Objectives of Session 5 – Marriage and Celibacy
1) To know
the key teachings of our Lord about virginity
2) To
appreciate the Church’s magisterial teachings about celibacy
3) To be
able to defend the Church’s discipline of clerical celibacy
Listen online [here]!
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Adult Faith
Formation:
Marriage,
In Scripture and in the Church
Session
5 – Marriage and Celibacy
I. Outline
of Sessions:
1. May 1 – Introduction to
marriage, in nature and in the Church
2. May 8 – Marriage and family
life
3. May 22 – Marriage in
Scripture, both the Old Testament and the New
4. May 29 – Matrimonial Consent
and Indissolubility
5. June 5 – Celibacy and Marriage
6. June 12 – Modern objections to
the Church’s teaching, Review
II. Review
of Last Week – Consent and Indissolubility
A. Matrimonial Consent
B. The four “marriage scenarios”:
Two non-baptized, baptized and non-baptized, ratified not consummated, ratified
and consummated
C. Intrinsic and extrinsic
(in)dissolubility
D. Annulments
III. Virginity
in the New Testament
Virginity as a prophetic sign of the
Kingdom of God
IV. The
preeminence of celibacy in the life of the Church
A. The teaching of Trent
B. The teaching of the Popes
C. The excellence of marriage and
the greater excellence of celibacy
V. The
Celibate Priesthood, the history of Clerical Continence
A. Celibacy and Continence
B. The early Church
C. The current Code of Canon Law
D. Losing clerical celibacy and
losing the preeminence of virginity
Virginity
in the New Testament
“Both the
sacrament of Matrimony and virginity for the Kingdom of God come from the Lord
himself. It is he who gives them meaning and grants them the grace which is
indispensable for living them out in conformity with his will. Esteem of
virginity for the sake of the kingdom and the Christian understanding of
marriage are inseparable, and they reinforce each other:
“Whoever
denigrates marriage also diminishes the glory of virginity. Whoever praises it
makes virginity more admirable and resplendent. What appears good only in
comparison with evil would not be truly good. The most excellent good is
something even better than what is admitted to be good.” (CCC 1620)
Marriage
is good, even though celibacy is an higher vocation.
And yet, marriage is the common theme by which the union of
Christ and his Church is expressed – even virginity is understood in
“matrimonial language” (being wed to Christ or to the Church).
TRENT
CANON
IX.-If any one saith, that clerics constituted in sacred orders, or Regulars,
who have solemnly professed chastity, are able to contract marriage, and that
being contracted it is valid, notwithstanding the ecclesiastical law, or vow;
and that the contrary is no thing else than to condemn marriage; and, that all
who do not feel that they have the gift of chastity, even though they have made
a vow thereof, may contract marriage; let him be anathema: seeing that God
refuses not that gift to those who ask for it rightly, neither does He suffer
us to be tempted above that which we are able.
CANON
X.-If any one saith, that the marriage state is to be placed above the state of
virginity, or of celibacy, and that it is not better and more blessed to remain
in virginity, or in celibacy, than to be united in matrimony; let him be
anathema.
Cornelius
a Lapide on Matthew 19:12
For the
kingdom of Heaven’s sake, that by continence they may merit it. So
Origen, Hilary, Chrysostom, Euthymius, and S. Augustine (de Virgin.
cap. 23). Falsely, therefore, do the heretics expound for the
kingdom of Heaven’s sake to mean for the sake of preaching. As though
it meant, there are some who abstain from marriage that they may be more free
to preach the Gospel, or that they may be free from the anxieties which
matrimony brings with it. For continence is not only to be praised and desired
for such reasons as those, but for its own sake; because it is a great virtue,
and because the victory over himself, by which a man overcomes lust, raises his
mind to meditate upon and follow after heavenly things. Wherefore chastity
makes men angels.
He that
is able, &c. Arabic, He that is able to carry it, let him
carry it. Note here the evangelical counsel of celibacy, proposed, yea
counselled, by Christ to all men, though not commanded. For these words, he
that is able, &c., are those of one exhorting and animating to
celibacy, say SS. Jerome and Chrysostom. Moreover, it is signified that as
Christ gives this counsel, it is in our power to fulfil it, if we will invoke
the grace of God, and co-operate with grace. Nor does the expression he
that is able do away with the force of this; for all that this means
is, that continence is a difficult thing. And he who is willing to put
constraint upon himself, generously to withstand lust, to mount up to the lofty
pinnacle of continence; let such an one embrace the same, let him
receive it. All the faithful, then, have the power of continence, not
proximate, but remote. So the Fathers already cited on verse 11. Hear S.
