After the recent sensational case of the arrest of Franco Mulakkal, bishop of Jalandhar, for the alleged repeated rape of a nun under his care, the issue of clerical celibacy is in the limelight again.
There is a difference between celibacy and chastity (purity).
In a 'narrow' sense, celibacy refers to the unmarried state as a result of a vow or some kind of renunciation. In a 'broad' sense, it means absence from sexual activity. A Catholic priest is expected to be celibate both in the 'narrow' and 'broad' sense. He cannot marry since it is against Church law, nor can he engage in sexual activity as that is against God's law.
Chastity is the state of not having sex with anyone except your legally wedded husband or wife. Religious priests and nuns take a vow of chastity along with two other vows of poverty and obedience.
While priests belonging to the Roman Catholic Church, with certain exceptions, are not allowed to marry, priests of the Eastern Church are may marry.
During his life, Jesus had words of praise for marriage. "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. What God has put together, let no man put asunder" (Matt. 19: 5-6). He never made celibacy a condition for discipleship. All his disciples were married.
Apostle Paul did not advocate celibate priests, rather the opposite. "For it is better to marry than to be aflame with passion" (1 Cor. 7: 9). For Paul, marriage and ministry were quite compatible.
In the early Church, the normal expectation was that a man would be married. Celibacy was the odd thing that needed explaining. According to Garry Wills, priests and bishops were married in the 4th century. There was no question of declaring such marriages invalid.
The first effort at celibacy was legislation to prevent priests from sleeping with their wives (a) before celebrating the Eucharist or (b) after they became bishops or (c) after the birth of an heir. Only in the 11th century would clerical marriages be declared invalid.
The earliest textual evidence of forbidding clerical marriages and the duty of those already married to abstain from sexual contact with their wives is in the decree of the Synod of Elvira in 305. However, the Council of Nicaea, convened by Emperor Constantine in 325, rejected any ban on priests marrying as per the request of the Spanish clerics. But the Council of Carthage held in 330 reconfirmed the decision of the Synod of Elvira for bishops and priests to observe perfect continence by abstaining from conjugal intercourse. In practice, however, most clerics flouted these norms.
In the 11th century, Pope Benedict VIII (1012 - 1024) prohibited wives and children of priests from inheriting property. Pope Gregory VII ( 1073 - 1085) decreed against clerical marriage. He called upon all Christians to boycott the ministries of married clergy. The second Lateran Council held in 1139 reconfirmed the rule forbidding priests to marry. Priestly marriages were regarded as a priori invalid, all priests' wives as concubines and all priests' children Church property as slaves! In 1563, the Council of Trent reaffirmed the requirement of celibacy for priests. It considered celibacy as an integral part of the priesthood, a sign of a priest's commitment to God and service. Even today, the Catholic Church holds on to this position.
What circumstances led to clerical celibacy?
After the conversion of Emperor Constantine in 312, persecution of Christians stopped. He made Christianity the recognized religion of the empire. This helped to win for the Church worldly success, but the quality of the spiritual leadership deteriorated and became worldly and materialistic. After Constantine's death, Christianity was torn apart by a number of heresies.
This was the time asceticism - a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from sensual pleasures. Ascetics abstained from sex, fasted for long periods, prayed throughout day and night, all this to bring their bodily desires under control. Asceticism was on the rise in the Church during the 4th and 5th centuries. Monasteries and nunneries were cropping up all over the Christian world with many Christians wanting to become monks and nuns. In spiritual matters, ordinary priests were losing their authority while ascetics were gaining the upper hand. One way to reduce the gap between priestly and ascetic authority was for priests to imitate ascetics - to become celibate themselves so as to regain their moral authority.
Virginity, then and even now, was regarded as superior to the married state, since both Jesus and his mother were virgins. Virgins had sixty times the reward of ordinary Christians in heaven, although martyrs came first with a hundredfold. According to Cardinal St. Peter Damian (1007 - 1072), "since a virgin brought forth Jesus as a baby, only a virgin should bring him forth on the altar in the Eucharist."
Another reason for compulsory celibacy was the thinking that celibate priests, free from family duties, can fully focus on their ecclesiastical duties. This also enabled the Church to control the wealth amassed by clerics through their religious activities, without it passing on to their wives and heirs.
In spite of the regulation of clerical celibacy, the Catholic Church has always been and continue to be in crisis over this rule. According to De Rosa there are many 'unchaste celibates' among Catholic priests. Priestly celibacy has hardly ever worked. In fact, the regulation of celibacy is 'institutionalized hypocrisy', feels Hans Kung. Many popes who maintained celibacy for their priests with an iron hand, lived in unbridled sensuality, fathering many children. Sixtus IV (1471 - 84), sponsor of the dogma of the immaculate conception of Mary, was one. Another was Innocent VIII. He had all his children publicly recognized and celebrated their marriages in great splendor in the Vatican. He made his son Giovanni a cardinal at age 13. Giovanni later became Pope Leo X. Pope Alexander VI had four children by his mistresses (more by other women when he was cardinal). [Leo X and Alexander VI are such 'interesting' characters that they will be discussed in detail later.]
