|
Celibacy Is a Biblical Approach
By Peter Wolfgang, New Hartford
In his April 19 article for The Voice, Marcel LeRoy argues that the discipline of celibacy for Catholic priests of the Latin Rite is not "A Biblical Approach." I respectfully disagree. Jesus himself was of the priesthood of Melchizedek, as Psalm 110 affirms: "You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek." It is in reference to Melchizedek that the word priest first appears in the Bible, in Gen. 14:18. Melchizedek is relevant here because he was a "priest of God Most High" who gave a priestly blessing in God's name and offered bread and wine in sacrifice. Sound familiar? Hebrews 7 says: "For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God … is without father or mother or genealogy, and has neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest for ever." So Melchizedek, the prefigure of Jesus the Son of God, had no family records, no listing of a wife or children. In other words, he was a celibate priest.
The Old Testament contains other passages that suggest that God was preparing His people for the ideal of a celibate priesthood. In Exod. 19:15 one of the things the Hebrews were ordered to do to sanctify themselves so that they could sacrifice to God as a priestly nation (Exod. 19:3-6) was to observe three days of marital abstinence. Most did not, choosing instead to commit spiritual adultery with the golden calf. But the Levites were faithful and only Aaron's family received the priesthood (Exod. 29:9). God was slowly establishing a connection between priesthood and celibacy. This connection continues with Elijah, the greatest Old Testament prophet, who led a celibate hermit's life in the desert. Malachi, one of the last books of the Old Testament, mentions a pure offering to be offered daily to God (1:11). The early Fathers of the Church understood this offering to be like Melchizedek's sacrifice of bread and wine.
The implicit suggestion in the Old Testament of celibacy as an ideal state becomes explicit in the New Testament. St. John the Baptist, whom Jesus called the greatest man on earth, was celibate. Jesus Christ, our perfect high priest, also led a celibate life. Jesus, who came not to abolish the law but to fulfill it, did so in ways that pointed toward greater chastity (see Matt. 5:27-28, 31-32). And let us not forget that Jesus praised celibacy in Matt. 19:12: "For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to receive this, let him receive it." Those who are celibate for the sake of the kingdom are responding to a call they have received from Our Lord.
Celibacy in the Bible is a counsel of perfection, not a commandment, and the Catholic Church has never claimed otherwise (our Eastern Rite priests, for instance, do marry). But in 1 Corinthians St. Paul left no doubt as to his positive view of the celibate life: "Now concerning the matters about which you wrote. It is well for a man not to touch a woman. But because of the temptation to immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband." (7:1-2) In 1 Cor. 7:5 St. Paul recommends periodic abstinence even within marriage. In 1 Cor. 7:7-9, 24-28 he again suggests celibacy as an ideal state. And in 1 Cor. 7:32-35, 39-40, he writes: "The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord; but the married man is anxious about worldly affairs, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided. And the unmarried woman or girl is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit; but the married woman is anxious about worldly affairs, how to please her husband. I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord … A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. If the husband dies, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord. But in my judgment she is happier if she remains as she is. And I think that I have the spirit of God." In light of all of the above it seems unlikely that St. Paul intended to forbid celibacy when he wrote in 1 Tim 3:2 that a bishop "must be … the husband of one wife." A more reasonable interpretation of this verse is that a bishop could be a married man, but not a remarried widower.
Those who are determined to hate the Catholic Church—a group that includes more than a few Voice contributors—will not be persuaded by anything I have written here, or by any rebuttal I might offer to their rebuttals. But the silent majority of The Voice readership should know that the true fruit of the celibate priesthood are not the scoundrels making the headlines, but rather the wonderful priests that Christine L. Rodgers mentions by name in her splendid article "Healing for Victims and the Church" [April 19]. Ms. Rodgers is right to "feel confident that every practicing Catholic will be able to cite their own three or four examples of the true priesthood." And Ms. Rodgers, I will indeed "be stouthearted and take courage." It's easy when I know that our Church counts among Her members people like your uncles and you.
|
|
