A married priest on clerical celibacy
What’s the point of celibacy? At his blog, Fr Dwight Longenecker – a married priest – argued that it has little to do with the greater availability of the unmarried. “Yes, the celibate man is more available and ready to serve,” he wrote, “but we all know plenty of celibate priests who are not, and I can assure you that we married men also get up out of bed at three in the morning to drive across town to anoint someone.”
The real point is configuration to Christ. “The Catholic priest really is supposed to be transformed into an alter Christus in a depth that is different from the non-ordained.” And celibacy is “the greatest tool the Church has” in bringing this about. It is, Fr Longenecker wrote, “about a mystical configuration of the man’s entire being – body, soul and spirit – into the image and likeness and power of Christ … accomplished through God’s grace reaching down to touch every aspect of the man’s life and being – and that includes his sexuality.