Even today, 'unchaste celibates' are found all around the world. Instead of reporting them to the police for their abuse and dismissing them from priestly ministries, they are being protected; a brief period of suspension followed by transfer to some remote area or abroad. Fr. Eugine Figarez (rape of a 14-year-old girl), Fr. James Thekemuriyil (rape of a 21-year-old seminarian), Fr. Raju Kokkan (abuse of a 10 year-old-girl), Fr. Robin Vadakkumchery (impregnation of an underage girl), four Orthodox priests who sexually blackmailed and abused an innocent house-wife by passing her around like a ball, form only the tip of the iceberg. Of course, if there is a Nobel prize for rape and abuse, it will surely be awarded to Franco Mulakkal, Catholic bishop of Jalandhar, who is out on bail for the unnatural repeated rape of a nun working under him.
Pope John XXIII who convened the 2nd Vatican Council (1962 - 65), was sympathetic to the request by bishops from Latin America and Africa to allow married priests to supplement the short supply of clergy. Someone said that if celibacy is strictly enforced in Africa, no priests or bishops would be left to serve the faithful. African tradition looks down upon a man who does not have children. So, a priest having a girlfriend living with children is accepted by the community of faithful.
Unluckily, Pope John XXIII died in1963. He was succeeded by Pope Paul VI, who refused to change the Church regulation of clerical celibacy. In fact, he released an encyclical Priestly Celibacy (Sacerdotalis Celibatus) on June 12, 1967, in which he said that the regulation of clerical celibacy was most appropriate today 'in helping priests to consecrate all their love completely and generously in the service of the Church and souls'. Since he could not produce much evidence from the New Testament in support of his arguments for clerical celibacy, he cited a reference to eunuchs (a man who has been castrated) in the gospel of Mathew (Mt: 19 11-12). Both Hans Kung and Garry Wills say that this encyclical of Pope Paul is an example of how Church authorities have 'twisted, omitted, extended, distorted and perverted New Testament passages to make them mean whatever the Pope wants to mean'.
In the light of widespread clerical abuses, including pedophilia, there must soon be a rethink on clerical celibacy.
There is a difference between celibacy and chastity (purity).
In a 'narrow' sense, celibacy refers to the unmarried state as a result of a vow or some kind of renunciation. In a 'broad' sense, it means absence from sexual activity. A Catholic priest is expected to be celibate both in the 'narrow' and 'broad' sense. He cannot marry since it is against Church law, nor can he engage in sexual activity as that is against God's law.
Chastity is the state of not having sex with anyone except your legally wedded husband or wife. Religious priests and nuns take a vow of chastity along with two other vows of poverty and obedience.
While priests belonging to the Roman Catholic Church, with certain exceptions, are not allowed to marry, priests of the Eastern Church are may marry.
During his life, Jesus had words of praise for marriage. "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. What God has put together, let no man put asunder" (Matt. 19: 5-6). He never made celibacy a condition for discipleship. All his disciples were married.
Apostle Paul did not advocate celibate priests, rather the opposite. "For it is better to marry than to be aflame with passion" (1 Cor. 7: 9). For Paul, marriage and ministry were quite compatible.
In the early Church, the normal expectation was that a man would be married. Celibacy was the odd thing that needed explaining. According to Garry Wills, priests and bishops were married in the 4th century. There was no question of declaring such marriages invalid.
The first effort at celibacy was legislation to prevent priests from sleeping with their wives (a) before celebrating the Eucharist or (b) after they became bishops or (c) after the birth of an heir. Only in the 11th century would clerical marriages be declared invalid.
The earliest textual evidence of forbidding clerical marriages and the duty of those already married to abstain from sexual contact with their wives is in the decree of the Synod of Elvira in 305. However, the Council of Nicaea, convened by Emperor Constantine in 325, rejected any ban on priests marrying as per the request of the Spanish clerics. But the Council of Carthage held in 330 reconfirmed the decision of the Synod of Elvira for bishops and priests to observe perfect continence by abstaining from conjugal intercourse. In practice, however, most clerics flouted these norms.
In the 11th century, Pope Benedict VIII (1012 - 1024) prohibited wives and children of priests from inheriting property. Pope Gregory VII ( 1073 - 1085) decreed against clerical marriage. He called upon all Christians to boycott the ministries of married clergy. The second Lateran Council held in 1139 reconfirmed the rule forbidding priests to marry. Priestly marriages were regarded as a priori invalid, all priests' wives as concubines and all priests' children Church property as slaves! In 1563, the Council of Trent reaffirmed the requirement of celibacy for priests. It considered celibacy as an integral part of the priesthood, a sign of a priest's commitment to God and service. Even today, the Catholic Church holds on to this position.
