Dallas — The priest wakes up at 4 a. Then he kisses his wife goodbye and drives through the empty suburban streets of north Dallas to the church he oversees. In a Catholic world where debates over clerical celibacy have flared from Brazil to the Vatican, Joshua Whitfield is that rarest of things: A married Catholic priest. The Roman Catholic church has demanded celibacy of its priests since the Middle Ages, calling it a "spiritual gift" that enables men to devote themselves fully to the church.
But as a shortage of priests becomes a crisis in parts of the world, liberal wings in the church have been arguing that it's time to reassess that stance. On Feb. It is "the mark of a heroic soul and the imperative call to unique and total love for Christ and His Church," Pope Paul VI wrote in Whitfield is a husband, a father of four and a relentlessly good-natured priest beloved by the parishioners at Dallas' St.
Rita Catholic Community. His life is spent juggling two worlds. He celebrates Mass, he hears confessions; he drives his son to karate practice, he encourages his oldest daughter's love of baseball.
He is, he says, "an ecclesiastical zoo exhibit," one of the tiny community of married priests — men who slipped through a clerical loophole created 40 years ago — that even most Catholics don't know exist.
Here at St. Rita we just get on with it. My job is just to do the tasks the bishop has given me as best I can, and try and make it work," he said in an interview in his book-filled office, where photos of his wife and children vie for space with photos of popes and sketches of his religious heroes.
My job is just to do the tasks the bishop has given me as best I can, and try and make it work. Tweet this. There are around married Roman Catholic priests like Whitfield, an Episcopal convert, across the U. Surveys of Catholics show widespread backing for a married priesthood. One reason behind that is a church facing an immense, and growing, shortage of priests. In the U. Worldwide, the number of priests has remained fairly stable over the past 50 years — but the Catholic population has doubled to 1.
But there's one very small, very notable Catholic constituency that mostly doesn't support opening up the priesthood to married men: married priests themselves.
And I get that it's hard to understand. Sections Home. Bible Coronavirus Prayer. Subscribe Member Benefits Give a Gift. Subscribers receive full access to the archives. CT Editors February 12, What Scripture Says The Bible affirms the value of celibacy for both lay Christians and church leaders, most notably in 1 Corinthians 7. Celibacy in Church History Priestly celibacy was discussed and debated by Christian leaders during the earliest centuries of the church, including at the Council of Nicaea.
CT on Priestly Celibacy Christianity Today has examined the topic of clerical celibacy in a variety of ways throughout the years.
Free Newsletters Get the best from CT editors, delivered straight to your inbox! Posted: February 12 , More From: CT Editors. Already a subscriber? Log in. For some clergy this is likely true. Enforced celibacy also, however, gives the church total control over their clergy, means that priests can be paid less, and allows the church to own their homes. Even if this were not an intended consequence, an all-male and ostensibly celibate clergy has created a class of cleric totally separate from those to whom they minister.
It has established an elite of the different, removed women from any semblance of influence, and led to sexuality and sex being seen as something distant or even unholy. The other reality is that a large number of Catholic clergy are gay, with Father Donald Cozzens in his book, The Changing Face of the Priesthood , arguing perhaps as high as 58 per cent. Many are celibate, some not. The truth, however, is that the priesthood has traditionally attracted gay men because in a homophobic society it was one of the few places where they could hide.
Rome is well aware of this, and terrified that if marriage were permitted, people would then ask why so few clergy were taking advantage of their new freedom. With a shortage of priests looming , many tout eliminating the celibacy requirement as a possible solution. Mainline Protestants, whose preachers and ministers are allowed to marry, are also seeing their number of clergy plummeting, he said.
Unlike the rule barring women from priesthood , priestly celibacy is considered a tradition, not official Church dogma. In theory, the pope could change the rule overnight. But that would raise practical issues. Currently, priests are paid through the donations people offer to the church. If priests are married, "you're going to have kids, health care expenses, and you have to pay for school — [kindergarten] through college," Shea told LiveScience.
In addition, priests often serve thousands of parishioners, and are the only ones who can offer the sacrament of mass, where the wafer and wine are thought to become the body and blood of Christ.
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