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Expert: - 2/8/2007


Question
Hello
How do you think, which of the vows that the priests take are the most difficult to bear. I'm not a priest,but I would say that it is a celibacy. Why? Because you consciously reject one of the human drives and, in my opinion, it's very challenging.  By the way, do you believe that they will ever do away with this vow in the Roman Catholic Church? What's your opinion on this? Some people say that it would be better for the church,since there are priests who, secretly, engage themselves in romantic affairs with women, we hear of pedophilia sometimes and so on. Personally I'm not sure if this would help! What do you think? Thank You!


Answer
Hi Luke... I think it would depend on the individual priest as to which vows are most difficult to bear. I don't know if they'll ever do away with celibacy. IMHO it would be nice, and probably more healthy, if it were a choice to be or not to be celibate and still enter the priesthood. But that's coming from a non-priest. I've heard it said that celibacy is a gift, a charism of the spirit. So when it really works, and the priest's psychological imperfections don't hinder the reception of the gift, it could be a very beautiful thing. Women, for instance, would be seen as beautiful on a higher level.

I'm not sure if doing away with celibacy would help either (re the issues you mention). All types of people have romantic affairs, abuse children, and so on.

I hope this helps.

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Michael Clark, Ph.D.

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I'm a progressive Catholic--not a liberal, conservative nor a single-minded critic of Catholicism. I simply believe that adults in the 21C should use the mind God gave them and not just repeat ancient and medieval modes of thinking.

I can probably help with questions that intelligently and respectfully question those aspects of Catholicism that are not infallible. But if you're looking for someone to vigorously defend or perhaps refute Catholicism as a whole, that's not me. So please ask another expert.

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I run an educational website earthpages.org and know what the web has to offer. I might suggest hyperlinks and/or book titles as I have a Ph.D. in Religious Studies and a considerable personal library.

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Print Media:
My table from "Religions and Cults" at earthpages.org is reproduced with permission in L. Lindsey, S. Beach and B. Ravelli, Core Concepts in Sociology, 2nd ed., p. 157

World Wide Web:
My online article "Letter to God" coauthored with Buddhist monk, E. Raymond Rock, appears on several different spirituality-based websites, including http://tinyurl.com/db7a5o

I've interviewed, as a Christian, a self-proclaimed mystic: http://tinyurl.com/cawykr

My articles appeared at the former New View magazine nuvunow.ca and are published at earthpages.org.

Education/Credentials
Ph.D. in Religious Studies
M.A. in Comparative Religion
B.A. Hon. in Psychology/Sociology
For more info, please see my CV and letters of recommendation and my blog at michaelwclark.com.

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