The Irish standard., 1895-06-01

| EliCTCSu kelIDaCy is III fcFaekl
Harmony with the Gospel
of Christ.
1t Was Sanctioned by the Founder
of Christianity and His
! Apostles.
| <Why Priests Don't Marry was the
subject Of q recent discourse by Very
Rev. Father Rudolph, o. S! F. c., OF Pc
cham, says the Glasgow Observer,
| Leo XIII, the glorious Pontitf, who so
well filled the chair Of St. Peter he said,
had i1n1nortralized his pontificate by the
strenuous efforts he had made for bring
ing all nations, tribes and tongues into
the one fold of the one Shepherd, the
| Holy Catholic Church, founded 800
years ago by Jesus Christ. His latest en-
deavor in this respect was letter TO tho
English people, in which the Holy rather
with loving and affectionate solicitude
| invited the nation to the old religion
ago. The Pope called upon English Cath
olics to assists him in this grand and
glorious work of reunion, and he espe-
cially urged upon. them to do this by
prayer and by good example.
! In bridging over the gulf which sepa-
rated Professionalism from the Catholic
Church there were, naturally enough.
great many and serious obstacles to be
surmounted and one Of these difficulties,
the celibacy of the Catholic clergy, had
! been made very prominent during the
past week in the columns of a London
daily paper in connection with or arising
out of the Pope's letter. Those outside
| the church could not possibly understand
why Catholic priests did not marry.
Some thought, and thought very serious
ly, that it was a most wicked thing for
the Catholic Church, or the Church of
Rome, as they preferred to call it, to i'm
pose such a law upon her ministers.
They argued that it was a
law against the teaching of the
gospel, that it was an unnatural
law and impossible for men to observe it.
Frequently they would hear men say,
II like the Catholic religion in a great
many things; I would like my wife and
children to be Catholics, but as long as
your priests are not married I do not
feel justified in allowing my family to
join you
Father Rudolph proceeded to prove by
good solid reasoning and authority that
the celibacy of the Catholic clergy WAS
in perfect harmony and in keeping with
the gospel, that it was sanctioned by
Jesus Christ, the founder of the Christian
religion. BY His apostles, and he would
fpT Tff Eb that
celibacy was a moral necessity for the
fulfillment of the sacred ministry, for
the work which God had given them to
do. In the first place he would remind
them that the laws Of celibacy in the
Catholic Church was q purely ecclesias-
tical law; it was in fact part Of the
church's discipline. They did not pre-
tend for single moment that it was part
of the deposit of Divine revelation left by
Jesus Christ in the church which it could
not tamper with or change in any way.
It was perhaps hardly necessary for him
to point out that the church had power
to make such laws. AS they well knew,
the Catholic Church was a society Of Di-
vine institution; it WAS human society,
composed Of human beings Now the
society called the Catholic Church. like
any other organization, must have u
perfect right to make its own laws and
regulations, which are arranged for pre-
serving order, and specially for forward
ing the end of her existence-the glory
of God and the salvation Of souls.
Every society made it's own laws and no.
body questioned them, and if men desir-
cd to join a society or club they must
agree with the rules of that society. They
were not compelled to become mem
bers, but they Joined Of their own free
will And so it was with regard to the
priesthood of the Catholic Church.
The church did not say to any man
"you must not get married. neither did
the church say they must be priests.
They were perfectly free to use their lib
erty and freedom which God gave them.
but this the church did say: eff you
want to be priest, if you want to be one
of my ministers, you must fall in with
ny regulations and one of my regula
tions is that you must never get mar.
ried.'' That was all the church said, and
before a. young man was allowed to re-
ceiye that sacred order, which bound him
to celibacy for the remainder of his life,
she must know his disposition; she must
read MS mind and his heart so far as
possible, and the church must know that
he had vocation for the ministry. And
when the church was sure Of this she al
lowed the young man to take upon him
self the sacred obligations, and even then
he was not allowed to take up the sa-
cred calling until he was % years of age,
and surely a young man Of that age was
not acting blindly when he received the
order of sub-diaconate and thereby
binding himself to a lifelong celibacy!
OF course the objection would at once
be put forward: "That is all very we'll;
we will admit that if necessary for a
priest as long as he wishes to remain in
the church as one Of her ministers to
abide by her regulations. But here is
where we find fault with your chourch: A
man may afterwards find he has made a
mistake and is unable to. observe the
vow of celibacy. Then why does your
church make that man remain a celibate
all his life; why not let him have his
freedom and go away?" The answer to
this was very easy and very natural.
Supposing young man at the age of %
was married and afterwards repented of
the step, would they think it proper for
for him to leave his wife and family,
would be breaking the law if he deserted
knew perfectly we'll what he was doing
when he entered the contract and he
would be breaking tn law if he deserted
his wife. Or il man purchased some
house property and afterwards found he
had not made bargain would the seller