This is an apologetic response to the article on the ‘Opinion’ section of the Sunday Nation dated December 15th, 2019 by Makau W. Mutua, a SUNY Distinguished Professor at SUNY Buffalo Law School and the Chairperson of Kenya Human Rights Commission.
I deeply and sincerely appreciate that the writer of this article, “For Chrissake,(sic) let Catholics ordain women, priests marry’, is very well informed in matters faith, law and morals.
To begin, a synoptic reading of the article, one understands that it’s problematic is on the fact that the shortage of clergy is largely, if not solely, due to both the celibacy policy on the Roman Catholic clergy and non inclusion of women in the ordained ministry of the Church. Furthermore, the article tends to write off the two reasons (clerical celibacy and male-only-minister) as non biblical and old practices whose expiry date is long gone. Hence, as a consequence, to salvage the life of the ‘dying’ Catholic Church, the Pope has to ascend to the propositions of the just concluded Pan-Amazon Synod.
Firstly, just because her clergy is not allowed to marry, the Roman Catholic Church is neither dying nor being confined in the “ICU” (Intensive Care Unit). She is alive, growing and kicking! Let us be realistic. The Annuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae 2017 released by the Central Office of the Roman Catholic Church Statistics in the Vatican on the 6th March 2019, clearly states that there is a notable increase in the Catholic Christians around the globe. Of 7,408 million people, 1,313 million, or 17.7% are baptized Catholics. Worthy of noting is that there was an overall increase of 1.1% from 2015 (1,285 million) to 2016 (1,299 million). And the upward trend continues. Now, in fact, the small worry is in the “conspicuous change” in the number of priests from 2016 (414,969) to 2017 (414,582). Yet there has been an increase rate of 0.7% since 2010 (412,236).
Secondly, back to the author’s arguments against clerical celibacy.
Initially, saying that the choice of celibacy as a condition sine qua non to join the clergyhood has no scriptural foundation is a white lie. We find contradiction in the article, when the author, Prof. Makau, mentions the Apostle Paul’s recommendation on celibate life in the First Letter to the Corinthians. It’s quite noticeable how he avoids giving the readers the exact biblical quotations from the mentioned Pauline letter. Yet, when it comes to the biblical texts that talk of the other Apostles of Jesus in marriage, like St Peter, the Professor promptly quotes the gospel verses, not one but two of them.
Yet the bible has models of those men who lived celibate life for the sake of their job of evangelization. We shall just pick only two: the Apostle Paul, in the New Covenant, in his free will chose celibacy (hence, clerical celibacy is freely chosen by the candidates to become clergy). And the Prophet Jeremiah, in the Old Covenant, didn’t choose celibacy by his own free will, yet God imposed it on him (hence, as part of the Tradition of the Church, divinely inspired, clerical celibacy is imposed on the candidates to become clergy). Why?
On one hand, due to his personal choice of unmarried status, St Paul was capable of doing three long missionary journeys. This is because he was free from worldly cares, cf., 1 Cor 7, 28, and free from divided interests, cf., 1 Cor 7, 32-35. While on the other hand, the Prophet Jeremiah, due to a command from YHWH to stay unmarried, cf., Jer 16, 2, so as for YHWH to communicate through his life status as unmarried man the misery which is to befall the Jews.
In these two biblical figures, we attest two things that clerical celibacy has as a consequence in the Church. Primo, it is for high performances in ecclesiastical duties, for the clergy will be free and an untied with the nuptial knots to carry out faithfully, diligently and at all times his pastoral work. Secundo, it’s meant to reveal a prophetic value for the Church, for, first the unmarried clergy reflects the future glory of heaven, which God wants to communicate to us, where there is no need for marriage, cf., Mt 22, 30. And, second the unmarried clergy reflects the perfection, which God communicates to us, just like Jesus is perfect. The unmarried priest acts in persona Christi, person of Christ, hence live like Jesus, the unmarried.
Then, claiming that there are unfaithful clergy who do not respect their clerical celibate status and the duration it has taken since its insertion in the Canon Law of the Church, should be fundamental in scrapping off of the celibacy policy on the clergy is indeed wanting.
Old is gold, as we all know it. Indeed as a tradition established officially in the Roman Catholic Church by the reformist Pope Gregory VII (1015-1085), celibacy policy has not only helped the Church control her spiritual and material wealth but also made her the strongest institution in the world up to date.
It’s true that time perfects the human faculty of reason and faith. It is equally true that some doctrines and disciplines of the Church, like issues of Limbo (a place between heaven and hell for souls not condemned to eternal punishment, but yet deprived of the eternal happiness with God) and the earth being flat and not round were perfected with time. But, addressing celibacy policy as a “millennia-old practice that has usually, but not always, been adhered to” is pejorative. Prof. Mutua wants us to believe that certain traditions and doctrines wear out with time because at their conception the faculties of reason and faith were still under developed. Hence with time, as the people to adhere to them mature in reason and faith, drop them. Not in the Catholic Church. Doctrines don’t wear out! Actually they find more spiritual and anthropological meaning as time goes by. A point in question is the use of candle light in the Scared Liturgy!
Lastly, during the voting sessions in the ongoing Synods, the Pope is never present. This is because his solemn verdict on the discussed and voted issues comes as an Apostolic Exhortation (a post-synodal document addressed to the whole Church, that will clarify and explain in greater detail the issues treated by the synod participants). Actually the pontiff appears in two sessions: the opening and the closing sessions. So the Prof saying that “the synod of Amazon bishops voted- in a meeting with Pope Francis in Vatican City- to allow married men to become priests”, is already pointing that the Roman pontiff ascended to this final document, which is not the case.
Our next apologetic response to the same Prof. Mutua's article will feature on his plea to let the Roman Catholic Church ordain women.
Yes. Opinions are personal and call for respect. But they can be corrected if not well informed.
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