Celibacy

I'm actually reading a book about the Jewish roots of Catholicism.  It is quite good.  It's called The Crucified Rabbi; Judaism & the Origins of Catholic Christianity by Taylor R. Marshall.

Marshall was a brand new Anglican priest when he discovered that Jews invoke the name of a deceased person's mother when praying for the dead.  He immediately saw a connection to the relationship that Catholics see with Mary, the mother of Jesus.   This led him on an exploration of Catholicism that resulted in his conversion.  I felt kinship with Marshall over this because though I am a cradle Catholic I left the Church for a number of years.  I mark the beginning of my reversion from a Passover seder I was invited to by a Jewish law school classmate.  I remember thinking:  but this is just like the Mass!  And then it suddenly dawned on me that in spite of all my disagreements with the Church and despite the fact that I really didn't know if I believed in God or not, I had to acknowledge that the Church had kept alive the connection between our Jewish Savior and now for 2000 years.  That impressed me and made me a little bit more open minded.  The closed door of my own rather ignorant judgmental attitude opened a crack for me at that moment. After that I began to really study with more seriousness the claims of the Church.

Celibacy seems to be an issue in this current crisis.  Many people think if celibacy was not a discipline of the priesthood, these scandals would not be as bad.  I tend to agree up to a point, but I still think celibacy has its place.  I think our post modern sensibilities are so warped we no longer can grasp spiritual asceticism very well.  The surrounding culture certainly doesn't support it.  Here's a big quote , from the chapter entitled Jewish Kohenim - Catholic Priest, pp. 96-97  where Marshall explains celibacy and the priesthood.

Many non-Catholic Christians are confused by the Catholic discipline of clerical celibacy.  It should be noted that celibacy and continence are not requirements unique to the New Covenant.  Temporary sexual abstinence was required of all Old Covenant priests while they ministered in the Temple.  Elijah and Elisha lived lives of celibacy.  Likewise, Jeremiah the prophet was celibate in obedience to the direct command of God:  "You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place." (Jer 16:2).  Hence, celibacy has its origins in Judaism.

Now, it should be said that the discipline of celibacy in the Catholic Church does not entail that marriage or human sexuality is evil or unclean.  A good analogy is that of fasting from food.  The value of fasting from food is not derived from a belief that food is evil.  Rather, fasting from food is commendable and spiritual because it is the sacrifice of something good for an even greater good.  God often asks us to sacrifice our best,.  For example, God asked the Israelites to sacrifice only the strongest and healthiest animals --not the worst.  When a man sacrifices the prospect of marriage and a family, he is not rejecting sex as something evil or vile.  Instead, he is making a substantial sacrifice.  This is why Catholicism honors the vocation of celibacy.  It is a sign of self-sacrifice in conformity to the self-sacrifice of Jesus Christ the true High Priest -- who also lived as a celibate man.