Marriage and Priesthood

The greatest problem facing society today is the destruction of marriage and families. And yet one of the greatest problems facing the Church today is also the lack of committed celibate ministers. A paradox? Not really. One can see that the root of both problems is the same: selfishness, an unwillingness to give of oneself entirely to one state forever. A divorcé or a man who refuses to marry his mistress is unwilling to commit to just one person for the rest of his life. A priest who agitates for married clergy does the same. He does not want to be loyal to just one bride. People say they are for the married priesthood. So am I. A priest should be married, and his bride should be the Church.

A tree needs both a trunk and leaves. If the trunk tries to be like the leaves, and the leaves try to be like the trunk, the tree is in poor health. A green and weak trunk cannot support the weight of the tree; leaves that are dry and hard will fall off and are useless.

Likewise with the body of Christ. It is differentiated into different organs. We all have unique and distinct roles to play. Egalitarianism which confuses equality with sameness will only produce a formless lump. A body is composed of unique, different systems – but all the bacteria in a blob growing on trash are the same.

Turning the clergy into married families just like the ones they are supposed to be serving weakens their position. Legs and the arms can only serve one another if they are different from one another. Man and woman can only produce life because they are different from one another. A rainbow is only a rainbow if each color is unadulterated.

An old tool in the devil’s sack of tricks is to make us so enamored of the beauty of another’s vocation that we do not appreciate the beauty of our own, and thus do not fulfill our duty. The grass is always greener, as they say. A director leading a band will plead for the tubas to play deep strong notes, like elephants plodding along. He’ll also ask the piccolos to be airy and light like fairies. A piccolo player in the orchestra may love the way the tuba complements the notes he plays on his piccolo, but if he does not commit fully to playing his own part as best he can, and instead tries to play the tuba on his own tiny instrument, the beauty he enjoys will be destroyed.

Let’s not try to get the clergy to imitate the vocation of the married. Doing so will dilute and adulterate their call of complete devotion to the Church. Let them be free to skip about the world like the piccolos, without worldly concerns to hinder their service. Let their one concern be for the Church. And let families grow like stout trees with deep roots. Let them be like steady bass notes in the symphony of life. Together these different vocations serve unique roles in the Body of Christ.

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