Blessed is the Kingdom

Seeking The Kingdom In All Things

Married Priests?

Recently I have been coming across more frequent comments about the nature of priesthood and how it relates to celibacy. Much of these comments have come in light of the Vatican’s decision to create an ordinariate for former Anglicans who are now, or who will soon be full members of the Catholic Church. Along with the formation of this group will be the ordination of many men who were formerly Anglican clergy. The question that continues to arise among many Catholics is how the Church can ordain, in this case, married men as priests. For those of us who have spent our lives in the Latin Rite, where celibacy is the norm among the clergy, it can be quite a shock to find out that the Catholic Church has a tradition also of married clergy. The most obvious place where this is seen is in the Eastern Rites of the Church. There are at least 22 Eastern Rites of the Church all of whom have the tradition of having both married and celibate clergy. The second place where many dioceses see married priests today are from those men who were ordained to the priesthood under the pastoral provision. This provision provided a way for Anglican, and on occasion, Lutheran clergy to enter into the Catholic priesthood. Most of these men have been married and remain married following ordination.

A few comments that I have recently seen and heard have led me to write this post today in an attempt to look more closely at the definition of priesthood that in many ways is separate from the discipline of celibacy. One comment, for example, stated, “What would be the point of the sacrifice? Without the challenge of celibacy, is it (priesthood) a real gift?” Statements like this one sadden me, as it betrays a very narrow definition of priesthood and of celibacy for that matter. The very fact that there has been a tradition of married clergy in the Church that is at least as long as the tradition of having celibate members of the clergy should tell us that the essential nature of priesthood is not tied to celibacy. There is something deeper at stake in the priesthood. Celibacy, when lived well, is meant to free a priest to become more closely tied to Christ and as result to love the Church more deeply. I would argue that Christ’s sacrificial life had more to do with his willingness to enter into suffering and death with his people than it did with his never being married. The same could be said for Sts. Peter and Paul and so many other married men who laid down their lives for the sake of their people.

To me, celibacy is but one symbolic expression of a priest’s promise to give his life for the sake of others. There are many other ways that this promise to love God’s people can be expressed in the life of the clergy. I would love to hear your thoughts on the various ways you have seen God’s love revealed in the lives of priests you have met, both celibate and married ones. Perhaps together we can discover a broader definition of what it means to reveal Christ to others through the vocation of priesthood.

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This entry was posted by on Sunday, January 16th, 2011 at 11:08 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

About The Author

Fr. Christian is the pastor of St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Lenoir City, TN.

Comments

  • http://yimcatholic.blogspot.com Frank Weathers

    Statements like this one sadden me, as it betrays a very narrow definition of priesthood and of celibacy for that matter.

    I agree. After all, the very definition of the word “catholic” is an antonym to the word “narrow.”

  • http://www.fromthepulpitofmylife.blogspot.com/ Ruth Ann

    Although I am not acquainted with any Latin Rite Catholic priests who are married, I regularly read a blog written by a married Orthodox priest. His essays are wise and inspiring and most certainly reveal Christ to me. I am thinking also of a celibate Roman Catholic priest to whom I regularly confess my sins in the Sacrament of Penance. When he says the words of absolution, Christ’s love shines through. I don’t think that’s because he is celibate.

    With regard to vowed celibacy of any person, priest , nun, sister, brother or lay person, I just want them to be faithful to their vows as I am faithful to my wedding vows. I feel let down when I hear tales of infidelity—no matter who.

  • http://www.emahlou.blogspot.com Elizabeth Mahlou

    Two comments:

    (1) I am somewhat familiar with Orthodoxy, having spent much time in the USSR and Russia, and have seen the value that “matushka” (the priest’s wife) can bring to a congregation.

    (2) An elderly (i.e. generally knowledgeable) priest, who believes that priests should be allowed to marry, told me that the history of celibacy in the priesthood is not theological in origin, but political. In the early days of the Catholic church, priests were allowed to marry, but later, church lands and property would pass out of the hands of the church and into the hands of the priest’s family upon his death and for that reason celibacy was instituted. I have not done the research myself, but I have no reason to doubt the research shared with me. In this case, then, “tradition” would be the right word to describe the situation.

  • steve murray

    Fr. Christian you are quite incorrect when you state that Deacons do not promise celibacy; they do, only later if his wife dies.. At the time of ordination Deacons are required to sign a form promising they will not marry should they pre-decease their wives.

  • Fr. Christian Mathis

    Steve,

    What I am referring to is the ordination rite itself. Married deacons do not make the promise of celibacy during the ordination rite, whereas unmarried deacons do. You are correct that they promise not to re-marry if their wives predecease them (which is what I think you intended to write). This is not new in our tradition as we have never had the tradition of someone receiving the sacrament of marriage after having been ordained.

    One interesting note, however, is that there have been special requests made in recent times by deacons who have been pre-deceased by their wives and who have children for an exception to remarry for the sake of assisting with the care of the household and children which have at times been granted. So it would seem that there are always exceptions to every rule.

  • steve murray

    Thank you, Father, you are right. The ordination rite is as you indicated.

  • Fr. Christian Mathis

    Thanks for the comment Steve. Btw….I had a classmate in seminary named Steve Murray who is now a priest for the Diocese of Pueblo. That’s not you, is it?

  • Fr. Christian Mathis

    Elizabeth,

    Thanks for the comment. Although there is some truth in the reasoning given by your elderly priest friend, there is more to the story. If one looks at the history of the practice of clerical celibacy one can see that it has been in use since very early times in the Church. Up until the 12th Century it would have been the norm to see both married and celibate priests. After this point the Latin Rite clergy began to almost universally practice celibacy. Celibacy in its best sense is a spiritual discipline akin to fasting that should help one grow closer to Christ.

    My point in writing this post was to show that our definition of priesthood should be much more rich than simply defining priests by whether or not they are married. Married or celibate, priests are called to sacrificial love for their people.

  • http://avowofconversation.wordpress.com Macrina Walker

    I think that you put this well, Father Christian. It has sometimes struck me that the identification of celibacy with priesthood, and the confusion that results from this, impoverishes our understandings of both celibacy and priesthood. As a Catholic monastic I was sometimes asked: “When the Church allows priests to marry will you also be allowed to marry?” which just points to a total lack of understanding of fundamentally different vocations, even if they sometimes coincide. (I was also asked “When the Church ordains women will you all be ordained?” – that’s another issue but points to a similar lack of understanding!)

    I was also struck recently when visiting the local Catholic bookshop, which generally has a pretty good selection of books, that a large proportion of their shelves on priesthood had to do with celibacy, sexuality, the abuse crisis etc. Some of them may have been good books, others may be necessary responses to a specific context, but I was left feeling that priesthood had become so identified with issues of sexuality that there was very little to be said on priesthood as such!

    In case this comes across as Orthodox triumphalism, I have discovered that Orthodoxy is not without its own tensions between celibate and married clergy and I suppose that it comes down to a challenge for all of us to gain clarity on the need to recognise a plurality of different vocations in the Church. But at a very personal level it has actually been encounters with married priests that has helped me gain an appreciation of priesthood as priesthood.

  • Fr. Christian Mathis

    Thank you for your beautiful reflections Macrina!

    Yes, I am sure we could come to a better understanding of the different religious vocations. I hope we can move forward to a larger understanding of what it means to be called to priesthood, diaconate and religious life!

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