A SPOKESMAN for the Roman Catholic hierarchy in Scotland has castigated us for condemning enforced celibacy and its bearing on the Bishop Roddy Wright affair. He says that our “ranting and raving”, as he calls our criticism, “is born out of desperate ignorance and unenlightenment”. But perhaps we know more about the teachings and practice of Rome than he would have others believe.
The Scottish hierarchy continues to insist that celibacy had no bearing upon the Bishop Wright affair. Wright, former Bishop of Argyll and the Isles, is not only living with a woman to whom he is not married, but has also fathered a son by another woman. Since his case hit the headlines, several similar cases have come to light.
Enforced celibacy very evidently is a heavy yoke which many priests are quite unable to bear. But, despite this and Cardinal Hume’s call for flexibility, the Pope, says the Vatican, “insists on mandatory celibacy”. The Council of Trent pronouncement still stands: “Whosoever shall affirm that the conjugal state is to be preferred to a life of virginity or celibacy, and that it is not more conducive to happiness to remain in virginity or celibacy than to be married, let him be accursed.”
As Boettner rightly says, “Historically, celibacy had its roots in the Gnostic and Manichean heresies of the second and third centuries which taught that matter was inherently evil and that salvation consisted in resisting and overcoming it.”
Rome bolsters her case for enforced celibacy on, for example, the words of Christ, “… there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake,” Matthew 19:12. What did the Saviour mean? We believe that Hendriksen gives the right answer when he says about these eunuchs, “They could marry and fulfil all their responsibilities in that state, if they so desired. Their abstinence from marriage is of a purely voluntary character. They are eunuchs or celibates in the interests of the kingdom of heaven. Being fully aware that, in the course of spreading the gospel, situations will develop that are marked by tremendous hardship and sore distress, but nevertheless being filled with eagerness to spread the gospel of salvation far and wide, these men, of their own accord – not because of any divine or human decree – decide not to marry. That is their privilege. They are not raised to a higher degree of holiness, as if in the eyes of God the state of celibacy as such would give them extra credit. Such a doctrine is entirely foreign to Scripture, which everywhere exalts the married state.”