Celibacy and Catholic Priests

Priesthood and the Role of Celibacy In today’s world, many wonder why Catholic priests can’t get married and have a family of their own. This issue and question can be boiled down into one word: celibacy. Being celibate is defined as being “One who abstains from sexual intercourse, especially by reason of religious vows,” according to thefreedictionary.com. This definition is not understood by many because the thought of having a life without sex is unbearable, especially in today’s society. By exploring this topic in depth, one can understand why celibacy is an important factor of the Catholic priesthood. According to Father Kenneth Doyle of the Catholic News Service, priests hold this sacred vow for three particular reasons: it closely resembles Christ Who was unmarried, it shows and proves that love can be present without being physical, and it allows a man to give all of his energy to the Lord rather than to a family. In understanding how celibacy became so important, we have to look at its history, particularly at the third, fourth, eleventh, and sixteenth centuries, according to John O’Malley in his article Some Basics About Celibacy (8). In the third century, within the early Church, many priests and even most of the apostles of Jesus were men with wives and families. It was a common feature among the early Church, and even some of the Holy Fathers, or Popes, were known to be married and have children. It is clear that during this time period, the patristic era and early Middle Ages, celibacy was not enforced and not important within the Church. Early in this century, Constantine’s recognition of Christianity brought about status change for all Christians: because they were not being oppressed and martyred they looked for new ways to follow Christ and challenge themselves to give their lives for Him. John W. O’Malley writes, “With St. Jerome (345-420), as well as many others, virginity for those espoused to Christ began to be extolled with new

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