Roman Catholic Code of Canon Law: The RCC is a large institution and has numerous rules governing the activities of its members and the enactment of its policies. These rules have been revised on several occasions. They are not considered to be handed down from God (since they are the creation of men), but they do reflect the Discipline of the Church at any given time. They are the rules that govern how the Teachings of the Church (Dogma) are to be carried out in the day-to-day activities of its members.
(For the purposes of this discussion, celibacy has been considered a “good thing” for priests throughout the history of the RCC. “Good things” can be arrived at through exhortation (telling people to give to the poor) or through commands (currently, priests in the Latin Rite must be celibate although priests in other Rites of the church are not under the same discipline and may only be encouraged to be celibate).
Dogma (From the 1909-1919 Catholic Encyclopedia - Dogma
The pope speaking ex cathedra: The RCC believes that all of its Dogma is true (otherwise, why have it?). Through most of church history, what was accepted as Dogma was the result of pronouncements from Ecumenical Councils, (in which bishops and theologians from throughout the church came to argue out the Truth, relying on the Holy Spirit to guide them to recognize that Truth). As the head of the church, the pope was recognized to have absolute authority to proclaim those truths and some relative authority to decide on the truth of a proposition without the concurrence of a council. In the nineteenth century, this idea that the pope could “declare” the Truth of a proposition came to a head, resulting in the “recognition” by the First Vatican Council that the pope could declare a Truth infallibly (without error) when he spoke from his seat (ex cathedra) as the head of the church. Despite the declaration of the Council, this idea is still not wholly embraced by all the members of the RCC. So far, the only two statements that have been declared “infallibly” have been that Mary was conceived without Original Sin and that Mary was Assumed bodily into Heaven. (Neither point seems to be sufficiently central to most people’s faith to get upset about–although you can find people for whom these are great matters.) A couple of the ensuing popes (since the 1869 declaration) have remarked that they have not felt particularly infallible.
Gregorean Reforms: Following the breakup of the Empire of Charlemagne, there followed a period of over 200 years in which the civil chaos carried over into increasing corruption within the RCC, with the local nobility taking over churches and church lands and declaring that the power to appoint bishops was theirs. As a result, people who wanted to increase their own power through the power inherent in the church began to barter with the local lords for positions within the church and people within the church began selling the services of the church (the sin of simony). At the same time, this passing of church property between persons led to further abuses regarding inheritance by the wives and children of priests. (I mentioned this point in my earlier post.) Hildebrand (his birth name), as a young man, had been schooled in a Benedictine abbey connected to the abbey of Cluny where they were attempting a spiritual reform of the church–one abbey and church at a time. Once he had been educated, he became the chaplain to John Gratian, later Pope Gregory VI. Working for John Gratian it became apparent that Hildbrand had both a deep spirituality and a genius for organization. When Gregory VI was forced into exile by various political machinations, Hildebrand went with him. When Gregory VI died, his successor looked up Hildebrand and invited him to serve in his staff. Over the next 20 years, or so, Hildebrand used his administrative powers to order numerous reforms within the church, speaking through the voices of several successive popes (all of whom kept him on their staffs). One of the reforms was that the pope would be chosen by the collected cardinals of the church, and not appointed by the Emperor. In 1073, when Pope Alexander II died, the cardinals chose Hildebrand to be pope, and he chose the name Gregory VII. (He actually protested his own election, but, fortunately, gave in to the college of cardinals.) Once in power, he decreed the following reforms to the clergy:
- That clerics who had obtained any grade or office of sacred orders by payment should cease to minister in the Church.
- That no one who had purchased any church should retain it, and that no one for the future should be permitted to buy or sell ecclesiastical rights.
- That all who were guilty of incontinence (i.e., of marrying or maintaining concubines) should cease to exercise their sacred ministry.
- That the people should reject the ministrations of clerics who failed to obey these injunctions.
He then went on to organize a number of other reforms regarding the practices of the bishops.
As to celibacy: As noted above, the idea of celibacy is very old within the church. St. Paul’s admonition to all Christians to abstain from marriage (“but better to marry than to burn”) was very possibly penned with the idea that the Second Coming would arrive so soon that there was no need to become entangled with a spouse.
However, regardless of Paul’s intent, many of the earliest church fathers stated that men who were priests should avoid marriage so that they would be free to minister to their people without worrying about the needs of their family. Whether the “distracting” element of a family was higher in their thoughts or whether they felt that sex (even in marriage) was somehow demeaning to the priesthood probably differed from one author to the next.
Tertullian in the second half of the 2d century speaks favorably of those in the ministry who have chosen to give up marriage.
St. Epiphanius in the same period claims (a little unclearly) that no one is allowed to be in the clergy who is married.
Origen (185 - 254) implies that celibacy is the norm without explicity saying that.
Eusebius (291 - 342) and St. Cyril of Jerusalem (315 - 386) each talked about how the clergy were expected to be celibate (without claiming, as Epiphanius did) that it was the rule.
On the other hand, Clement of Alexandria (died 215), after praising chastity highly, very clearly says that as long as a priest is faithful in his marriage, he is a worthy priest.
And Socrates (not that Socrates) who wrote a history of the church extending from 306 to 439 said that neither priests nor even bishops were required to be celibate in the Eastern church, provided that their marriage occurred before they took orders.
The first formal declaration that priests must be celibate came from a council (a regional meeting of bishops, in this case) in Elvira, Spain around 300. Apparently, a motion was made to make this a universal rule of the church at the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, (325), but that motion was defeated.
Throughout the next several centuries, the western church leaned more and more toward mandatory celibacy while the eastern church did not.
I addressed the basic history from that point in my earlier post.
{Fixed coding. --Gaudere}
[Edited by Gaudere on 01-01-2001 at 08:51 PM]