Priestly Celibacy: Part 3

"Continence, My child, is the sacrifice asked by the Father. You cannot divide yourselves; there must be a full dedication to the will of God." - Our Lady, March 24, 1974

Note: TLDM is presenting a series of articles, excerpting quotes from some of the most eloquent defenders of the Church's discipline on priestly celibacy. In this series, we will be quoting from Pope Paul VI, Pope John XXIII, Pope John Paul II, Cardinal O'Connor, Cardinal Stickler, and Dietrich von Hildebrand.

Pope John Paul II on priestly celibacy

Excerpts from John Paul II's 1979 Holy Thursday letter to priests

Meaning of celibacy...

Allow me at this point to touch upon the question of priestly celibacy. I shall deal with it summarily, because it has already been considered in a profound and complete way during the Council, and subsequently in the Encyclical Sacerdotalis Caelibatus, and again at the ordinary session of the 1971 Synod of Bishops. This reflection has shown itself to be necessary both in order to present the matter in a still more mature way, and also in order to explain even more deeply the meaning of the decision that the Latin Church took so many centuries ago and to which she has sought to be faithful, and desires to maintain this fidelity also in the future. The importance of the question under consideration is so great, and its link with the language of the Gospel itself so close, that in this case we cannot reason with categories different from those used by the Council, the Synod of Bishops and the great Pope Paul VI himself. We can only seek to understand this question more deeply and to respond to it more maturely, freeing ourselves from the various objections that have always--as happens today too--been raised against priestly celibacy, and also freeing ourselves from the different interpretations that appeal to criteria alien to the Gospel, to Tradition and to the Church’s Magisterium--criteria, we would add, whose "anthropological" correctness and basis in fact are seen to be very dubious and of relative value.

Nor must we be too surprised at all the objections and criticisms which have intensified during the postconciliar period, even though today in some places they seem to be growing less. Did not Jesus Christ, after he had presented the Disciples with the question of the renunciation of marriage "for the sake of the kingdom of heaven ", add these significant words: "Let anyone accept this who can"? (Mt 19: 12) The Latin Church has wished, and continues to wish, referring to the example of Christ the Lord himself, to the apostolic teaching and to the whole Tradition that is proper to her, that all those who receive the sacrament of Orders should embrace this renunciation "for the sake of the kingdom of heaven". This tradition, however, is linked with respect for different traditions of other Churches. In fact, this tradition constitutes a characteristic, a peculiarity and a heritage of the Latin Catholic Church, a tradition to which she owes much and in which she is resolved to persevere, in spite of all the difficulties to which such fidelity could be exposed, and also in spite of the various symptoms of weakness and crisis in individual priests. We are all aware that "we have this treasure in earthen vessels" (cf. 2 Cor 4:7); yet we know very well that it is precisely a treasure.

Why is it a treasure? Do we wish thereby to reduce the value of marriage and the vocation to family life? Or are we succumbing to a Manichean contempt for the human body and its functions? Do we wish in some way to devalue love, which leads a man and a woman to marriage and the wedded unity of the body, thus forming "one flesh"? (Gen 2:24; cf. Mt 19:6) How could we think and reason like that, if we know, believe and proclaim, following Saint Paul, that marriage is a "great mystery" in reference to Christ and the Church? (cf. Eph 5:32) However, none of the reasons whereby people sometimes try to "convince us" of the inopportuneness of celibacy corresponds to the truth, the truth that the Church proclaims and seeks to realize in life through the commitment to which Priests oblige themselves before ordination. The essential, proper and adequate reason, in fact, is contained in the truth that Christ declared when he spoke about the renunciation of marriage for the sake of the kingdom of heaven, and which Saint Paul proclaimed when he wrote that each person in the Church has his or her own particular gifts (cf. 1 Cor 7:7). Celibacy is precisely a "gift of the Spirit". A similar though different gift is contained in the vocation to true and faithful married love, directed towards procreation according to the flesh, in the very lofty context of the sacrament of Matrimony. It is obvious that this gift is fundamental for the building up of the great community of the Church, the People of God. But if this community wishes to respond fully to its vocation in Jesus Christ, there will also have to be realized in it, in the correct proportion, that other "gift", the gift of celibacy "for the sake of the kingdom of heaven" (Mt 19:12).

