The upcoming Amazonian synod has called much attention to the term "viri probati," a term which has come to designate "men of proven virtue" who are able to be ordained priests--in this case, married men.
A subtext to this debate is the etymological root of viri and virtue (which also obtains in Greek), of "virile": manliness, manly force. Today in the West our ears hear the sexual tones of that word, virile, but that is only a part of what is at stake. It seems to me that the virile man's 'masculine' energies are not only potent, but also well-ordered.
We seem to have a difficult time with virility in the west. Sports--watching any playing--are really the only way we know to exercise those energies. Obviously the clerical climate of the past decades has struggled with this virtue and produced many homosexual men who are not virile in the natural and proper way.
I was surprised--to say the least--to see the Australian bishops consider closing seminaries. Why? Because within the seminary system they can't ferret out pedophiles (not to mention homosexuals). I can't help but ask myself this question: why are the best Catholic priests and bishops in the West unable to identify a pedophile? Perhaps it is because the West has lost a hold on virility. Feminism, the sexual revolution, and general domestication have taken their toll on virility in the West. It makes for an environment in which the man who has no virility can slip by unnoticed.
I don't think countries such as Africa are experiencing this same problem. The men there are not plagued by the same issues we experience here. Even inappropriate contentography--the sin against virility opposite emasculinity--began and predominates in the West. And if you want to meet a priest who is virile, find a married priest such as could be found among Eastern Catholics. On average they are much more balanced in this area. This may also be why our music and church environments have become so feminized.
I am not saying that a celibate man in the West cannot be virile. He can and there are some excellent examples. But my guess is that if the clerics of the West don't rediscover virility and manliness, the celibate priesthood will be washed away. Indeed the beauty of the celibate priest is that he is more exclusively devoted to Christ, the virile man par excellence.
A subtext to this debate is the etymological root of viri and virtue (which also obtains in Greek), of "virile": manliness, manly force. Today in the West our ears hear the sexual tones of that word, virile, but that is only a part of what is at stake. It seems to me that the virile man's 'masculine' energies are not only potent, but also well-ordered.
We seem to have a difficult time with virility in the west. Sports--watching any playing--are really the only way we know to exercise those energies. Obviously the clerical climate of the past decades has struggled with this virtue and produced many homosexual men who are not virile in the natural and proper way.
I was surprised--to say the least--to see the Australian bishops consider closing seminaries. Why? Because within the seminary system they can't ferret out pedophiles (not to mention homosexuals). I can't help but ask myself this question: why are the best Catholic priests and bishops in the West unable to identify a pedophile? Perhaps it is because the West has lost a hold on virility. Feminism, the sexual revolution, and general domestication have taken their toll on virility in the West. It makes for an environment in which the man who has no virility can slip by unnoticed.
I don't think countries such as Africa are experiencing this same problem. The men there are not plagued by the same issues we experience here. Even inappropriate contentography--the sin against virility opposite emasculinity--began and predominates in the West. And if you want to meet a priest who is virile, find a married priest such as could be found among Eastern Catholics. On average they are much more balanced in this area. This may also be why our music and church environments have become so feminized.
I am not saying that a celibate man in the West cannot be virile. He can and there are some excellent examples. But my guess is that if the clerics of the West don't rediscover virility and manliness, the celibate priesthood will be washed away. Indeed the beauty of the celibate priest is that he is more exclusively devoted to Christ, the virile man par excellence.
