Sir, - Just a few years ago during the Roddy Wright affair (Remember him - ex-bishop of Argyll?), Cardinal Basil Hume declared on Liveline that celibacy was not a divine law but a church law and could be relaxed in the future.
This statement, by one of the most respected Catholic churchmen in Western Europe, contradicts Rev Michael Manning's pronouncement (June 3rd) "that celibacy comes from Christ himself - not from some Church law - and that it must be upheld at all costs". The Cardinal is right, of course. Christ never decreed that any of his followers, and especially his apostles, should be celibate. Most of Christ's apostles were married, including Peter, the first Pope.
We do know that celibacy was recommended by the early Church as far back as the Council of Elvira in 308. The Church made repeated efforts, down through the following centuries, to enforce celibacy on its clerics through various councils and popes, but practice - to put it mildly - did not keep pace with legislation. In fact, it was almost disregarded by many diocesan clergy for long periods of Church history. That is why in 1139, at the Lateran Council, the Church, yet again, was forced into making celibacy a universal rule for all clerics. Even after that decree, the celibacy rule broke down again in the 15th century.
While Christ never imposed celibacy on his disciples, he certainly demanded that his "sheep and lambs be fed" (John's Gospel - Chapter 21: v 15-17). Yet today we have one of the greatest scandals facing the Church, hundreds of millions of Catholics being denied Christ's sacraments because of a shortage of male celibate priests, mainly due to the Church law on celibacy.
The Rev Manning's simplistic solution to this major wrongdoing (June 10th) seems to be that we leave it all to Christ and carry on as we are. He informs us that "what Christ is looking for in a vocation is not some functionary, but one who is willing to sacrifice even basic values such as marriage in order to give himself completely to Christ". Does this, then, mean that all who have chosen the sacrament of marriage cannot give themselves completely to Christ precisely because they are married? It does, according to Rev Manning!
Apart from insulting all married people, this antiquated statement is also at variance with what Cardinal Hume said in December 1993, when speaking about Anglican married priests who converted to Rome: "The two sacraments of marriage and ordination can go together."
I rest my case - Yours, etc., Jackie Robinson PP,
Aghaboe, Clough, Ballacolla, Co Laois