Chrysostom, speaking in the name of all: “All, therefore, cannot receive it,
because all do not wish. The palm is set before them: he who desires glory does
not think of the labour. No one would conquer if all were afraid of danger.”
Hear, too, S. Jerome (lib. 1, cont. Jovinian). “The
master of the games proposes the reward. He invites to the course. He holds in His
hand the prize of virginity. He points to the most pure fountain, and chants,
Whoso thirsteth, let him come unto Me and drink. He that is able to receive it,
let him receive it.”
Married
priests, ritual purity, and priestly celibacy
While there is a good deal of reflection (some good, most bad)
in the secular media, as well as in Catholic media, on the value and role of
priestly celibacy in the Church, there is yet very little theological consideration
of the topic.
Nearly every argument for or against priestly celibacy is
related either to practical concerns (i.e. “we will get more priests,” or “they
will not have time to care for family and parish”) or to devotional thoughts
(i.e. “marriage is given by God to all,” or “an undivided heart”). Now, there
is certainly something to be said for both practical and devotional points, but
we must first consider something of the theology behind
celibacy if we are to have any hope of discussing the topic intelligently.
Interestingly, the question of clerical continence for
married priests and deacons may be of great aid in helping us to consider
the doctrine behind the discipline of
priestly celibacy.
To be clear on our terms:
“Celibacy” refers to the state of remaining unmarried by a vow
or promise, or at least by an intentional and perpetual commitment.
“Continence” entails abstaining from sexual intimacy, even
within married life. By “continence,” we refer to the practice of refraining
from any sexual pleasures, even those which may be legitimate.
For a celibate, to be chaste requires being entirely
continent. However, it is important to realize that even a married couple could
be continent by refraining from the conjugal act and all sexual intimacies –
living “as brother and sister.”
In this article, I want to discuss the question of
clerical continence primarily, and only make a brief comment
about clerical celibacy at the end.
Clerical continence for married priests
From the Code of Canon Law:
“Can. 277 §1 Clerics are obliged to observe perfect and
perpetual continence for the sake of the Kingdom of heaven, and are therefore
bound to celibacy. Celibacy is a special gift of God by which sacred ministers
can more easily remain close to Christ with an undivided heart, and can dedicate
themselves more freely to the service of God and their neighbour.”
Dr. Ed Peters has offered extensive commentary on this canon,
which can be found at his blog [here]. It is quite
clear that, at least on the most obvious reading of this canon, all clerics
(married deacons and priests included) are bound to observe perfect and
perpetual continence.
It is no small thing that, as this canon was being inserted
into the Code, any exception for married clerics was specifically rejected.
Though not interpreted in this most obvious way by
(practically) anyone of any authority in the Church, the Law is strikingly
affirmative of clerical continence even for married priests and deacons.
Historically
It is quite likely that, in the early Church, the married men
who were chosen as priests lived perpetual continence. While I will not enter
into the scholarship, I simply point to the superb work by Cardinal
Stickler, The Case for Clerical Celibacy.
In other words, though it is true that many priests in the
early Church were married, it is also true that there was an equally ancient
discipline according to which married priests refrained from any sexual
intimacy.
Thus, both by the current Law of the Church, and by the ancient
tradition, there is much to be said for clerical continence even among the
married clergy.
Magisterial teaching on the primacy of celibacy
Because I know that there are some who will object to
statements like “celibacy is a higher calling that married life” or
“consecrated virginity is a more perfect vocation than marriage,” I offer
magisterial statements to the same effect:
Pope John Paul II , Vita Consecrata, no. 32: “As a way of
showing forth the Church's holiness, it is to be recognized that the consecrated
life, which mirrors Christ's own way of life, has an objective superiority.
Precisely for this reason, it is an especially rich manifestation of Gospel
values and a more complete expression of the Church's purpose, which is the
sanctification of humanity. The consecrated life proclaims and in a certain way
anticipates the future age, when the fullness of the Kingdom of Heaven, already
present in its first fruits and in mystery,[62] will be achieved and when the
children of the resurrection will take neither wife nor husband, but will be
like the angels of God (cf. Mt. 22:30)”
Pope Pius XII, Sacra Virginitas, no. 32: “This doctrine of the
excellence of virginity and of celibacy and of their superiority over the
married state was, as we have already said, revealed by our Divine Redeemer and
by the Apostle of the Gentiles; so too, it was solemnly defined as a dogma of
divine faith by the holy council of Trent, and explained in the same way by all
the holy Fathers and Doctors of the Church."
Council of Trent, pg. 225: "If anyone saith that the
marriage state is to be preferred before the state of virginity, let him be
anathema." [...] "writing to the Corinthians, [Paul] says: I
would that all men were even as myself; that is, that all embrace the
virtue of continence...A life of continence is to be desired by all.”
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