In this issue we review Freeing Celibacy by Fr Donald Cozzens. Donald Cozzens PhD., priest for 40 years, writer, seminary rector, lecturer, teaches in the Religious Studies Department at John Carroll University. He is the award winning and best selling author of The Changing Face of the Priesthood, and Sacred Silence: Denialand the Crisis in the Church.
Freeing Celibacy
Donald Cozzens
John Garratt Publishing
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Cozzens argues ‘Charismatic celibacy will remain a great gift to the church. Mandated celibacy awaits repeal.’
A layman’s review.
Lay people, (horrible phrase), ask an awful lot of our priests; and yet want very little from them. We want them to turn up, day after day to perform liturgies, we want them to be reliable, to marry us and bury us. We will sit patiently through their sermons hoping for a little entertainment perhaps even for them to challenge us a little. But we want them to stay pretty straight laced, and keep out of trouble.
This book by Donald Cozzens is an argument for abolition of mandatory celibacy for thepriesthood. It is one, perhaps the best, of a flurry of books which, sparked by the sexual abuse tragedies, have considered the relationship between priest hood and celibacy.
It comes at a time when there are many defences of mandatory celibacy being published by church officials.The latest is an article written by Cardinal Cláudio Hummes, prefect of the Congregation for Clergy, on "The Importance of Priestly Celibacy." It was published in the Italian edition of L'Osservatore Romano. It is a persuasive list of declarations of the centrality of mandatory celibacy covering the whole history of the Western church. But it does not deal with any sociological data. Cozzens does contest the interpretations placed on the scriptural and documentary claims made by defenders of the status quo, but additionally writes from an engaged pastoral compassion. A mere textual debate between scholars could be quite a strain o ordinary lay readers.
Since some conservative argument relies on the premise that a married person cant give themselves fully to God, and that marriage is the result of the fall, and not our natural state it is useful for lay people to contribute to this discussion.For lay people, indirectly, this book reveals how little we know about being a priest. We know little about the idealism of a priest having been called to liberate people with the word of God, and to embody it in their being. It can be the occasion of us thinking about the pastoral strategies a passionate priest might bring to the work of proclamation.
But in the pews we listen to 52 homilies a year, perhaps by the same person, and we do this year after year. While the debate about celibacy is a hot issue I’m almost persuaded by the South African Jesuit who told us one day that if a man can’t preach, he doesn’t have a priestly vocation.
We receive very little subjective talk by priests about the difficulties of their way of life, their struggles are usually closed to us, and this cements us into indifference into their personal plights.
In light of the sexual abuse scandals we might look at the familiar face up on the altar and wonder about their sexuality, about how they deal with celibacy. We worry about how they can be fully rounded human beings with out the enrichment and challenge of living within intimate human relations.
But in light of the shortage of vocations, and the many women and married ex-priests who would seemingly take on the role, we wonder about priests being stretched, and people going without liturgies. Perhaps we do not wonder enough about who is giving pastoral care to priests, since we take little responsibility for it.
Then we wonder about a fundamental split between people and minister. Is there is a kind of manichaeism going on, some kind of sexual Puritanism which says that only the celibate can walk on the altar, that some people are more sacred than others? We wonder about the connection between power in the church and celibacy. Do you have to be a celibate, to be a good leader, a good manager, a good marketer, and a good strategist? What message do the people receive from this invisible sneer?
Reading this book by Donald Cozzens has revolutionised my sense of the priestly vocation and the daring nature of the calling of celibacy. I can see the marketing value of celibacy of how it gestures towards a radical loyalty to and following of Christ, and the closeness of another way of being. I can see the spiritual power of celibacy.
Donald Cozzens PhD., priest for 40 years, writer, seminary rector, lecturer, teaches in the Religious Studies Department at John Carroll University. He is the award winning and best selling author of the The Changing Face of the Priesthood, and Sacred Silence: Denial and the Crisis in the Church.
His chapters include the Mystique of Celibacy, Celibacy as Charism, Celibacy as Obligation, Celibacy’s Exceptions, Celibacy’s Shadow, Celibacy, and Homosexuality, Celibacy as Power, and lastly Freeing Celibacy.
For Cozzens, abolition of mandatory celibacy is imperative for a healthy and productive class of priests and pastoral leaders. He believes that we need to have a detailed and honest discussion about these things. He writes with a great sense of compassion for the many men he knows and knows of for whom the celibacy has been a huge struggle.
Cozzens is fully aware of the beauty of celibacy. ‘Celibacy that rings true, celibacy that is one’s truth so to speak, celibacy that fosters a passionate love of God, humanity and creation, is first and foremost a gift of God’s Spirit for the mission of the church’.
He says, on the shadow side, that for many priests celibacy has been an unnecessary and unhealthy burden that has shrunk their souls and drained the last drops of passion from their lives. While for some others, while being an immense burden, they have struggled on courageously.
