Celibacy of the Clergy
Objection: “Where does it say in the Bible that Priests cannot marry?
In any case, the Bible states that ‘Therefore a man leaves his father
and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh’
(Gen. 2:24).”
God created our original parents, Adam and Eve, in marital joy and placed
them in the paradise of Eden: “…and the rib which the Lord God had taken
from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the
man said, ‘This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall
be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man’” (Gen. 2:22-23). The
Fall, however, disrupted not only Adam’s relationship with God but also
introduced tension and disharmony into his relationship with Eve: “yet your
desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you” (Gen. 3:16).
Our Lord Jesus Christ as Redeemer came to restore all things, including
marriage. However, in the process of doing so, He introduced a new depth
into the relationship between man and God––celibacy. It should be
understood that, as true man, Christ was certainly physically capable of
marrying. However, the marriage He entered into was not a marriage with
one particular woman only. Through the love of a Bridegroom who was not
only human but also divine, Christ came to marry spiritually all He
redeemed on the Cross.
This new spiritual and celibate love highlighted for the first time that there
is another state of existence awaiting humanity after our earthly
pilgrimage––the state of resurrection. The love of Christ was of the kind
the Just will finally and perfectly possess when they are united with God in
the Beatific Vision. In heaven, there will be no bodily marriage, for our
bodies will be completely absorbed in the spiritual marriage with the three
Persons of the Blessed Trinity and a union of joy with the Saints.
Celibacy is not a dogma of faith but a disciplinary law designed to increase
the dignity of the priesthood. In the early Church there were many married
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