“. . . consider again and again what sort of a burden this is which you are taking upon you of your own accord…you will be required to continue in the service of God, and with His assistance to observe chastity and to be bound for ever in the ministrations of the Altar . . .”
This is the old warning by the bishop concerning the obligations of celibacy to candidates for major orders in the Western Church. But, precisely what does the obligation involve?
In the 1917 Code of Canon Law (canon 132, §1) it involved being unable to marry and bound to the obligation of chastity.
In the current Code of Canon Law (canon 277, §1)—echoing the Vatican II Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests—it is about “perfect and perpetual continence for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.”
It also describes celibacy as “a special gift of God by which sacred ministers can adhere more easily to Christ with an undivided heart and are able to dedicate themselves more freely to the service of God and humanity.”
The main Gospel reference to celibacy in the teachings of Jesus is Matthew, 19:11-12:
The disciples said to him, “If that is how things are between husband and wife, it is advisable not to marry.” But he replied, “It is not everyone who can accept what I have said, but only those to whom it is given. There are eunuchs born so from their mother’s womb, there are eunuchs made so by human agency and there are eunuchs who made themselves so for the sake of the kingdom of Heaven. Let anyone accept this who can.”
The topic has a much more extensive development and personal treatment in the letters of St. Paul.
What do key words like eunuch, celibacy, chastity, and continence imply?
A eunuch is a castrated man. In some cultures (e.g. the Roman empire) a eunuch implied a man of trust not only in the sense that as a harem guard he wouldn’t take advantage of women in his care but also that as a general he wouldn’t seek the throne for his own progeny. Metaphorically, a eunuch for the sake of the kingdom is someone who renounces having his own family so as to more generously serve others.
Celibacy refers to the implicit or explicit renunciation of marriage (classically defined as the permanent union of a man and a woman for the purpose of procreating children). It is usually assumed to include abstention from “sexual relations” (presuming that only within marriage are sexual relations appropriate and allowed).
Continence is usually taken to mean self-restraint or abstinence, especially but not exclusively in regard to sexual activity. Perfect and perpetual continence seems to refer not so much to abstaining from procreating children but more to abstaining from all forms of explicit sexual activity.
Originally, “chaste” meant “unmarried.” In usage, chastity has evolved more and more to mean decency, being undefiled, stainless, pure, and—if sexual activity is considered as defiling, staining, and impure—not engaging in sexual relations or activity.
As Western society increasingly rejects its inherited “puritanism” regarding human sexuality, it risks “throwing the baby out with the bath water.” It’s still something admirable and good to sacrifice having one’s own family for the sake of God and loving service to the whole human family.
2 June 2019