Dear S.D.,
No, we do not agree that the lay celibacy is due to “failed circumstances.” This is a false theological argument aimed at filling the seminaries and noviciates with persons who do not have religious vocations and to sabotage the lay celibacy.
Having many persons without real vocations inside the clergy and religious orders was one reason why, in the times preceding Vatican II, they were psychologically ready to receive the Council’s motto “We need to adapt to the world.” This situation constituted a strong factor to foster the general apostasy in the clergy and religious orders that came after the Council. Such persons should have never entered religious life, but remained in the world as lay celibates.
So, in the dusk of the Constantinian Church from Benedict XV to Pius XII, many second-class theologians appeared preaching the false alternative you mentioned: either religious vocations or marriage.
The doctrine of the Church, however, is quite clear praising lay celibacy, as is proved in many texts of the Fathers and Magisterium, as for example:
- St. John Chrisostom: Virginity Is Higher than Matrimony
- St. Jerome: Comparing Marriage & Virginity
- Pius XII: The Church Praises Perfect Chastity for the Laity
- Pius XII: Virginity Is Embraced for the Kingdom of Heaven
- Pius XII: Virginity Frees from the Divided Heart that Comes with Marriage
- Pius XII: Virginity Confers to the Soul the Noblest & Highest Moral Dignity
- Pius XII: Virginity Develops a Man’s Personality Much More than Marriage
Cordially,
TIA correspondence desk
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