"Confessions of a Former Celibate"

Celibacy is a practice employed in other traditions besides Catholicism, and it is worth noting the difference. In the Eastern traditions of Buddhism and Hinduism, the mendicant or monk takes vows of renunciation of worldly pleasures as a means of self-purification and meditative practice. Celibacy is practiced in conjunction with a number of other daily pursuits such as prayer, fasting, physical work, meditation, chanting, reading scriptures, yoga exercises, begging, etc. The relationship of the monk, or mendicant, to the society as a whole is not considered one of power, as it is in Catholicism. Abuse can obviously occur in the context of these traditions too, but it is more likely to happen in the institutional patriarchy of Catholicism. One of the truths expressed in Buddhism is the principle of impermanence: Anything that has a beginning has an end. The Catholic hierarchy stresses that the church was founded by Jesus Christ, savior of mankind. It was actually founded by men who followed Jesus. I believe Jesus was a great being, but savior of mankind is a pretty tall order. I prefer the Eastern approach, that the God-realized, or enlightened, state is available to all, and can be attained through dedicated practice. I don't need a priest to stand as gatekeeper. One of the luckiest things that ever happened to me was flunking out of being an altar boy.

-- John Hamilton

The rule on celibacy for Catholic priests should be reinforced rather than abolished. For if priests cannot live up to their vows, doing away with celibacy will not make them more self-disciplined than before.

Priests lacking in self-discipline when married will then also violate their marriage vows. When that happens, will they move for the abolition of monogamy since it is difficult to maintain a monogamous marriage in thoughts, words and deeds?

Infidelity among laymen is quite common. Should they not also move for polygamy if priests no longer want to be celibate?

-- Gras Reyes

A new monk arrives at the monastery. He is assigned to help the other monks in copying the old texts by hand. He notices, however, that they are copying copies, not the original books. So, the new monk goes to the head monk to ask him about this. He points out that if there were an error in the first copy, that error would be continued in all of the other copies.

The head monk says "We have been copying from the copies for centuries, but you make a good point, my son." So, he goes down into the cellar with one of the copies to check it against the original.

Hours later, nobody has seen him. So, one of the monks goes downstairs to look for him. He hears a sobbing coming from the back of the cellar, and finds the old monk leaning over one of the original books crying. He asks what's wrong.

The old monk sobs, "The word is celebrate."

-- Ed

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