Why does the Latin Catholic Church link this gift not only with the life of those who accept the strict programme of the evangelical counsels in Religious Institutes but also with the vocation to the hierarchical and ministerial priesthood? She does it because celibacy "for the sake of the kingdom" is not only an eschatological sign; it also has a great social meaning, in the present life, for the service of the People of God. Through his celibacy, the Priest becomes the "man for others", in a different way from the man who, by binding himself in conjugal union with a woman, also becomes, as husband and father, a man "for others", especially in the radius of his own family: for his wife, and, together with her, for the children, to whom he gives life. The Priest, by renouncing this fatherhood proper to married men, seeks another fatherhood and, as it were, even another motherhood, recalling the words of the Apostle about the children whom he begets in suffering (cf. l Cor. 4:15; Gal 4:19). These are children of his spirit, people entrusted to his solicitude by the Good Shepherd. These people are many, more numerous than an ordinary human family can embrace. The pastoral vocation of priests is great, and the Council teaches that it is universal: it is directed towards the whole Church (cf. Decree Presbyterorum Ordinis, 3, 6, 10, 12), and therefore it is of a missionary character. Normally, it is linked to the service of a particular community of the People of God in which each individual expects attention, care and love. The heart of the priest, in order that it may be available for this service, must be free. Celibacy is a sign of a freedom that exists for the sake of service. According to this sign, the hierarchical or "ministerial" priesthood is, according to the tradition of our Church, more strictly "ordered" to the common priesthood of the faithful.

Test and responsibility...

The often widespread view that priestly celibacy in the Catholic Church is an institution imposed by law on those who receive the sacrament of Orders is the result of a misunderstanding, if not of downright bad faith. We all know that it is not so. Every Christian who receives the sacrament of Orders commits himself to celibacy with full awareness and freedom, after a training lasting a number of years, and after profound reflection and assiduous prayer. He decides upon a life of celibacy only after he has reached a firm conviction that Christ is giving him this "gift" for the good of the Church and the service of others. Only then does he commit himself to observe celibacy for his entire life. It is obvious that such a decision obliges not only by virtue of a law laid down by the Church but also by virtue of personal responsibility. It is a matter here of keeping one’s word to Christ and the Church. Keeping one’s word is, at one and the same time, a duty and a proof of the priest’s inner maturity; it is the expression of his personal dignity. It is shown in all its clarity when this keeping one’s promise to Christ, made through a conscious and free commitment to celibacy for the whole of one’s life, encounters difficulties, is put to the test, or is exposed to temptation-all things that do not spare the Priest, any more than they spare any other Christian. At such a moment, the individual must seek support in more fervent prayer. Through prayer, he must find within himself that attitude of humility and sincerity before God and his own conscience; prayer is indeed the source of strength for sustaining what is wavering. Then it is that there is born a confidence like the confidence expressed by Saint Paul in the words: "There is nothing that I cannot master with the help of the One who gives me strength" (Phil 4:13). These truths are confirmed by the experience of many Priests and proved by the reality of life. The acceptance of these truths constitutes the basis of fidelity to the promise made to Christ and the Church, and that promise is at the same time the proof of genuine fidelity to oneself, one’s own conscience, and one’s own humanity and dignity. One must think of all these things especially at moments of crisis, and not have recourse to a dispensation, understood as an "administrative intervention", as though in fact it were not, on the contrary, a matter of a profound question of conscience and a test of humanity. God has a right to test each one of us in this way, since this earthly life is a time of testing for every human being. But God also wishes us all to emerge victorious from such tests, and he gives us adequate help for this.

