l daru stess, kif jista’ jiehu hsieb il-Knisja ta’ Alla?... Id-djakni jkunu rgiel… mizzewgin ma’… mara wahda, u li jkunu jafu jmexxu ‘l uliedhom u ‘l djarhom sewwa.
Titus 1:5-9. ikun ragel ta’ mara wahda, u jkollu uliedu jemmnu… L-isqof… ghandu jkun… bniedem li jzomm shih mal-kelma.
5. Callistus bishop of Rome The Refutation of all Heresies 9
bishops and deacons... are married.
Socrates Scholasticus Ecclesiastical History 5
bishops have children from their wives
William P Flynn
Sep 5th 2010, 12:41
"The study concluded that two-thirds of priests were psychosexually underdeveloped (Celibacy – Sex and Research)."
That only about half of Catholic priests are actually celibate should surprise no one. And, as I have often written in these comments, no one should care about what an adult man, priest or lay, does with an adult woman in the privacy of their trysts.
The unfortunate section is the unacceptably high (if totally expected and self generating) proportion of priests whose psychosexual development has been arrested at, or close to, pre- pubescent stage.
As we have seen again and again all over the world, this puts innocent children in critical danger because children are encouraged to consider priests as their trusted mentors, and priests with immature psychosexual development consider children as sexual peers.
Joe Zammit
Sep 5th 2010, 11:10
The last word of the letter is ‘battle’. Yes, there is a battle going on between God and the devil. It has started with Original Sin. It is still under way. Many Catholics are unaware of this battle. The devil tries to deceive by picturing as good what is bad, by trying to convince us that our conscience is above God’s law.
This battle takes different forms, one of which are temptations against chastity. All people have these temptations but it is false to say that these are invincible temptations. Yes, by God’s grace I can assure everyone that it is possible to overcome temptations of any kind, including those against chastity.
It is false to think that on getting married one is free from these temptations. Marital chastity is a virtue as well and from time to time married people need to practise it as well. If a priest can succumb to the temptation against chastity, so can he do if he gets married.
P.Pulis
Sep 5th 2010, 12:08
'the battle' refers to the internal fight that a person goes through to abstain from something which is 'natural - the sexual act. It has nothing to do with god or devils.
Regarding the 'original' sin. Please understand that this is a myth (a story which tries to give a meaning to an occurance beyond our comprehesion or to put us more at ease).
Original sin tries to explain the leap evolving man made when through evolution he transcended the mere instinctive level of the animal world. Through consciousness, he began to question his very existance, purpose and destination(if any). He also became responsible for his choices.
The attribution of this leap to an omnipotent god is the easiest of explanations, but it still remains one of the other explanations (scientific/antopological).
Once one adopts a comfortable religious explanation where everything is explained through a godly entity, then, the quest for other possible explanations stops.
Joseph Micallef
Sep 5th 2010, 13:40
Ok Mr. Know All JZ- so simple for you - but we are talking about humans here not pre-programmed robots - the kind you keep harping about!
victor pulis
Sep 5th 2010, 16:49
While on the subject of Adam and Eve; Genesis 2;16 And he commanded him (Adam) saying "Of every tree of paradise thou shalt eat 17 But of the tree of knowledge, of good and evil thou shalt not eat for on what day soever thou shalt eat of it thiu shalt die the death. Genesis 3; 1... And he (the serpent) said to the woman,"Why had God commanded you that you should not eat of every tree in paradise? 2 and the woman answered him saying, " Of the fruit of the trees in paradise we do eat 3. but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of paradise God hath commanded us that we shouldn't eat lest perhaps we die. And the serpent said to the woman "No, you shall not die the death for God knows that in what day soever thou shall eat thereof your eyes shall be open and you shall be as Gods knowing good from evil." cont.