What circumstances led to clerical celibacy?
After the conversion of Emperor Constantine in 312, persecution of Christians stopped. He made Christianity the recognized religion of the empire. This helped to win for the Church worldly success, but the quality of the spiritual leadership deteriorated and became worldly and materialistic. After Constantine's death, Christianity was torn apart by a number of heresies.
This was the time asceticism - a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from sensual pleasures. Ascetics abstained from sex, fasted for long periods, prayed throughout day and night, all this to bring their bodily desires under control. Asceticism was on the rise in the Church during the 4th and 5th centuries. Monasteries and nunneries were cropping up all over the Christian world with many Christians wanting to become monks and nuns. In spiritual matters, ordinary priests were losing their authority while ascetics were gaining the upper hand. One way to reduce the gap between priestly and ascetic authority was for priests to imitate ascetics - to become celibate themselves so as to regain their moral authority.
Virginity, then and even now, was regarded as superior to the married state, since both Jesus and his mother were virgins. Virgins had sixty times the reward of ordinary Christians in heaven, although martyrs came first with a hundredfold. According to Cardinal St. Peter Damian (1007 - 1072), "since a virgin brought forth Jesus as a baby, only a virgin should bring him forth on the altar in the Eucharist."
Another reason for compulsory celibacy was the thinking that celibate priests, free from family duties, can fully focus on their ecclesiastical duties. This also enabled the Church to control the wealth amassed by clerics through their religious activities, without it passing on to their wives and heirs.
In spite of the regulation of clerical celibacy, the Catholic Church has always been and continue to be in crisis over this rule. According to De Rosa there are many 'unchaste celibates' among Catholic priests. Priestly celibacy has hardly ever worked. In fact, the regulation of celibacy is 'institutionalized hypocrisy', feels Hans Kung. Many popes who maintained celibacy for their priests with an iron hand, lived in unbridled sensuality, fathering many children. Sixtus IV (1471 - 84), sponsor of the dogma of the immaculate conception of Mary, was one. Another was Innocent VIII. He had all his children publicly recognized and celebrated their marriages in great splendor in the Vatican. He made his son Giovanni a cardinal at age 13. Giovanni later became Pope Leo X. Pope Alexander VI had four children by his mistresses (more by other women when he was cardinal). [Leo X and Alexander VI are such 'interesting' characters that they will be discussed in detail later.]
Even today, 'unchaste celibates' are found all around the world. Instead of reporting them to the police for their abuse and dismissing them from priestly ministries, they are being protected; a brief period of suspension followed by transfer to some remote area or abroad. Fr. Eugine Figarez (rape of a 14-year-old girl), Fr. James Thekemuriyil (rape of a 21-year-old seminarian), Fr. Raju Kokkan (abuse of a 10 year-old-girl), Fr. Robin Vadakkumchery (impregnation of an underage girl), four Orthodox priests who sexually blackmailed and abused an innocent house-wife by passing her around like a ball, form only the tip of the iceberg. Of course, if there is a Nobel prize for rape and abuse, it will surely be awarded to Franco Mulakkal, Catholic bishop of Jalandhar, who is out on bail for the unnatural repeated rape of a nun working under him.
Pope John XXIII who convened the 2nd Vatican Council (1962 - 65), was sympathetic to the request by bishops from Latin America and Africa to allow married priests to supplement the short supply of clergy. Someone said that if celibacy is strictly enforced in Africa, no priests or bishops would be left to serve the faithful. African tradition looks down upon a man who does not have children. So, a priest having a girlfriend living with children is accepted by the community of faithful.
Unluckily, Pope John XXIII died in1963. He was succeeded by Pope Paul VI, who refused to change the Church regulation of clerical celibacy. In fact, he released an encyclical Priestly Celibacy (Sacerdotalis Celibatus) on June 12, 1967, in which he said that the regulation of clerical celibacy was most appropriate today 'in helping priests to consecrate all their love completely and generously in the service of the Church and souls'. Since he could not produce much evidence from the New Testament in support of his arguments for clerical celibacy, he cited a reference to eunuchs (a man who has been castrated) in the gospel of Mathew (Mt: 19 11-12). Both Hans Kung and Garry Wills say that this encyclical of Pope Paul is an example of how Church authorities have 'twisted, omitted, extended, distorted and perverted New Testament passages to make them mean whatever the Pope wants to mean'.
In the light of widespread clerical abuses, including pedophilia, there must soon be a rethink on clerical celibacy.
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