Perhaps, not without good reason, one should add at this point that the commitment to married fidelity, which derives from the sacrament of Matrimony, creates similar obligations in its own sphere; this married commitment sometimes becomes a source of similar trials and experiences for husbands and wives, who also have a way of proving the value of their love in these "trials by fire". Love, in fact, in all its dimensions, is not only a call but also a duty. Finally, we should add that our brothers and sisters joined by the marriage bond have the right to expect from us, Priests and Pastors, good example and the witness of fidelity to one’s vocation until death, a fidelity to the vocation that we choose through the sacrament of Orders just as they choose it through the sacrament of Matrimony. Also in this sphere and in this sense we should understand our ministerial priesthood as "subordination" to the common priesthood of all the faithful, of the laity, especially of those who live in marriage and form a family. In this way, we serve in "building up the body of Christ" (Eph 4:12); otherwise, instead of cooperating in the building up of that body we weaken its spiritual structure. Closely linked to this building up of the body of Christ is the authentic development of the human personality of each Christian-as also of each Priest-a development that takes place according to the measure of the gift of Christ. The disorganization of the spiritual structure of the Church certainly does not favour the development of the human personality and does not constitute its proper testing.

Every day we have to be converted anew...

"What must we do, then?" (Lk 3:10): dear Brothers, this seems to be your question, just as the disciples and those who listened to Christ the Lord asked him so often. What must the Church do, when it seems that there is a lack of Priests, when their absence makes itself felt especially in certain countries and regions of the world? How are we to respond to the immense needs of evangelization, and how can we satisfy the hunger for the Word and the Body of the Lord? The Church, which commits herself to maintaining priestly celibacy as a particular gift for the kingdom of God, professes faith in and expresses hope in her Teacher, Redeemer and Spouse, and at the same time in him who is "Lord of the harvest" and "giver of the gift" (Mt 9:38; cf. 1 Cor 7:7). In fact, "every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights" (James 1:17). We for our part cannot weaken this faith and confidence with our human doubting or our timidity.

In consequence, we must all be converted anew every day. We know that this is a fundamental exigency of the Gospel, addressed to everyone (cf. Mt 4:17, Mk 1:15), and all the more do we have to consider it as addressed to us. If we have the duty of helping others to be converted we have to do the same continuously in our own lives. Being converted means returning to the very grace of our vocation; it means meditating upon the infinite goodness and love of Christ, who has addressed each of us and, calling us by name, has said; "Follow me". Being converted means: continually "giving an account" before the Lord of our hearts about our service, our zeal and our fidelity, for we are "Christ’s servants, stewards entrusted with the mysteries of God" (1 Cor 4:1). Being converted also means "giving an account" of our negligences and sins, of our timidity, of our lack of faith and hope, of our thinking only "in a human way" and not "in a divine way". Let us recall, in this regard the warning that Christ gave to Peter himself (cf. Mt 16:23). Being converted means, for us, seeking again the pardon and strength of God in the sacrament of Reconciliation, and thus always beginning anew, and every day progressing, overcoming ourselves,. making spiritual conquests, giving cheerfully, for "God loves a cheerful giver" (2 Cor 9:7).

Being converted meant "to pray continually and never lose heart" (Lk 18:1). In a certain way prayer is the first and the last condition for conversion, spiritual progress and holiness. Perhaps in these recent years--at least in certain quarters--there has been too much discussion about the priesthood, the priest’s "identity", the value of his presence in the modern world, etc., and on the other hand there has been too little praying. There has not been enough enthusiasm for actuating the priesthood itself through prayer, in order to make its authentic evangelical dynamism effective, in order to confirm the priestly identity. It is prayer that shows the essential style of the priest; without prayer this style becomes deformed. Prayer helps us always to find the light that has led us since the beginning of our priestly vocation, and which never ceases to lead us, even though it seems at times to disappear in the darkness. Prayer enables us to be converted continually, to remain in a state of continuous reaching out to God, which is essential if we wish to lead others to him. Prayer helps us to believe, to hope and to love, even when our human weakness hinders us.

