Monday, Jan. 16, 2012
Kevin J. Banet
The Chicago Tribune’s story yesterday, “Losing His Vocation, Not His Religion,” is an unfortunate one, about Fr. Jim Hearne, a priest who is leaving active ministry. Fr. Hearne has fallen in love, and now wants to get married and have a family. The general tone of the article is that celibacy is too difficult and unreasonable a requirement to expect it of all men.
There is something missing here about celibacy. The Tribune reports that Fr. Hearne is now a security guard. So he is now guarding the goods of others, whereas before he was the guardian of men’s souls.
Mix marriage and priesthood
Should the Church mix marriage and the priesthood? I think not. We admire business tycoons like Donald Trump, who have given up evenings and weekends to build gleaming edifices of steel and concrete, and which reach to the sky — but these buildings will one day be torn down and replaced. Should we not admire even more those men who have given up the pleasures of a wife and family to build up men’s souls — which reach into heaven, and to eternity?