By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK
Yes, Fr. Peter Daly, the priesthood is indeed “being crucified on the cross of celibacy,” as your piece recently published in the National Catholic Reporter claims, but not for the reasons you think. And not in a way that supports your agenda as you would hope.
Fr. Daly garnered attention lately for the latest in a long string of attempts to lobby for changing the Church. He represents a dying breed: those who erroneously think the faith does not exist to change those of us who believe but to be constantly adapted to the demands of those who don’t.
Among the absurd and emotionally driven claims in his column, Fr. Daly says that “real” fatherhood, that is, natural fatherhood, must serve as the source of authenticity and authority for those who would be spiritual fathers as ordained priests. He advocates married priests as a panacea to solve all the problems that currently plague the Church arising from the behavior of errant ordained clergy.
Acting sinfully is not the only problem in the priesthood. Refusing to teach the faith and undermining it by sowing error are also violations of the sacred trust priests enjoy as ministers of Jesus Christ, the High Priest and source of priesthood. This, too, is sinful.
Problems have always plagued humankind, the worst of these being sins, for forgiveness of which the Church exists and was created. Priests serve as instruments of the will of Christ to forgive sins and to sanctify the faithful.
The mistake Daly makes is to allow emotions and modernist error to drive the argument. Grace builds on nature, but the supernatural is not subordinate to or dependent upon the natural. Priests do not need to experience natural fatherhood in the generative sense only to be authentic spiritual fathers. If that were true there would be no such thing as adoption.
All would agree: To say men and women who have provided parenthood through adoption cannot do so with wisdom and love for young people they have not themselves generated through the marital act, is a laughable assertion not worthy of serious consideration.
Celibacy can be a cross, but for those called to embrace the charism, it involves saying no to the very great good of marriage and family. Embraced for the sake of Christ and in union with His cross, celibacy serves to bring the life of grace and salvation. Men and women sacrifice natural marriage through celibacy, but their self-denial brings blessings of family supernaturally as the Lord teaches:
“And every one who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life” (Matt. 19:29).
The goal of all we do in the Church is to seek the Kingdom. In the priesthood this is intensified in the life of men who also live celibacy for that sake and as examples of detachment from this world and edification of the souls whose salvation they serve.
But still we have Daly and the white-haired discontents haranguing for a dominance of the natural over the supernatural. The Lord teaches, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” The mission of the Church for the salvation of souls is to lead us away from all that will end here on Earth to that only which will last forever in Heaven; to God.
Cardinal Marx is among those in prominent places still attempting to breathe life into a dead corpse with his calls for a married priesthood and ordination of women as anything, whether diaconate or priesthood. The objective is to change the Church no matter how such is accomplished, to include lay men and women preaching at Mass. Change how things look if you want to change the reality. (See “Cardinal Marx proposes men and women preach at Mass,” LifeSiteNews, by Maike Hickson.)
As I shared on a recent Facebook post: “Once again it is necessary to point out that Protestantism is already being done very well by the Protestants, and in many cases proving such deviation does not increase participation but rather the opposite.
“Nevertheless, the Catholic Church has one job: She was founded by Christ to remain faithful to Him, no matter the waywardness, whims, and fads of the world. Proposals like the following by Cardinal Marx are false flags, substituting an anti-Gospel and manmade ‘Church’ for the real versions.”
These are just a couple of examples among many now crawling out of the rotting and dank woodwork of failed timeworn errors to take advantage of the moral confusion filling the vacuum created by the contradictory signals from Rome, to subvert the Catechism and all settled Catholic moral teaching.
Daly has written for NCR for years. Years ago, one Catholic bishop declared that NCR no longer had a right to use the name Catholic because it abandoned the Catholic faith.
Fr. Daly has long agitated for change in moral teaching through columns such as one in which he claimed being called to give Last Rites to a dying man whose roommate is male “gay ministry.” Absurd. Do your work as a priest humbly and don’t assume the sexual sins or proclivities of those you are privileged to serve.
The relationship of two elderly men or women is more likely than not to be like that of brothers or sisters, just like a lot of elderly married couples: a non-issue that can be solved with Confession, if necessary, before a return to the sacraments generally. Publicizing the private lives of such individuals may serve only to frustrate the pastoral care they need and deserve.
Daly’s latest salvo against the Church is the announcement that he is leading a retreat for LGBT priests and bishops. In retirement, he continues to “bang the drum.” It could in the end be unworthy of the priesthood because it could be all about him.
It doesn’t affect my opinion of somebody who may be struggling with same-sex attraction, but there is no reason why they cannot keep it to themselves. It’s a private thing and always should be as with any struggle with sin. It is when Catholics align themselves publicly with a political movement such as LGBT that it becomes problematic.
Christianity is not a hyphenated reality. We are true Christians when we are Christians, period. Everything comes second to Christ, to including the peculiar variety of our personal temptations to sin.
Strangely, after Daly’s calls for personal experience as a source of authority and authenticity in pastoral care, in the description of the retreat he is leading in Milwaukee this October, there’s no indication of his own personal qualifications to lead an “LGBT retreat” for priests and bishops. It’s left very vague and ambiguous. Except for the endearing mention of his 20-pound cat.
Does anyone have relevance anymore if they don’t have experience about that which they discuss in this highly politicized culture? The best source of authority and relevance for pastoral care in the priesthood is personal holiness. The priesthood exists because founded by a celibate Man-God crucified to leave an example for those who are priests in His name.
Priests who are faithful to Catholic truth, the way to holiness in Christ who is the Truth, will remain always the best and greatest fathers in the Church.
Thank you for reading and praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever.
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