Why do Roman Catholic priests have to be unmarried and celibate?

Celibacy: powerful spiritual discipline

The Rev. Vince Krische, director of St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center, 1631 Crescent Road:

Celibacy is the renunciation of marriage by those who give themselves entirely to the service of God and God’s people.

Whereas the married couple witnesses to the value of life ongoing in this world, the celibate priest, or religious Sister or Brother, testify to the reality and value of eternal life. In a complementary way, both invest their lives in a sacrificial and all-consuming way to bring glory to God and others to His heavenly kingdom.

Celibacy originated in the 12th century in the Latin Rite (the Eastern Rite Catholic Church does not have the same discipline) to counteract widespread disbelief in the resurrection of the body.

Unless we have a personal, individual existence after death, it would make no sense to be celibate. If life consists of earthly pleasures, acquisitions and relationships, to deny oneself would be madness. If, however, life in this world is a preparation for the fullness of eternal life, then temporal goods can be sacrificed to encourage and equip others to seek life of a higher order. The celibate person enters into a “mystical marriage,” affirming marriage as the sign of the love of Christ for His people, and embracing it in a spiritual form that bears great fruit.

Celibacy is a powerful spiritual discipline, not a doctrine, that springs from profound love for God and for His people that is no less real for being non-physical. Just as Christ declares His own celibate, sacrificial love to be the model for married lovers, celibates today encourage married couples in mutual self-giving by sacrificing marriage itself in service to Christ.

Send e-mail to the Rev. Vince Krische at frvince@st-lawrence.org.

Service to all God’s people

The Rev. Charles J. Polifka, pastor of St. John the Evangelist Church, 1234 Ky.:

The practice of celibacy in the Roman Catholic Church is not a central or unchangeable part of our faith. Our tradition clearly shows that Peter and most of the other apostles were married. Marriage is the norm for priests in the Eastern Rites of the Catholic Church.

The tradition of an unmarried, celibate priesthood in the Roman Rite arose from attempts to reform the clergy in the latter half of the first millennium. But for centuries before that, monks and other religious men and women chose to be unmarried and celibate. It was a discipline that afforded them the time to develop a closer relationship with God without having marital responsibilities.

For those monks and religious who were ordained for priestly ministry, being unmarried and celibate allowed them to devote their time totally to ministry and to the development of a strong and vibrant individual relationship with God.

The practice seemed very appealing to church authorities who were seeking ways to make the priesthood spiritually vibrant and wholly dedicated to service. It became a requirement for anyone who sought ordination, so that anyone who felt called to priesthood in the Roman Catholic Church was required to discern his call not only to ministry but also to a vocation to be unmarried and celibate.

This is not a choice “against” marriage. I believe that I could be a good husband and father. I have always wanted to be a good husband and father. Celibacy as an unmarried man is a choice for total dedication and service to all God’s people and a choice to develop a unique relationship with God through prayer and, for me as a member of a religious (Capuchin Franciscan) community, through a commitment to live in fraternity.

Send e-mail to Rev. Charles J. Polifka at cpolifka@saint-johns.net.