“I think celibacy has to go as a prerequisite”

So what is it about sex that you can’t stand priests having it?

Mr. Kevin Lee is mistaken. He says, “I think celibacy has to go as a prerequisite for being a minister in the catholic religion.” Celibacy is definitely not a prerequisite to be a minister. It is, however, a prerequisite to be a priest. His language betrays his poor understanding of the priesthood. The difference between a priest and a minister is insurmountable. It would seem that celibacy is the least of this man’s problems.

In Canada, the definite demographic reality of aging priests and even fewer young priests in training, coupled with large geographic scales in rural and northern areas makes me believe that relaxation of the discipline of clerical celibacy cannot be too far off, out of necessity, perhaps even beginning with “mission territory” provisions.

Some illustrative numbers from the mid-northern diocese of Keewatin, which has ~13 priests and an archbishop for 44 thousand Catholics spread over 400,000+ square kms (approx. the land size of Germany or Montana). The average age of their priests is 69, according to their circa 2008 website. Can it be good for those Catholics, often on reserves and in the most materially poor conditions in Canada, to go without access to the sacraments for months at a time because of a church discipline and poor fortune of geography?

Such a transition may not be too culturally jarring as there are already large Ukrainian Catholic eparchies in Canada, each with >90% of their clergy being married. (And the demographics of the widely spread, small remote communities are not unlike the conditions that made the married parish clergy model in the steppes of Ukraine work in the past.)

While not politically correct, in Church terms, delaying the transition to permit married men to become clergy until everyone formed by the Council (to the exclusion of everything else in the Faith) has passed on is, however, likely necessary, in order to ensure that the rapidly-becoming-passe “Council-only” heterodoxy is excluded from the priesthood.

RE the article: I don’t have too much sympathy for these priests as nowhere in Apostolic Christianity is the marriage of an already ordained priest permitted, except in the gravest of circumstances such as after laicization (ie. a Latin priest leaving the priesthood) or resignation from priestly duties (ie. an Orthodox priest remarrying for the sake of his young children after his wife dies).

OK, so there are some demographic arguments about the number of priests that do make it worth considering some cautious relaxations of mandatory priestly celibacy. But surely, can’t Fr. Lee see that now there’s no way his opinions on this subject can be taken seriously?

“He said he pitied what he called “sacrificing” priests around the world who were denying themselves a relationship.”

I have no need for pity for embracing the beauty of celibacy. He is the one in need of pity for missing the beauty of sacrificing self for the priesthood.

Dave: The evidence does – the Canadian eparchies have around three times the priests per Catholic capita of their territory matched Latin diocese.

Toronto (Uk) has 1 priest per 372 Catholics, Toronto (Latin) has 1 priest per 2340 Catholics;
Saskatoon (Uk) 1 priest per 268 Catholics, Saskatoon (Latin) 1 priest per 969 Catholics;
Winnipeg (Uk) 1 priest per 691 Catholics, Winnipeg (Latin) 1 priest per 1930 Catholics;
Edmonton (Uk) 1 priest per 686 Catholics, Edmonton (Latin) 1 priest per 2020 Catholics;
Philadelphia (Uk) 1 priest per 245 Catholics, Philadelphia (Latin) 1 priest per 1482 Catholics;
Chicago (Uk) 1 priest per 172 Catholics, Chicago (Latin) 1 priest per 1408 Catholics;
Stamford [this is New York and the North East] (Uk) 1 priest per 200 Catholics, New York (Latin) 1 priest per 1461 Catholics.

-NB: the American numbers are depressed because of the loss of 100k faithful and their clergy to the Orthodox Church in America when Latin bishops rejected Eastern Catholic married clergy in the 19th and 20th centuries in the USA.

Depending on the eparchy, somewhere around 3/4 of the priests are diocesan (ie married) although a number of their popular religious orders permit married clergy too, so the 3/4 figure is a low statistic. The numbers that have formed the picture of today speak for the past and show how a “lower bar” (without compromising the Faith) with regards to clerical celibacy has produced more priests for the eparchies than their location matched Latin dioceses.

Anecdotally, I know many young, faithful, and orthodox Catholic men, some of whom have advanced degrees in theology or secular subjects, who either seriously contemplated the priesthood prior to marriage or who would contemplate the priesthood now after marriage if they were permitted by the Latin Church. The Latin Church, for better or worse, has rejected in my small part of the world a not insignificant handful of capable and faithful men for the sake of a discipline, while one of the fellows I know is of the Ukrainian Catholic Church and is discerning the very same priesthood as we speak, with the counsel and blessing of his wife.

All the figures are from catholic hierarchy.

MissJean: That route is frowned upon, but a very small number of married Latin laymen have tread it by requesting a canonical transfer to become Eastern, with later ordination. I suspect that over the years, more married Catholics have become Orthodox in order to become priests than have canonically transferred to an Eastern Church to do so.

If avoiding Latin rules of celibacy were the only reason for requesting a canonical transfer of the bishop, it would be promptly denied. Conceivably, one’s spouse could be of an Eastern Church which would grant one the right to exercise a transfer into that Church without the bishop’s permission, but a second barrier would appear. That is, the Eastern bishop would have to see one’s desire to be a priest for his Church as earnest, and it would be incredibly tough to fake enough interest to learn the language, theology, history, liturgy, and spiritual praxis of the Eastern Church which one endeavoured to deceive if one secretly just wanted to say the Latin Mass all along.

Further, I suspect anyone who just wanted to be a married Catholic priest for the whole world to see would be infuriated by the fact that they as a married priest would be “nothing special” in an Eastern Church.

The few Latins who have made such a journey to be priests have most likely legitimately become fully Eastern Catholic in belief and expression before formally transferring and long before seeking ordination with this additional freedom available to them.