Freeing Celibacy

Priest and writer Cozzens calmly explains the celibacy Roman Catholic priests have been obliged to assume since the late eleventh century. Making celibacy mandatory, he argues, grates on the established concept of celibacy as a charism, or freely bestowed gift of the Holy Spirit; indeed, the practice seems to promise, ever so presumptuously, that ordination entails the charism. Many priests testify that it doesn't, and many consequently suffer great anguish, regardless of whether they break their vows (by and large, they don't). That celibacy is necessary for priesthood is contradicted within the church today, Cozzens notes, by the hundreds of married former Protestant clergy who converted to Catholicism and are serving as priests and by the priests of Eastern rite churches in communion with Rome, which have always allowed marriage before ordination. Better for all, Cozzens says, to dispense with prescribed celibacy while continuing to pray for the charism.