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	Re-Assessing Celibacy in the Catholic Church The Other June 22, 2008 http://theotheri.wordpress.com/2008/06/22/re-assessing-celibacy-in-the-catholic-church/ Since the documentary last week about Father Cleary, I have been re-evaluating my thoughts about clerical celibacy in the Roman Catholic Church. Despite the fact that recent popes have adamantly refused to consider a married clergy, it is worth remembering that even in the RC Church, clerical celibacy did not become a requirement until the 13th century, when it was imposed in an attempt to control wide-spread abuse. Additionally, it is a practice which has never been introduced by the Orthodox Catholic Church, and a requirement which is not being universally imposed on some converts from among the Anglican clergy who are already married. So clerical celibacy is not in that circle of doctrinal beliefs like the divinity of Christ, for instance, or the Trinity of God, which Rome believes could not be changed. The traditional argument in favour of clerical celibacy with which I grew up, and which is still the principle defence used by the Church, is that celibacy frees the priest from the demands of a wife and family, giving him greater freedom to respond without limits to the needs of the Catholic community which he serves. I pretty much accepted this view as I was growing up, including the corollary that celibacy was a higher calling demanding greater sacrifice than marriage. This puts the celibate on just a little higher level than the ordinary laity who have succumbed to the more basic needs of human life. Examining this view in the light of nine years experience as a nun, and thirty-five years of marriage, I humbly suggest that this view of celibacy is a little off the mark. Marriage is not easier than celibacy. It is not a series of riotous romps in bed night after night. On the contrary, living full time with another adult with opinions, evaluations, goals, and traditions different from ones own is one of the most demanding experiences life can offer. Raising children together makes the task doubly demanding. In my view, there is no other circumstance in life that puts greater demands on one's personal egocentrism. You just cannot make a marriage last without being willing to re-examine and frequently to relinquish many of your pet practices, assumptions, even, on occasion, convictions. Sex can bring great pleasure. But it often does not. The divorce rate makes it clear that sex in itself does not hold a marriage together. In any case, making a marriage work sometimes is simply impossible. But even in the most successful marriages, there are days when it seems unachievable at any cost, or at least more difficult than is worth it. I like being married. It is one of the best things that I have ever done, and my husband is one of the most wonderful things in my life. But it has not always been easy, and it is I who have made it difficult as often as my partner, as we each attempt to stretch and grow and reach across that great space that exists between the human consciousness of two separate human beings. So I think is marriage potentially one of the most maturing and rewarding of all human endeavours. At the same time, I think celibacy is frequently a dangerous state in which the self-centered egocentrism of childhood remains unchallenged throughout adulthood. As a result a tremendous number of celibate priests remain immature, cursed with the arrogance that comes with a life-time of never being challenged, lacking the courage that comes when one enters into a close enduring relationship with an equal adult. I fear this childish arrogance and unexamined self-satisfaction often reaches deep into the Roman Catholic hierarchy itself. Many in the hierarchy also strike me as incredibly naive about sexual matters, placing all sexual indiscretions in the same shameful category. Homosexuality between consenting adults is just as sinful as paedophilia, which is equally as perverted as transvestism or having an affair with a woman, married or not. An underlying assumption is that these problems occur because some men simply do not have the strength of character and self-control to maintain their vow of celibacy. Sexual indiscretions have been treated with such cowardice and secrecy and their discovery the source of such shame that serious help for the errant priest to face and deal with his problems has often been effectively unavailable. Of course, just as marriage is not a fail-safe map for growth and maturity, celibacy is not an inescapable curse of immaturity. But having lived both life styles, it's going to take a lot to convince me that celibacy is the higher road. Thinking it over, I think the Roman Catholic Church would benefit a great deal more from a married clergy than a celibate one.
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