Martina Devlin: We Need a Vatican Spring

Irish Independent
April 13, 2012

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/martina-devlin/martina-devlin-we-need-a-vatican-spring-3080034.html


I grew up hearing that a Catholic priest needed to be celibate so he could focus exclusively on his flock. It was presented as a boon for congregations to have clergymen with no distractions beyond their spiritual welfare.

How burdensome celibacy might be for the priest was glossed over, as the price he had to pay for being entrusted with the care of others' souls. People knew, in theory, there were religions that allowed ministers to marry, but it seemed a poor sort of vocation. The consensus was that other faiths had lower standards than Catholicism.

Sometimes, a priest might find the condition of celibacy to be troublesome, and whispers would circulate about him leaving the priesthood. Generally, there was a woman involved, and parishioners agreed it was a mortal pity she couldn't leave the poor man in peace.

When I was in my teens, one of the priests in the parish acquired a puppy, and people began to comment on the amount of affection and attention he lavished on it. Dog-lovers become attached to their pets, but this was exceptional: that animal filled a void in his life.

I used to see the curate taking it for a walk past our house every evening, chatting away, while the little brown and white terrier wagged its tail in reply. And it dawned on me how the priest must be lonely at times, especially at night when families or couples sit down together to share a meal and the day's happenings. Was a pet dog all he could hope for as a companion?

Actually, that's as good as it gets.

Celibacy remains mandatory for Catholic priests, pandering to the bizarre notion that a chaste person is more virtuous than someone who acts on their sexual desires.

Jesus never promoted celibacy and chose apostles who were married for the most part, but this unnatural rule was invented in his name some centuries after the spread of Christianity.

The upper echelons of the Catholic Church continue to decree a celibate and male-only priesthood, even though there is a crisis in vocations; even though review after review, empty church pew upon empty church pew, highlight the disconnect between official teachings and the more pragmatic beliefs of ordinary Catholics. Yesterday's Catholic Contemporary Perspectives survey reinforces that division.

Arguably, men who enter seminaries know what they are signing up to in advance of being ordained. Indeed they do in theory, but the reality demands to be wrestled with, not just in the seminary but throughout the long years -- alone -- as a priest.

However, in abstaining -- in suppressing urges of the flesh and the normal human instinct to raise a family -- they show obedience. And the Vatican is monumentally keen on obedience. I'm surprised one of the Ten Commandments wasn't doctored generations ago to extend the reference to obedience: 'Honour thy father, thy mother and thy Pope.'

Consider the hierarchy's 'advice' to Father Tony Flannery to retreat to a monastery to reflect and pray, returning when he's in a more tractable frame of mind. Father Flannery favours such progressive concepts as married clergy, women priests and contraception, but recently he was silenced and is no longer free to express opinions out of kilter with orthodox teaching.

So those who hope for reform must continue to wait, although there are no signs of a Vatican spring to encourage them. The Catholic Church is not a democracy. It pays not the slightest attention to those who say the organisation could try to adapt to the 21st century.

Yet, here in Ireland, we are no longer as insular as we were once. We travel, we see other ways of operating. We realise there are those who are celibate by nature. But we also understand that enforced celibacy is odder than the idea of people needing companionship.

I spent time in several African countries, visiting relatives working as medics for charities and other agencies and I observed at first-hand how hospitals and schools run by Irish nuns were providing terrific facilities. There were Irish priests too, serving spread-out communities, labouring long, dusty hours in their ministries. One of these priests, a good and diligent man, was said to have an African 'wife'.

It didn't interfere with his pastoral care, diminish his authority or lose him parishioners. As long as the priest was discreet, the Europeans went along with it, while the Africans were free from conditioning and had no issue with it one way or the other.

A number of years later, my sister married someone whose father was a Church of England canon and I noticed how hard his wife worked alongside him in their parish. They were a team, and parishioners got two for the price of one.

There is no evidence his children felt cheated of attention because he delivered a sermon on Sundays, or his congregation regarded themselves as short-changed because he went to parent-teacher meetings. On the contrary, being a husband and father helped him to connect with people.

Of course, a priest who happened to be a wife and mother would have just as much to contribute.

The first female minister I ever saw was a member of the Church of Ireland, and it took my eyes a moment to adjust because she had waist-length hair, a wedding band and wore a denim jacket over her clerical shirt. She didn't look unpriestly, she looked accessible -- as if she could interact with young people and address their problems.

So, not celibate and not a man but still a minister. And the sun hadn't darkened, or the stars tumbled from the sky.