Link to CNN Commentary by Rev. BarronThe editorial above recently appeared on CNN.com. In it, Rev. Robert Barron argues for celibacy for priests, stating that the priest's fascination with "another world" sets him apart and makes him valuable to the community in a special way. I think he's full of it.
I posted my thoughts as a comment on CNN's website but not knowing if they'll be approved, I'll post them here:
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That's a very interesting perspective, with lots of valid points used to support ideas I disagree with.
I believe the church is attached to celibacy and afraid of sexuality. Sexuality is, like the wilderness, the force of nature, and the laws of physics, something that is best harnessed and not controlled. Tibetan Buddhists, Taoists, and Indian tantrics have understood this, even though the other Buddhists, Christians, and Muslims have not.
The fascination Rev. Barron speaks about is a dangerous thing, insofar as it provides fertile soil for all kinds of projections and transferences (psychologically speaking). A priest friend of mine described his ministry as "one among many" as opposed to "one above many," a trap he felt many of his fellow priests get caught up in. This friend of mine, being a convert to both Christianity and to Catholicism, didn't have the priest fetish or idealism that Catholics are raised with. (I was raised Catholic, and practiced for more than 35 years.)
The "other world" Rev. Barron speaks of is right here, right now. Jesus meant this when he said "The kingdom of God is at hand." That is fascinating to me. Every human being is worthy of my fascination, and if allowed to be truly seen, reflects God's glory as much as anything else you can name.
Sexuality is a human need and seeks expression. If that need is unmet, the soul suffers. A celibate priesthood attracts men who do not have a healthy relationship to their sexuality, for the most part, God wants to be made love to, through one another. If God has no hands but ours, no feet but ours, he/she also has no genitals but ours.
Final point. The church is running out of priests and needs a change of policy.
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To expand on my thoughts since this is my blog and I have more room to do so:
The world as God made it is an amazing, beautiful thing and does not need to be transcended. True, if the context is that you're suffering through something horrible, sometimes "rising above" is wise. But in the day-to-day, soil-sea-and-sky world, we are, I believed, called to merge with the world and not transcend it.
The world, and all aspects of creation, tell us more about God than any book can, even if that book is the inspired word of God.
A friend of mine, Daniel McFeeley, wrote a brilliant song about God, in which he states something like, "There was no Home Depot when God made the world, all that he had was himself, so burritos and airplanes and mountains combined -- completely, totally made of divine. There were and elephants, underpants, burritos and cake, and the space-time-continuum too. There were oceans, banjos and bandaids and cake, and lets not forget me and you." See www.myspace.com/danielmcfeeley to listen to his song, "God."
