Celibacy an unhealthy demand

THE EDITOR, Madam:

I am a staunch Roman Catholic lay-member for nearly 40 years, and by strength of faith, meditation and steadfast prayer, I shall not be shaken in my belief in Jesus Christ and the divine graces and sacraments of His church.

However, I have always had qualms about celibacy that is not self-imposed, but arbitrarily demanded for centuries, as a paramount condition for ordination to the Roman priesthood. To my mind, celibacy is an unhealthy demand on or restraint for normal young women and young men, but I never had the courage nor faith to express my opinion openly. I do so now, sparked off by the most recent scandalising of the Church in Jamaica by an alleged homosexual priest who must face the law court in Jamaica for his alleged unholy and abnormal conduct.

I daresay that there is undoubtedly homosexual activity in other churches and denominations, but such practice among them seems to be discreetly and covertly pursued - may the Lord have mercy on them. There is strong suspicion that celibacy exacerbates a guarded stigma that all priests are homosexuals, and the suspicion that choir boys are inducted and exploited is never stale. Most Catholics know that such suspicions are false. We know that homosexuality among the thousands of Catholic priests is minimal. The homosexual priest is a rara avis. But non-Catholics and enemies of the Church do not care to know that.

I do not, for a moment, think that the abolition of arbitrarily imposed celibacy will eradicate homosexuality in the priesthood or even attract more young men and women to priestly vocation, but I believe that abolition would offer a healthier and more fulfilling lifestyle to most clerics. Celibacy, abstinence from sex, should be a very personal, voluntary and optional choice. In an historical, not necessarily spiritual context, there might have been justification for celibacy in medieval and early post-medieval times, but in modern times with the advent and spread of motor cars, aeroplanes, advanced learning, spiritual and secular enlightenment, universal socio-economic and political interaction, television and information technology, arbitrarily imposed celibacy is no longer rational, practical or relevant.

Further, there doesn't seem to be any Biblical authority for celibacy. To say that Christ was celibate, therefore the Vicar of Christ and His ordained servants shall be celibate, to my mind, does not hold much water. His closest and most prominent disciple was a married man. If celibacy was of paramount importance to be a priest, I doubt that St. Paul would have failed to write about it. I do not think that in order to sublimate one's self to the greatest height, in order to serve mankind and Christ wholeheartedly as an ordained servant of God, one has to deprive one's self of family, sexual pleasure and the gift of procreation.

It is paradoxical to me that priests who have never experienced the joys and tumults of marriage have authority to counsel couples about to get married, or even to conduct a wedding when they themselves cannot marry. Boxers and athletes strive to attain supreme heights by practising celibacy for very short intervals of time. Some do not abstain and excel just the same. I believe that many priests are likely to be better balanced if there was not this awesome restraint.

I am, etc.,

OREN O. COUSINS

Bog Walk P.O.

Back to Letters