Friendship

Article 6. The Sixth Commandment

II. The Vocation to Chastity

The integrity of the person (cont’d)

(2345) Chastity is a moral virtue. It is also a gift from God, a grace, a fruit of spiritual effort. The Holy Spirit enables one whom the water of Baptism has regenerated to imitate the purity of Christ.

The integrality of the gift of self

(2346) Charity is the form of all the virtues. Under its influence, chastity appears as a school of the gift of the person. Self-mastery is ordered to the gift of self. Chastity leads him who practices it to become a witness to his neighbor of God’s fidelity and loving kindness.

(2347) The virtue of chastity blossoms in friendship. It shows the disciple how to follow and imitate him who has chosen us as his friends, who has given himself totally to us and allows us to participate in his divine estate. Chastity is a promise of immortality.

This afternoon, I turned on the television to a story on CNN regarding the recent news of the sexual abuse scandals and the concept of priestly celibacy. The person being interviewed said that the requirement for celibacy should be lifted because it would end the issue of sexual abuse by clergy and the number of homosexual priests that are in active ministry. The last claim is totally unfounded–there were no sources for the numbers they were reporting. So I decided that I would go on to Rick Sanchez’s blog (CNN anchor at the time) and leave a comment describing what celibacy is, in the view of someone discerning the priesthood of Jesus Christ.

Here is the full extent of my comments:

As someone discerning the priesthood of Jesus Christ, I view celibacy not as a sacrifice; rather, I view celibacy as a gift. Celibacy is a way to make the Kingdom of God present here on earth. If you read Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body, you will see that those who choose celibacy for the kingdom share the same vocations to love as those who marry, but manifest this same vocation in a different manner. Furthermore, celibacy is not a rejection of sexuality, but a living out of the deepest meaning of sexuality–union with Christ and his Church (Ephesians 5:31-32).

Celibacy is not the reason for the abuse scandals that have occurred in the Catholic Church over the years. If it was, why do cases of pedophilia and other sexual acts of misconduct occur in churches where celibacy is not a requirement for pastoral ministry?

Over the last few decades, major changes have been made to the application process of becoming a seminarian to discern the priesthood of Jesus Christ. Now, ALL candidates must take an intense psychological evaluation. After an extensive interview process, then members of the diocesan vocations committee decide on either accepting or denying the candidate.