The Vow of Celibacy
There are some men that have “left” the priesthood so they could marry, only to be later confronted with news of married clergy from other churches entering the Roman Catholic Church and being ordained to the priesthood. They feel they have been done an injustice because they had to “give up” the priesthood to marry, and here married men have become priests without giving up their marriage. To some, this looks like a double standard.
The first mistake these men make is that they never left or gave up the priesthood. The Sacrament of Holy Orders, like Baptism and Confirmation, is unrepeatable and permanent. What they did leave or give up was their vow of celibacy. Being released from this vow came with the serious consequence of not being allowed to normally exercise their priesthood. I’ve explained this in a previous post (http://blog.grigaitis.net/2009/04/married-clergy/).
The second mistake these men make is in seeing a similarity between their situation and the situation of married men coming into the Roman Catholic Church and being ordained as priests. The main difference is that celibate clergy have taken a vow of celibacy, and married clergy have not. If the wife of a married priest dies, the priest must remain celibate. He would be in the same situation as a priest that took a vow of celibacy before ordination. A widowed priest can also petition the Church to release him from his vow of celibacy and allow him to remarry, in which case he would suffer the same consequence of not being allowed to normally exercise his priesthood.
This is not a matter of a double standard but an example of compassion on the part of the Church towards those coming from a different tradition in which mandatory clerical celibacy is not the norm. It must be remembered that it is a norm and not a doctrine. It is possible, although very unlikely, that the Church return to the original norm of clerical celibacy being optional. However, all bishops, priests, and deacons that took a vow of celibacy before ordination will be expected to keep that vow. As well, widowed clerics would also be expected to remain celibate.
Celibate priests that give up their vow of celibacy and marry are not allowed to normally exercise their priesthood. Married men that become priests and have not taken a vow of celibacy are obviously not in the same situation.