Cozzens argues with the scriptural sources used to justify mandatory celibacy and their usage in contemporary times to justify the ruling in its favour. He gives a brief history of the practice of celibacy within the Western church. I think that many who support the status quo would argue with his history, would argue that he minimises the scope and historical duration of this practice. They would also argue with his interpretation of the scriptural references, which have been used to support the mandating of this way of life.
He says that ‘Celibates without ‘charism’ often fail to ring true. Not at home with themselves, their spiritual and psychological awkwardness keeps them from connecting with others, the very foundation skill of ministry. Priests in this category are especially susceptible to the pseudo-identity found in clericalism. Here priests over–identify with their public persona making authentic relating nearly impossible. Cloaked in the mantel of ecclesiastical manners and propriety, they present themselves as not quite real – and not quite in touch. Often their artificial culture depletes their creativity and passion for life. Moreover, their relationships tend to be superficial and formal or strained and immature. Not surprisingly, their preaching is often didactic, and dry. Sooner or later these shadow forces lead to compensatory behaviours and attitudes of privilege and power.’
His definition is that the Char-ism, n. a gift freely given by God to a person or community for the good and service of others in bringing about the reign of God. The corollary of this notion, that it is a specific calling, that is germane to the nature of a person, leads him to conclude that celibacy cannot be mandated.
He sums up the genuine calling to celibacy:
‘Some few men and women appear to possess the charism of celibacy, a graced call from God to pledge themselves to celibate living for the good of others and for the building up in history of the reign of God. For these individuals, celibacy is their truth –the right way for them to live out their lives. Without disparaging marriage and with regard for the goodness and wholesomeness of human sexuality, they sense a mysterious pull of grace toward singleness that seems to fit with their inner life and their spiritual journey. It is mysterious because it often makes no sense even to themselves, let alone to their family and friends. It is a pull – like being drawn by a magnet – because it is not least at the beginning of their discernment, their choice. ----Celibates sense, moreover, that herein lies the key to their spiritual freedom, and that fidelity to this mysterious perplexing gift is all important. Intuitively, they sense that their gift of celibacy is linked to the mission of building up the Kingdom of God. Charisms, by their very nature, are not given for the fulfilment of the individual alone but for the welfare and betterment of others- for the sake of the gospel.’
His punch line is that: ‘Charismatic celibacy will remain a great gift to the church. Mandated celibacy awaits repeal.’
For those who try to be priests without the celibacy charism are asking for trouble. ‘Psychotherapists who work with priests commonly remark that unrecognised anger is a common issue. Simmering frustrations rooted in the lack of appropriate control of the more foundational aspects of their lives – place of work, dress, sexuality – seem to be factors here. Perhaps compensating for this lack of personal control some priests show need for control in their ministries. Moreover, obsessive-compulsive traits are common in celibate clergy’.
These shadow dimensions to mandated celibacy are surely of the garden-variety type. ‘We find them wherever people wilfully strive to be something they are not suited for by temperament, aptitude, and grace. In spite of the relative simplicity of the celibate life compared to the challenges of marriage, children, and mortgage, for many priests called to ordained ministry but not to celibacy, the challenges of ministry and adulthood are greatly intensified-and they and their ministry suffer. But mandated celibacy casts a far darker shadow in the lives of some priests, a shadow that has and continues to scar parishioners both young and old.’
One small thing Cozzens alerted me to is that it is much easier for a gay priest to have rich and platonic friendships with men, than for a straight priest to have such friendships with women.
One day, I ask a priest, if he has the charism of celibacy, the vocation of celibacy. Facing away and looking over the garden, a still, silent, quiet ‘yes’ emerges. ‘I couldn’t have stuck this out all these years if I hadn’t’, he says later.
Tony, a Nigerian refugee, with a wife and five children at home has been trying to get residency rights in Australia for years, he has just been knocked back again, and has no rights of appeal left. His pain is terrible.
Our priest rings, he is very concerned about him, and is trying to alert people that we could need to make a special effort to help him deal with his terrible disappointment. Yes, I think as I put down the phone, the priest reaching out to share and ameliorate the pain of one of his community. Right on the money.
I think that in the end I tend towards a pragmatic position. Celibacy is an exhilarating and daring spiritual choice and a very helpful marker for our world and celibacy is good marketing for the church, almost everyone gets caught up in the mystique of celibacy, consider the Hollywood movies. But the experience of frustrated men who abuse of people is bad publicity for the church. I guess my bottom line is that I want the fire to be spread, and the spreading of this fire is so important, it doesn’t matter whether it is by a woman, married or not, or a man married or not, or by a celibate of either gender.
I don’t care who preaches to me on the weekend, as long there is an embodiment of deep faith.
I think any thoughtful Catholic could well do with a deeper understanding of the priesthood, and greater compassion for the guys of whom we ask so much and so little. Cozzens books offers this understanding.
Link to the Hummes article: http://www.zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=105087
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