Priestly Celibacy
My former pastor, Father (now Bishop) DeGrood would joke with his brothers about why they were bald and he was not: They chose marriage and he chose celibacy.

Joking aside, there are many people who wonder why we the Catholic Church doesn’t let priests get married.  After all, wouldn’t opening up the priesthood to married men help out with the current priest shortage?
I used to think that the reasons for priestly celibacy were purely practical.  I thought, for example, that one of the main reasons was that priests didn’t have enough time for a family. But this does not get to the heart of it.
The real reason for priestly celibacy can be found in the second reading this Sunday.  Here St. Paul says,
“Brothers and sisters: I should like you to be free of anxieties. An unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord. But a married man is anxious about the things of the world, how he may please his wife, and he is divided” (1 Cor 7:32)
            In this verse, we see that celibacy (i.e. the commitment to remain unmarried) is all about giving one’s whole self to the Lord.  We, of course, are all supposed to give ourselves to the Lord. But celibacy allows one to give one’s self in fuller and more complete way. This is because allows you to give God even that part of your heart that would otherwise be given to your spouse.  It’s about giving God your undivided attention. This is the real purpose of celibacy.
For me personally, celibacy and the desire to be a priest are directly linked. To be honest, I wouldn’t want to be a married priest.  To be a priest while having a family would make my priesthood more like a day job than a way of life.
Since becoming a priest, I’ve also noticed a great gift that comes with celibacy.  I’ve discovered that when you give up a family of your own to follow the Lord, you become, in a sense, part of everyone’s family.  People invite you more deeply into their lives in a way that they wouldn’t otherwise.
While a married priesthood is not impossible (there are married priests in the eastern Catholic Church), it is doubtful that it would result in more priests in the long term.  The Protestants have married clergy and they are certainly not bursting at the seams right now.
It would be worthwhile for us to reflect on what would be lost if clerical celibacy were done away with. There would, of course, be the practical considerations: priests would have less time and cost more due to the need to support a family.  But far more significant would be the loss of a powerful sign.  Celibacy makes priests icons of Jesus who was himself celibate.  Jesus didn’t marry because he came for another bride: the Church (see Mark 2:19 & 2 Cor 11:2).  Celibacy is also a desperately needed sign for the world. It like a billboard that shouts, “This world is not all that there is! There is something more than this life worth living for!”
Please pray for priests that we may better love the Lord with undivided hearts and image Christ for all to see.
-Fr. Sandquist