I will
be having a debate regarding celibacy and our side is not in favor of practicing
the vow of celibacy. Can you share with me points and views that I can use
to be able to defend our side?
 o begin with, let’s get clear
about what you mean by “practicing the vow of
celibacy.”
Celibacy in Religious
Life
Are you referring to religious
life in general? Well, religious life in general constitutes a conscious
choice of celibacy over marriage, so I don’t see how you could be trying
to argue against practicing celibacy here. It would be like saying you want
to call yourself a vegetarian but still want to eat meat. It all becomes
nonsense.
Celibacy of the
Priesthood
Thus you must be referring to
the celibacy of the priesthood. The priestly vow of celibacy all goes right
back to the example of Christ Himself, and to the example of the Apostles
whom He taught personally. In fact, Christ said plainly, “Whoever loves
father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me, and whoever loves son
or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me; and whoever does not take up
his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. Whoever finds his life
will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matthew
10:37–39).
This saying is difficult enough
for most Catholics, since hardly anyone today takes it seriously—that
is, if they’ve ever read it in the first place. But it’s even more
demanding for a priest, who must extend his care to far more souls than a
personal family. The priest must show his people their
sins, lead them into sorrow and repentance for those
sins, and offer them the only healing available
for their broken lives: the
Eucharist.
The
Eucharist
The
Eucharist is not just the core of the priesthood,
it’s also the core of all social interaction. A priest, as the minister
of that Eucharist, must lead people into a profound mystical
surrender to God. He must teach them that no
other person can fill our essential human emptiness except Christ. He must
teach them that nothing can heal our
brokenness except the broken bread of
the Eucharist.
Holy
Matrimony
And the priest must teach the
people that marriage heals nothing. Sexual activity
which is open to procreation between a man and
a woman within the indissoluble bond of Holy Matrimony and family is an act
of service to God in raising children. In Holy Matrimony, as Saint
Paul said, the woman must be submissive to her
husband—as the Church must be submissive to Christ—and the man
must love his wife as Christ loves His Church.
Holy Matrimony, then, is a special
sort of ministry, a reflection of Christ Himself. And so, what does a priest,
who performs all ministries, who formally represents Christ Himself to everyone,
need with marriage? I can’t see anything that a real priest would possibly
need. And neither did Pope John Paul II—which is why he declared the
celibacy of the priesthood a subject not open to debate.
And so, there is nothing to
debate.
Debating
Christ
If you persist in wanting to
debate the issue, then it shows clearly that
you don’t love and trust Christ enough to follow
His own example of self-denial and
obedience. If that’s the case, you will find
out on the day of the Last Judgment just how far you can get when you try
to debate Christ.
No
advertising—no sponsor—just the simple truth . . .
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