SPIRITUAL LIFE COMMITTEE
 
MISSIONARY SERVANTS OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY    
   
Monthly Reflection: June 2004  
           
 A CALL TO HOLINESS IN CELIBATE CONSECRATION  
   
Fr. David F. O'Connor, S.T.    

        One essential element of the life of Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity include a call to holiness in celibate consecration. Acts  of the XII General Cenacle of the Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity, 2003.  

        Evangelica Testificatio (29 June 1971) affirms that the members of religious institutes in the church offer the world "a privileged witness of a constant seeking for God, of an undivided love for Christ alone and of an absolute dedication to the growth of his kingdom." (n. 3)            

        An essential part of the commitment made by men in religious institutes is to live a life of chastity and celibacy in a community of like-minded men who are similarly committed. Wholesome chastity is supported by living simply and unencumbered in community (religious poverty), and in the readiness and openness to being sent or missioned (religious obedience).           

        While the invitation to live on intimate terms with the Lord is one given to all the faithful, it is lived in very different ways in the practical order.  Living chastely is demanded of all the followers of Jesus, whether married or single, young or old, but it is the unique or particular context and circumstances of each of our lives that determines how it is actually lived out.           

        From the beginnings of Christianity, chastity has been one of the chief defining behaviors of the faithful.   "Brothers, I beg you through the mercy of God to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God, your spiritual worship. Do not conform yourself to this age but be transformed…" Rom. 12/1          

        Initially, celibacy was recommended because Christians believed the second coming of Jesus was imminent (Cor. 7/25).  Marriage and the production of children were seen as unnecessary because the time was short.
 
        Later, for Christians in the early church, continence was a post-marital practice of the middle-aged. It meant not marrying again if one's spouse died. Then, when the period of martyrdom in the early church waned, the practice of virginity or celibacy by young male and female Christians became a way of attaining the "original state" which would exist again in heaven. (Woodward, Making Saints, 228.)          

        In the late Roman Empire, virility became equated with self-control. This cultural value predisposed Christian men to see sexual continence as a manly ideal.  Indeed, male celibacy as a form of "heroic living" also became part of the Celtic and Germanic Christian value systems in more recent centuries. 
 
       The reasons given for celibate chastity over the centuries have, therefore, varied from an attempt to begin living now on earth as we will in heaven ("where there is no marrying or giving in marriage"), to imitating the chastity of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, to a way of freeing oneself from earthly cares, to an ascetic discipline for spiritual perfection, or, erroneously, to an avoidance of the "evilness" of base sexual activity, or to some combination thereof.           However, whatever the reasons, celibate chastity gradually became to be considered an essential pre-condition for any serious commitment to initiating a journey on the road to sanctity. It also became institutionalized in the life of monks, nuns and, later, in the lives of men and women in the mendicant and apostolic institutes.       

        The religious orders developed some practical rules to help protect the celibacy of their members. These also varied somewhat across genders. The practices necessary to safeguard the chastity of women were generally much more strict than for men. Indeed, women religious were confined to the cloister for a good part of Christian history. It was only in recent centuries that women religious were permitted to leave the convent and become active in teaching and nursing and other apostolic activities.  

     Both men's and women's religious orders developed a plethora of minute rules concerning dress and behavior so as to safeguard their member's chastity. We just have to recall some of the practices that we were advised to observe in our past, such as, not visiting another confrere's room, or not being "solus cum sola".
    
     It has been observed that the factual reality of the religious life, has often been, in practice, lived out quite differently by men and by women in their personal experience of the impact of the vows.  The gender differences were manifested in a number of ways, but reflected especially in the fact that women religious often found the vow of obedience (and the authority issues associated with it), far more problematic than men religious did.        

        On the other hand, men religious have often found the practical impact of the vow of chastity more problematic in their day-to-day lives. At times, it has often been a struggle to observe it in one's youth and to grow in a healthy, holy and wholesome manner. To their credit and the grace of God, most men in the priesthood and/or the religious life appear to negotiate this successfully.
    
     The recent history of the church in the United States has revealed that when changes occurred simultaneously in the ecclesial world and in the secular society of the 1960's and 1970's, it occasioned an upheaval in the priesthood and religious life.  Thousands of men left the priesthood and the religious life to marry because they found celibacy too oppressive. Tragically, the recent crisis of the sexual abuse of minors has revealed also how some men who entered religious life or priesthood never achieved an adult sexuality but remained fixated at an earlier growth period and psychosexually underdeveloped.
        
         Our present western-secular culture is completely accepting of the expressions of both heterosexuality and homosexuality between consenting adults. Our society is in the process of even redefining marriage and separating it from procreation so that adult sexual relationships may be recognized by the state between two men or between two women. The media assault our senses with sexual images and our young people are made conscious of their sexuality earlier and earlier in life.  Virginity is often considered to be an unfortunate condition or sickness, an indication that something must be psychologically wrong with any young adult who has not already sexually experimented. It is no wonder that vocations to the priesthood and religious life have been affected. Our culture and society are hostile to chastity and celibacy.           

        Consecrated celibacy is more than just being celibate. Celibacy, simply as a social condition of the unmarried, may have no positive value in itself.  It is often neutral when one is celibate by necessity or happenstance, or for reasons that have nothing to do with God. However, consecrated celibacy refers to a form of life that is freely and definitively chosen for apostolic, ascetical, mystical or vocational reasons which, in turn, are ratified by the church. Formation for this life requires self-knowledge and self–discipline; the ability to live within boundaries and to keep promises; it requires a life of personal prayer, detachment and self-sacrifice.            

        To state that celibate chastity is counter-cultural is to state the all too obvious.            

      Of course, living a life consecrated to God, which includes continence and celibacy, cannot depend on human effort alone. Graces must be received from above (Rom. 8/13). Our lives are meant to be lived in harmony with the new situation that has arisen with the life, death and resurrection of Christ. Thus we may walk, as sons of the resurrection, graced in the newness of life given to all who follow Him.           

        Prayer, asceticism, the sacraments, community life, dedication to the apostolate - all help provide the support we need for chaste living. We are offered the opportunity to grow in intimacy with God and to witness prophetically to the kingdom. Our commitment to the consecrated life manifests what faith, hope and charity produce in those who abandon everything for the sake of the kingdom.      

Some questions for discussion:  

1)  What do you think of the assertion that many priests and religious accept celibate chastity as "part of the package" of being ordained or professed?    

2)  Do you think that it is understandable why men are very reluctant to share their personal experiences regarding how they have lived chastely?    

3) Institutional celibacy has been blamed for inhibiting the  normal and healthy psychosexual growth of many men. What are your thoughts on the matter?       

 4.)  What do think are the positive values of professing the Vow of
Chastity?