Sir, - I agree with Father Jackie Robinson, writing on priestly celibacy (September 27th), when he suggests that the issue should be discussed openly, but only if this is done in a balanced manner and if the reasons behind Catholic Church teaching are also highlighted in the national media.
I would, however, like to diverge from Father Robinson on a number of other points he made. Firstly, to suggest that because a man has freely chosen a way of life that, while no better than other vocations is still distinctive and special, in some ways makes him emotionally detached or retarded, is ridiculous. Marriage is not the only deep and fulfilling human relationship open to individuals.
In a similar vein, to equate the fact that some priests have become alcoholics, depressives or sexual deviants with celibacy is dangerously naive. Do no doctors, teachers, businessmen suffer from these problems? Would the possibility of priests marrying, in any way change the mental state of these individuals?
Presenting the possibility of marriage as the answer both to falling vocations and the unhappiness of certain members of the clergy is also to take too limited a view. In the case of the former, I believe that there are far more complex reasons for vocation shortages. On the subject of the latter marriage, which inevitably bring its own difficulties, is no nirvana. If a priest is, unhappy celibate, would marriage necessarily change anything? Are married people not also tempted to be unfaithful?
I do not dispute the fact that a small minority of priests are very unhappy in their vocation, so much so that some do leave the Church and marry. In responding to this situation, while never condemning such individuals, neither should we abolish priestly celibacy. - Yours, etc.,
Dalkey, Co Dublin.