CrossCurrents A Catholic Reflects on Faith in Our Times

# 157 Bernard F. Swain, Ph.D. www.CrossCurrents.us

Waiting for what’s right

Advent is a season for waiting. We watch the expectant mother Mary waiting and we, too, wait for her child to arrive. We hear John the Baptist announce a straight path in the desert, and we wait with him for the Redeemer to step forth for us all. We read the visions of the Son of Man coming on the clouds and we wait, as the visionaries did, for a day that will bring us a better world.

Of course, Advent’s waiting cannot be a passive state, a coma-like inertia, as if our Christ were Prince Charming coming to save his Sleeping Beauty with a kiss. Advent’s waiting is a kind of vigilance, always alertly watching for the right moment to act.

And this week I wondered: Is it possible the moment to do what’s right has arrived, finally, on the matter of priestly celibacy?

A chief motive for requiring that Latin-rite priests be celibate was the hope they could serve as an apocalyptic sign of the next world (where, presumably, no one is married). But amid Advent 2006’s apocalyptic texts, and surrounded by the specter of apocalyptically-inspired religious violence, we might wonder: has this sign outlived its usefulness?

Cardinal Claudio Hummes seems to think so. He is the new head of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Clergy, and he has recently proclaimed his conviction that the time has come to rethink the celibacy mandate:

Celibacy is a discipline, not a dogma of the church … In this modern age, the church must observe these things, it has to advance with history.

Of course, when confronted by the media, the good Cardinal hastened to clarify that he did not expect change to be forthcoming. He acknowledged that the Vatican had recently reaffirmed the importance of celibacy, and also that any such decision would be up to the Pope, not to him. But it was also clear what kind of advice this man (himself considered a top third-world candidate for the papacy) might offer the Pope when asked.

Cardinal Hummes is hardly the first to speak out. In 2005 Abbé Pierre, the poor-serving priest who has been voted the most admired person in France more than ten years running, voiced his support for making celibacy optional. In 2003, 160 priests of the Diocese of Milwaukee published a letter calling for the end of the celibacy mandate. Indeed, the movement to reform the celibacy rule has been building since Vatican Council II, 40 years ago.

Any useful discussion depends on the right starting point. The question is not whether we should have celibate priests. No one doubts that celibacy suits priest living in religious communities, for example, or that certain priests are more effective in their work precisely because they are celibate.

The real question is whether celibacy should still be a requirement, a precondition of ordination. In a word, we are not asking whether we should have celibate priests, but whether all priests must be celibate.

After decades of waiting and watching priestly numbers dwindle, perhaps the time is right to acknowledge the obvious: the case for reforming celibacy is very strong. Consider these arguments:

The Practical Argument. The practical reason for requiring celibacy was to prevent priests from leaving church property to their heirs. Today, no one sees the priesthood as a path to wealth. Instead, we face a much bigger problem in the modern church: the priest shortage.

Studies show that between 100,000 to 150,000 priests have left their ministry to get married. There are thousands more who entered the seminary hoping for ordination but never became priests because God called them to marriage and parenthood. And then, of course, no one knows how many married men also received God’s call to priesthood but knew it was impossible to answer.

The Vatican says that the experience of other churches shows that a married clergy is not an-all purpose solution. And it is certainly true that married clergy face additional challenges: finances, conflicts between professional and domestic responsibilities, family life lived “under the microscope” of public scrutiny. But there can be no denying one central fact: churches with married clergy do not face the shortages we face. All the evidence is that, if we changed the rule and ordained married men, we’d have all the priests we need.

The Pastoral Argument. The issue is not celibacy itself, but the requirement of celibacy. That requirement was based on the idea that a celibate man could devote all his time and energy to his work without the distraction, responsibility, and possible conflict arising from marriage and family life. In other words, a priestly life uncomplicated by sex and kids would leave the priest more available to serve his people.

In theory, this makes perfect sense—and in fact the idea has been covertly copied by most of the corporate world, which expects people to “marry the job” if they want to reach top executive levels.

The problem is, the theory only works for those special individuals who can live a solitary life without being dehumanized. This is less acute for members of religious orders, who give up family but get community life as compensation. Diocesan priests, however, give up marriage and family but do not get community in return. After 35 years of working with such men, it’s clear to me that celibacy dehumanizes most of them, and makes their priesthood less effective rather than more effective. Most men are NOT better priests because they are celibate. So why require it?

For the minority of diocesan priests who can make celibacy work in their favor, celibacy should remain the preferred option. But to require celibacy of all the others makes no pastoral sense.

The Theological Argument. The Church teaches that Priesthood it is a vocation. It also teaches that Matrimony is a vocation. And it teaches, finally, that celibacy is a gift. All these things therefore, come from God, who alone decides whom he will call and who receives which gifts from him.

This Church teaching implies that we should expect to find three categories of men with priestly vocations.

First, there will be men called by God to the priesthood and also gifted with the gift of celibacy. With proper training and formation, we can expect those men to become effective and happy priests.

Second, there will be men called to the priesthood but not gifted for celibacy. They will never be good at the celibate life, and will therefore struggle to be good priests--and they even risk becoming a threat to others and a scandal to the Church.

Third, there will be men whom God calls to both priesthood and matrimony. No Church teaching contradicts this possibility, and my professional experience confirms that it happens more often than not. These men find themselves in an impossible situation, both theologically and personally. God is calling them to two noble vocations, but the Church forbids them to answer both; instead, it requires them to choose only one. For these men, the requirement of celibacy makes it impossible for them to do God’s will.

In an age when inheritance of church property is no longer a problem, in an age when the celibate life dehumanizes the majority of priests, in an age when modeling the world to come is undone by the scarcity of priests, perhaps it is the right time to ask the obvious fundamental question: by what authority does the Church imprudently insist on maintaining an outmoded rule that thwarts the will of God?

© Bernard F. Swain PhD 2006

Send Your Comments and Questions to bfswain@juno.com

Dr. Swain’s opinions do not represent the views of this parish or any other official body.

Bernie Swain has devoted more than 30 years to adult spiritual formation in dioceses in the US, Canada, and France. Since 1991 he has maintained a private practice as trainer, teacher, and consultant to leaders in parishes and other religious organizations. He holds degrees in theology and political science from Holy Cross, Harvard, The University of Paris, and The University of Chicago.

His writings include Liberating Leadership (Harper & Row, 1986) and more than 200 articles in periodicals such as The National Catholic Reporter, Commonweal, The Miami Herald, The Catholic Free Press, The Pilot, Harvard Theological Review, and Liturgy.

A lifelong layperson, he lives in Boston with his wife and three children. Visit his website at:

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