Vows of Celibacy
To be a Catholic priest, you have to make a vow to be celibate, to refrain from sexual relationships. I suppose the reason behind the vow is so that their interests will not be divided between ministry and a wife or family. Paul suggests this idea in the NT when he says he wishes others were single like him, so they are not divided. By saying this, Paul also implies that a minister is not relieved by God of his responsibility as a husband or father when he enters into ministry if he is permitted to marry. Some protestant pastors had not understood this, abandoning their wife and children for their ministry and feeling justified but this idea is not supported biblically.
When a priest makes a vow like this, God expects them to keep it, but there have been too many priests that have broken their vow, by molesting young boys. They have sinned twice, once with their sexual sin and once again for breaking their vow.
Their behavior also causes us to wonder whether this is a wise vow for priests to make. They vowed with God as their witness and it his name that is dragged through the mud when they sin and break their vow. Maybe this is why Jesus said it is better that we not make any vows at all. According to Numbers 30, a husband can release a wife from an unwise vow and a father can release a daughter, so maybe these priests who break their celibacy should ask their heavenly Father to release them from their unwise vow, a vow they haven’t kept. Of course before they are released, they also need to confess and receive forgiveness for their sin.
Once released, maybe they should marry. Paul also endorsed marriage not just celibacy in the NT, suggesting that if you can’t control your thoughts and actions it is better you marry and enjoy sex where it belongs, between a husband and a wife. But if a Catholic priest chooses to marry then they must leave the priesthood and giveup their career, so the cost is very high.
At first it seems like such a noble thing to make a vow like this, but God weeps over the destruction it has brought to these children and to his name. In addition, in Deuteronomy it says “it is neither godly nor ungodly to make vows but if you make one, you must be sure to keep it.” Doesn’t this mean that we should not esteem priests more highly just because of their vow, that we should not look at them as being more godly just because of a vow.
These priests sinned against God, but they also broke the laws of the country they lived in. Though God may forgive them, shouldn’t they also “pay unto Caesar’s what is Caesar’s.” The church must respect the jurisdiction of the government and the rule of law, not just their own rules.