Catholic Information Service for Africa (Nairobi)
7 July 2009
opinion
Celibacy is Essential to Good Priesthood
As a priest who has spent the past year taking time out to reflect on my own priesthood, I can conclude that celibacy is an essential ingredient for a well lived priesthood. The major reason for this is that it allows for a growth in the depth of the relationship between the priest and God, and in return allows the priest greater possibility of being a better intermediary between God and humanity that is a major reason for the design of the institution of the priesthood. It isn't so much a matter of priesthood being exercised 24/7, but it is a matter of priesthood being lived 24/7. And this is the major difference between a priest and a policeman. Just because a priest may have a day off, it does not mean that on that day off he does not need to spend some time in prayer, or that he does not need to go to Mass, or that he does not need to spend some time in preparation for some upcoming activity.
It just means that on that day he will not be occupied with the more functional parts of his priesthood. A policeman can take off his gun and uniform and cease to be a policeman for a while. A priest can take off his cassock, alb, chasuble, collar or whatever else might externally identify the person as a priest, but that does not mean he ceases to be a priest. There is an indelible interior characteristic given through the Sacrament of ordination that is permanent, unlike that of the swearing in of a person as a policeman or woman. A person can decide to be or not to be a policeman any time in their career. Once a priest has accepted ordination it is no longer possible to decide not to be a priest. Changing this means the priesthood looses its sacramental dignity as well as a sense of an intimate tie to God.
Depending on how much one values the role of priest in community as alter Christus, another Christ, and as a special intermediary, then it matters how much time a priest devotes to his relationship with Christ. This, I think, is the essential meaning of Paul's discussion of a divided heart. Ask any parents who want to live their Faith more deeply how difficult it becomes in trying to find the time to practice one's faith on a daily basis. How do a father and mother of a 6 month baby find time to pray together, go to Mass together, do spiritual reading together in silence or alone. Catholic parents who desire to have their faith as central to their lives have to make certain decisions about raising their children that will be different from parents who are satisfied with going to Mass on Sunday. If a married priest were to find time to celebrate Mass each day, prepare his homilies each day, visit the sick, attend parish meetings, visit Christians in their homes, and sustain his relationship with Christ, it seems it would be difficult to do so honestly.
It became especially clear to me as I made my first long retreat in a number of years with a group of primarily older religious nuns, a couple of elderly married couples (with few daily commitments), and a couple of younger single people with again no family commitments. I noticed that in this group there where no young couples with children, and I wondered why. After my retreat I shared this experience with a couple with two young children and asked them what it would take for them to make an 8 day silent retreat, and they said finding someone trustworthy enough to take care of their children so that they did not have to worry about them each day.
For parents to grow together they do need to be able to spend time together in prayer, and for priests to grow in their faith they too need to be able to spend time growing in prayer. This seems to be a central reason to keep the celibacy as an essential characteristic for the priesthood. Can you imagine a married priest having to go off every year for his retreat leaving his wife and children alone? How would a married priest, his wife and family and the Christians entrusted to his care all grow together? Eventually it seems the married priest would either begin to neglect his own spiritual growth and time with God, or there would be a sense of isolation on the part of the priest's family if he spent too much of his time fulfilling his priestly obligations. This is not to say that married people do not need to find time to develop their spiritual lives both as individuals and as families. On the contrary, families it seems need to work even harder at doing it. That is why it is so important that there are positive examples of what living a life close to Christ and offering services for others to help them live lives close to God is so important.
Aside from all the theological and traditional explanations for a celibate priesthood, there is also a very human and practical one. It takes time and energy to be close to God and to be a sign of God to others, and one of the ways human beings are offered this opportunity is through the example of celibate priesthood and celibate religious life.
Rev David Kashangaki, Congregation of the Holy Cross (CSC)
Priestly Celibacy is Not a Free Choice
I would like to respond to Fr. James Gatiti's article (CISA bulletin, June 2, 2009) in which he claims that priestly celibacy is a free choice in the Roman Catholic Church. You only talk about a free personal choice when a man can choose to be married or celibate and be allowed to become a priest. In the Roman Catholic Church, you can not be married and serve as a priest at the same time. It is either you are celibate and a priest or you are married and not a priest, not both. So where is your choice? It seems to me that the Catholic Church has made a choice for any man who wants to be a priest. He has to be celibate. The moment the church will allow both celibate and married men to be priests, then you can talk about free choice.
Now, let us look at African culture in relation to celibacy. Where in Africa did men and women vow to be celibate for a higher calling? Isn't the very essence of African tradition based on the concept of Ubuntu, meaning a person is a person through other persons? How do you get to realize Ubuntu without family and procreation?
It seems to me that the issue is not very much of celibate but colonial mentality among African Catholics. They have chosen the 'Roman' identity over their own African identity. If the truth be told, there is nothing African about the Roman Catholic Church, except that the people of Africa belong to it. From the structure of the Mass to the clergy attire, there is nothing African. It's all a reminder of a colonial church devoid of African identity.
Why do African Catholic clergy defend practices that are foreign to African culture? Poverty, poverty, poverty! African clergy would rather call themselves Roman because with that title comes the identity, privilege, comfort, security, power and control.
Why can't we form our own African Catholic Church that will mirror the African identity and values? Colonial mentality is the issue here and until Africans stop calling themselves Roman, we will not have an authentic church that speaks to the core of who we are as Africans. We can start our own African Catholic Church, but don't expect Europeans to call themselves African Catholic; but you will always find Africans calling themselves Roman Catholic without even thinking about it.
Cecil Mbolela, Catholic Christian in USA
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