Prayer likewise enables us continually to rediscover the dimensions of that kingdom for whose coming we pray every day, when we repeat the words that Christ taught us. Then we realize what our place is in the realization of the petition: "Thy kingdom come", and we see how necessary we are in its realization. And perhaps, when we pray, we shall see more easily those "fields... already white for harvest" (Jn 4:35) and we shall understand the meaning of Christ’s words as he looked at them: "So ask the Lord of the harvest to send labourers to his harvest" (Mt 9:38).

We must link prayer with continuous work upon ourselves: this is the formatio permanens. As is rightly pointed out by the Document on this theme issued by the Sacred Congregation for the Clergy (cf. Circular Letter of 4 November 1969: AAS 62 (1970), pp. 123 ff.), this formation must be both interior, that is to say directed towards the deepening of the priest’s spiritual life, and must also be pastoral and intellectual (philosophical and theological). Therefore since our pastoral activity, the proclamation of the Word and the whole of the priestly ministry depend upon the intensity of our interior life, that activity must also find sustenance in assiduous study. It is not enough for us to stop at what we once learned in the seminary, even in cases where those studies were done at university level, which the Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education resolutely recommends. This process of intellectual formation must last all one’s life, especially in modern times, which are marked--at least in many parts of the world--by the widespread development of education and culture. To the people who enjoy the benefits of this development we must tell them, convincingly and effectively, of the hope that gives us life (cf. 1 Pt 3:15). And this also forms part of the process of daily conversion to love, through the truth.

Dear Brothers: you who have borne "the burden of the day and the heat" (Mt 20:12), who have put your hand to the plough and do not turn back (cf. Lk 9:62), and perhaps even more those of you who are doubtful of the meaning of your vocation or of the value of your service: think of the places where people anxiously await a Priest, and where for; many years, feeling the lack of such a Priest, they do not cease to hope for his presence. And sometimes it happens that they meet in an abandoned shrine, and place on the altar a stole which they still keep, and recite all the prayers of the Eucharistic liturgy; and then, at the moment that corresponds to the transubstantiation a deep silence comes down upon them, a silence sometimes broken by a sob... so ardently do they desire to hear the words that only the lips of a Priest can efficaciously utter. So much do they desire Eucharistic Communion, in which they can share only through the ministry of a priest, just as they also so eagerly wait to hear the divine words of pardon: Ego te absolve a peccatistuis! So deeply do they feel the absence of a Priest among them!... Such places are not lacking in the world. So if one of you doubts the meaning of his priesthood, if he thinks it is "socially" fruitless or useless, reflect on this!

We must be converted every day, we must rediscover every day the gift obtained from Christ himself in the sacrament of Orders, by penetrating the importance of the salvific mission of the Church and by reflecting on the great meaning of our vocation in the light of that mission

Mother of Priests...

Dear Brothers, at the beginning of my ministry I entrust all of you to the Mother of Christ, who in a special way is our Mother: the Mother of Priests. In fact, the beloved disciple, who, as one of the Twelve, had heard in the Upper Room the words "Do this in memory of me" (Lk 22:19), was given by Christ on the Cross to his Mother, with the words: ."Behold your son" (Jn 19:26). The man who on Holy Thursday received the power to celebrate the Eucharist was, by these words of the dying, Redeemer, given to his Mother as her "son". All of us, therefore, who receive the same power through priestly Ordination have in a certain sense a prior right to see her as our Mother. And so I desire that all of you, together with me, should find in Mary the Mother of the priesthood which we have received form Christ. I also desire that you should entrust your priesthood to her in a special way. Allow me to do it myself, entrusting to the Mother of Christ each one of you--without any exception--in a solemn and at the same time simple and humble way. And I ask each of you, dear Brothers, to do it yourselves, in the way dictated to you by your own heart, especially by your love for Christ the Priest, and also by your own weakness, which goes hand in hand with your desire for service and holiness. I ask you to do this.

