The best argument against mandatory celibacy for priests comes straight out of Vatican II, the great council that opened the Roman Catholic Church to the world and turned greater attention to the one billion people who follow its teachings.
David Hunter, chair of Catholic studies at the University of Kentucky, said Vatican II was clear that celibacy does not belong to the priesthood by its very essence, or nature.
“What that means is that the vocation to celibacy and the vocation to priesthood [are] distinct — so one could be a legitimate priest in every sense of the word and be married,” he said,
“Celibacy has been part of a tradition of the Church, part of a discipline of the Church, but it’s something that in theory could change.”
Celibacy, he said, is neither dogmatic nor infallible.
Margaret O’Gara, professor of systematic theology at the University of St. Michael’s College in Toronto, admits it would be a big cultural shift for Roman Catholics to get used to having married priests.
“We’re not ready at the present time, but we could get ready pretty quickly,” she said.
In the very early Church, celibacy was practised in monasteries, but parish priests were often married, with children. It was only around the 12th century celibacy became a requirement for all priests.
In the Catholic world today that requirement is not applied consistently.
Clergy in the Latin Rite, who make up most Catholic priests, must be celibate. But those in the Eastern Rite Catholic Church are allowed to marry.
In the past few years, married Anglican ministers have become Catholic priests, with no requirement to live a celibate life.
Still, the Church can give strong arguments in favour of celibacy: A celibate priest more resembles Christ; celibacy allows the priest to be more generous with the people of his parish and to focus on his larger mission, rather than being distracted by the demands of a family.
Some have suggested celibacy is at the root of the sexual abuse crisis. But many on both sides of the celibacy debate dismiss that as nonsense. Married men outside the Church have been known to abuse children sexually.
However, the debate is being used to argue more people would become parish priests if celibacy were voluntary.
Christopher Malloy, an associate professor at the University of Dallas, said the debate is more about pleasing the culture than being true to the faith.
“The fittingness of celibacy is that the priest is married to the Church. So in order to have that total representation as Christ, he should be married to the Church. Christ is seen as the bridegroom and the Church as the bride. A bridegroom has to be monogamous.”