Celibacy and the Priesthood

A discipline, not a dogma

Some Protestants treat celibacy as a dogma, pointing to Peter's mother-in-law (Mark 1:30) or dating "mandatory celibacy" in Church history. But celibacy is not required of all Catholic priests. In the Eastern Catholic churches, as among the Orthodox, married priests are normal, though unmarried priests may not marry, widowed priests may not remarry, and bishops are chosen from celibate monks. The Latin Church has required celibacy of priests and bishops since the early Middle Ages, with exceptions such as married convert clergy from Lutheranism and Anglicanism. Peter's marriage is no more contrary to the faith than a married Maronite Catholic pastor.

Is marriage mandatory?

Some say "Be fruitful and multiply" (Genesis 1:28) and "every man should have his own wife" (1 Corinthians 7:2) require marriage. But in that very chapter Paul says it is good for the unmarried to remain single as he is, and to marry only if they cannot exercise self-control (1 Corinthians 7:8-9). His advice about spouses (7:2-3) is a concession, not a command; he wishes all were as he is (7:6-7). The unmarried can be anxious about the Lord's affairs, while the married are divided (7:27-34): he who marries does well, and he who refrains does better (7:38). When the disciples said it is better not to marry, Jesus spoke of those who renounce marriage for the kingdom, a gift not granted to all (Matthew 19:10-12). "Be fruitful" is a precept for the human race, not every individual; otherwise every single person, and Jesus and Paul themselves, would be in sin. A priest's sins no more disprove his vocation than a spouse's sins disprove theirs.

"The husband of one wife"

Paul says a bishop must be "the husband of one wife" and manage his household and children well (1 Timothy 3:2, 4-5). Taken as a requirement to marry, it would also require children (more than one), and would disqualify a bishop whose wife or children died. Paul himself was single, and he praised the undivided devotion of the unmarried (1 Corinthians 7:32). The point is that a bishop must have only one wife, not that he must have one. Those who renounce marriage for the kingdom (Matthew 19:12) are well suited to follow those who left everything for Christ (cf. Matthew 19:27). God even forbade Jeremiah to marry as part of his ministry (Jeremiah 16:1-2).

"Forbidding marriage"?

Paul's encouragement of celibacy lays no restraint on anyone (1 Corinthians 7:35). Some say the Church falls under 1 Timothy 4:3, which condemns those who forbid marriage. But the Church forbids no one to marry; it chooses its priests from those who voluntarily renounce marriage. There is precedent: Paul describes an order of widows pledged not to remarry (1 Timothy 5:9-16), warning not to enroll younger widows who might break their "first pledge" (5:11-12). Since Paul does not condemn widows for remarrying (cf. Romans 7:2-3), that pledge must be a vow of celibacy: an early order of religious women.

The dignity of both

Catholics revere marriage as a sacrament. Its holiness is what makes celibacy precious, since only what is good can be offered to God, as fasting presupposes the goodness of food. To despise celibacy undermines marriage. Celibacy is also a sign of heaven, where people neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like the angels (Matthew 22:30).