The Church of today speaks of herself especially in the Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium. Here too, in the last chapter, she proclaims that she looks to Mary as to the Mother of Christ, because she calls herself a mother and wishes to be a mother, begetting people for God to a new life (cf. Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium, Chapter VIII). Now, dear Brothers: how near you are to this cause of God! How deeply it is imprinted upon your vocation, ministry and mission. In consequence, in the midst of the People of God, that looks to Mary with immense love and hope, you must look to her with exceptional hope and love. Indeed, you must proclaim Christ who is her Son; and who will better communicate to you the truth about him than his Mother? You must nourish human hearts with Christ: and who can make you more aware of what you are doing than she who nourished him? "Hail, true Body, born of the Virgin Mary". In our "ministerial" priesthood there is the wonderful and penetrating dimension of nearness to the Mother of Christ. So let us try to live in that dimension. If I may be permitted to speak here of my own experience, I will say to you that in writing to you I am referring especially to my own personal experience.

As I communicate all this to you, at the beginning of my service to the universal Church, I do not cease to ask God to fill you, Priests of Jesus Christ, with every blessing and grace, and as a token of this communion in prayer I bless you with all my heart, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Accept this blessing. Accept the words of the new Successor of Peter, that Peter whom the Lord commanded: "And once you have recovered, you in your turn must strengthen your brothers" (Lk 22:32). Do not cease to pray for me together with the whole Church, so that I may respond to that exigency of a primacy of love that the Lord made the foundation of the mission of Peter, when he said to him: " Feed my lambs" (Jn 21:16). Amen.

From the Vatican, 9 April, Passion Sunday (Palm Sunday), in the year 1979, the first of the Pontificate.

JOANNES PAULUS PP. II

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These prophecies came from Jesus, Mary, and the saints to Veronica Lueken at Bayside, NY, from 1968 to 1995:

CHOSEN FROM THE MULTITUDES
"A duly ordained priest in the House of God shall not remove his habit. He shall not take the badge of honor of his vocation from him. In doing thus, he subjects his soul to contamination from worldly influence.
"Do you not feel honor for having been chosen from a multitude of souls to be representative of your God upon your world? Have you shame for your vocation? Woe to the man who turns his eyes and heart upon the world and adopts the maxims of the world, all creations of satan!" Our Lady, March 25, 1973

SIGN OF DEDICATION
"And do not be misled by clergy who have cast off their habits, outwardly and inwardly have cast away the true light. My children, the habit was always a signification of holiness, piety, dedication in My House, My Church. But, My children, do not be fooled by those who have fouled their habits.
"The agents of 666 now are loosed in Rome and have entered into the highest places of the hierarchy. It will be bishop against bishop, and cardinal against cardinal, till all that remains will come forward out of the cleansing." Jesus, July 25, 1977

WEAR THE HABIT
"High priests of God and foolish virgins who have given themselves to the world, why have you chosen to go down the path to ruination? Your example have set many on the road to hell! Are you ashamed to stand forth and wear the habit of your order? No, you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven by entering the world!" Our Lady, October 6, 1973

GARMENT OF PURITY
"Holiness and piety! Man--men of God, you must wear your garment of purity, dedication, and piety. What manner of foul deeds do you perform for the destruction of your sheep! For what? Material gain and pride and arrogance? You shall be cast into the abyss! Rank shall give you no advantage when you come over the veil." St. Michael, December 24, 1975

Directives from Heaven... https://www.tldm.org/directives/directives.htm

D172 - Priestly Celibacy PDF

Outside Links...

The Celibacy of the Priest, by Pope Paul VI

Celibacy isn't the problem, by Cardinal John O'Connor

Celibacy of the clergy (Catholic Encyclopedia)

Celibacy dates back to the Apostles, by Fr. Anthony Zimmerman, STD

The logic of priestly celibacy, by Fr. Anthony Zimmerman, STD

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