Priestly Celibacy: Theological Foundations by Gary Selin (review)

Priestly celibacy is one of the more intriguing topics in Western Culture for a number of reasons, the largest being our preoccupation with ideas about and experiences of our human sexual power. A culture so obsessed with sexual activity becomes equally obsessed with those who choose to abstain from it. This cultural stance gives rise to a cynical curiosity about celibates, one that asks repeatedly, "how could you possibly live such a life?" and in the end says, "I don't believe you are living such a life; no one could." Selin's book may not heal such cynicism, but it will anoint the intellect with a balm, making such cynicism difficult even to contemplate. Celibacy is livable—but in a supernatural way. Specifically, celibacy is livable for normal men who have first become stunned by the depth and beauty of Christ and have heard him ask one question: "May I live my spousal mysteries over again in your body for the sake of the Church?" Hence, the normal is taken up into the supernatural.

When I was a teenager, I used to think men became priests, and hence celibate, because they "couldn't get girls to like them," because they thought, "I cannot get married; I might as well become a priest." This was the "plan B" theory of celibacy. Were there men who chose celibate priesthood as "plan B"? Probably there were—and still are. But in light of Selin's work, we see clearly how such a choice is not the gift that is being offered to priests. The gift that a priest is receiving and the choice he is making in response is a positive one, not a negative one. The gift is a man's choice to allow Christ to live his spousal mystery over again in his body, as Blessed Dom Marmion once said so beautifully. The celibate priest receives a gift. It is the gift of participation in Christ's own availability to serve the needs of his Bride, the Church. The priest is taken up into the spousal mysteries of Christ, his relationship to the Church, and his own carrying into the present a foretaste of heavenly freedom. With the celibate priest, Christ shares his own singular heart, thus effecting a living configuration between priest and Christ, a dynamic self-giving of priest toward the Church, and a prophetic sign for the baptized to contemplate as it hints at the single-heartedness of all in heaven.

Selin's work could usher in a new day in seminary curriculum on priestly life and identity. Building upon the classic studies of celibacy by Cochini, Heid, and now John Paul II, along with the Second Vatican Council and Paul VI, Selin unveils an image of celibacy that carries profound theological depth and surprising personal and spiritual promise. In under two hundred pages, the author explores the theological history of celibacy, placing its vibrancy within close proximity to the mystery of Christ's self-donation to his Church. For Selin, following Presbyterorum Ordinis (1965), celibacy exists as a supernatural good within a Christological, ecclesiological, and eschatological context. Viewing it from within such a context is the good news for seminary studies, as this book gives the reader a clear and engaging intellectual grasp of the nature of this disciplined charismatic life. Selin acknowledges the institutional benefits of priestly celibacy for the Church, but what comes to the fore most in his research is the personal motivation for such a life. This emphasis upon a mature personal motive for entering the celibate priesthood reveals more clearly the true divine intent behind such a call: personal happiness in the service of the Church. Celibacy is not superior to marriage in some moral way (i.e., "universal call to holiness"), but it remains a gifted theological life offered to those who can "accept it" (Matt 19:12). Selin reviews the anti-corporeal corruptions of some views of celibacy, articulates the meaning of "ritual purity...