Sermon for Sunday - June 1, 2014: Celibacy and the Priesthood

"The first thousand years of church history, celibacy was expected but it wasn't required. In the second thousand years they mandated it. It's what we call a discipline...In other words; it's a man-made kind of rule. It's not the like Jesus and the Resurrection and Easter. So they can change this if they want. It's like changing [eating] meat on Friday. Will they change it? I don't know.'' 

-- Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights

Like so many rules that become a part of religious "lore," few of them have any real basis in the teachings of a given prophet.  As stated above, these are man-made rules that probably had some purpose back in the day.  Take the Hebrew stance against eating pork.  It was very dangerous back in the day to eat this unclean animal.  Now days, prepared right, pork is very safe and popular.  Rules like this hearken back to times when doing the right thing meant not getting sick and living longer.  Jews were long considered witches for this very reason.  While everyone else was dying of the Black Plague, most Jews would go on about their daily business simply because of their cleanliness.  Almost every aspect of Hebrew life and culture was in place for a reason.

Personally, I think celibacy found a home in Christianity because mass transit, circa 50 A.D., was a pair of sandals.  For an Apostle or a priest to travel any distance to spread the Gospel, they would be gone constantly.  Where is there room for marriage?  So, if you were to be of any value it made since that devoting yourself totally to your work was a more reasonable path.  But travel has come a long way.  Too bad the priesthood didn't keep up. 

Mass transit and mass media of the 20th century should have made this rule moot.  The onset of computer technology should have put a nail in the coffin of priestly celibacy.  But, maybe it was all about control.  Maybe it was about a "good old boys club."  Regardless, I think we can see what the ultimate price for this lack of female influence has cost mankind, and the church, down through history.  Men in serious need of getting laid were the cause of the Crusades, the Inquisition, spending untold fortunes building Vatican City, wholesale slaughter of the Aztec culture, not to mention the recent spate of sexual misconduct with children (which has probably been going on since day one).

"So they can change this if they want."  Considering the Christian priestly past, maybe this is long overdue.  Other sects of Christianity allow priests to marry and it seems to work out fine.  At least we have yet to hear of any little boys being diddled in their parishes, although I think they had a hand in several American Indian campaigns where women and children were slaughtered.  Do we chalk that up as youthful exuberance?  Hmmm.

This is all just the opinion of an old Catholic that never understood how a priest could give any counseling on subjects they know nothing about.  Smoking, alcoholism, and celibacy would seem to be right up their alley, however.  Now, this is a cold, uncalled for view that does not give great credit to those modern day priests that have contributed so much to medicine, science, and philosophy.  The problem here lies with the old saying by John Northebrooke in 1577, "A penny naughtily gotten, sayth Chysotoms, is like a rotten apple laid amoung sounde apples, which will rot all the rest."  In the 1300's Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales quotes an even older proverb, "A rotten apple's better thrown away Before it spoils the barrel."

Maybe it isn't too late to salvage Catholicism.  Now if we can get some women into the priesthood, the Catholic church finally come up to date and into it's own in the 21st century.

Too much?

As usual, this is just my humble opinion and it could very well be wrong, and disputed at length by anybody too closed minded to consider change as anything but bad.  Everyone has an opinion.  Please be sure to share yours with the world in the spirit a peaceful, creative debate and discussion.

God be with us all.

Note:  The Sunday Thought for June 1, 2014 was posted early as I am going to be traveling to my new adventures in Mississippi this weekend and did not want to deprive my readers of their much anticipated pastoral opinion.  Like the Sears & Roebuck catalog of old, I'm sure my posts are read just prior to being used as free butt wipe.