Strict Obedience To Error

And All God's Children Said: "HUH?"

It is remarkable and amazing how some people want to spin the Pope's tour. The newspapers pick up and headline boldly the sex scandal- "Pope meets with Abuse Victims!!" in the same vein as they headlined the last Pope meeting with the Turkish guy who shot him. -As if that is all he said or did while here.
The priest yesterday seized on the Pope's comments on the plane to DC in which the Pope indicated that it was better to have fewer good priests than more bad ones. What the Pope was referring to of course was totally excising the church of the cancer of pedophilia and getting rid of the child molesters. What the Priest used his words incorrectly to signify was the justification of keeping out any of the ones who feel called to be married affirming the mandatory universal priestly celibacy rule.
The fact that 20,000 US Priests who found a higher degree of love and devotion to a woman that they married and had their own families were expelled from the ranks of priestly service while some 5,000 child molesters parade around in embroidered finery and dare to lecture anyone on morality is not so much shocking as it is just stupid. The "if you don't agree go be a Protestant" attitude is really amazing.
This priest said that the reason for the adherence and obedience to the rule of mandatory celibacy makes sense because it keeps people's priorities straight. It is in fact an idolotry that serves an institution with properties and displaces the higher value of Love. Love of community in a superficial way can never replace love of a spouse, another with whom one is "one" such that life is created by the union This is a love that reflects that "oneness" when Jesus says "I and the father are one" and reflects the conjugal bond that God himself had with the Virgin Mary which created Jesus himself. There is nothing higher- parading in white doily overslips isn't higher, self denial and self flagulation isn't higher, lecturing people on morality isn't higher, selfish celibacy because it's "easier" isn't higher, and pimping yourself out to a cadre of lonely sugar mommas who pay the electric bill isn't higher. None of that is intrinsically holier than real love to a real woman or real man.
There is nothing higher than Love, because Love is God. Love is not just a "virtue"- it is God himself. The greatest of Faith, Hope and Love is Love. This was the Pope's Hope Tour. Hope is a meaningless statement without Love because there is no Hope without God. Love, even as it is written in Corinthians 13 (a verse said at half the Christian weddings) is the Greatest of these: Faith, Hope and Love.
This Priest in this homily indicated that the rule of celibacy is needed in a universal way and it can't operate one way for someone and another way for another one. I beg to differ. Not only are people uniquely created by God as different people, but the gifting of the Spirit is not an automaton universal factory spraybrush sort of attribution. The Holy Spirit gifts people uniquely and differently for their calling.
There have been priests with whom I have been deeply inspired and impressed with what they have done with their calling to the Priesthood- and these are people who clearly are living in the sacred space of the heart of Jesus. One Jesuit Priest I was recently on retreat with has already served comforting and giving peace to people in leper colonies in India, immigration deportation detention centers, hospices as an orderly, and other places where the love of Christ came unexpectedly through his presence, kindness and comfort. One has no doubt that he is called to celibacy and gifted with its graces and found deeper love through his service.
There are other priests who are not wired to find deeper love through this kind of service- but who nonetheless are great preachers, counselors, or gifted in administration or other aspects of priestly services that the church needs- and some of them are not gifted or graced with celibacy and have a partner of the opposite gender that God has ordained in the highest love for them to be with. Those people should be allowed to fulfill their calling in all the fullness of its expression.
The church now just waits them out and if they don't cause serious scandal by sinning so as to be thrown out, just waits until they are too old for it to make a difference and chastized that it should pass. Ridiculous.

It's a really good thing that I can take the Eucharist even when I disagree with aspects of the homily or when the priest is sinning or in error.
It's a really good thing that the Eucharist is so powerfully the presence of the Divine Love that not even a ridiculously wrong homily, or a pious pretending priest can dilute or diffuse the meaning of it and it's power- a power to Love, as Christ loved. Because, as John tells us, God is Love.
There are two foundational commandments: Love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. The second is like it:
Love your neighbor as yourself. As yourself. The oneness achieved in Holy Matrimony is the closest expression of a Love that is as oneself because two become One. One. Just as "I and the Father are One."

There is a verse that says (find it for me) that at the end there will be many, many people who will say "But Lord- Didn't we prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name and do mighty mighty works in your name? And Jesus will say to anyone who did not do the Will of God "Get away from me you evil-doers"
This is incredibly telling- because he is speaking to not only the church here, but the church leaders- the clergy-the people who were so self impressed and self satisfied that they prided themselves on everything they did in the name of Jesus- they prophesied, they cast out demons, they did Mighty Mighty works- not just piddley squat works- Mighty Mighty works. Surely people on earth applauded. Surely there were monuments to their accomplishments that were widely hailed. Surely these were famous admired people on earth.
And still Jesus will say- but you were outside God's Will. You did not do God's Will. Great- you did all that other stuff- but nonetheless- You did not do God's Will- and so you are "evil doers."

The Catholic Church is outside God's will in enforcing a mandatory celibacy on everyone as a condition of priestly employment that attempts to demean, destroy or diminish priestly calls of people who are called to Love in their own Family context, taking a wife and having a family.
Priestliness is no more synonymous with celibacy than it is with "poverty" and even the men in black called "Secular" priests know that they didn't vow that one.
Obedience to anything outside God's Will is a sort of Death of Spirit. Persisting and Insisting on Obedience to anything outside God's Will means you live half a life and half a lie.

If the Pope does not take the opportunity to see the deeper meaning and cleaning of Church Doctrine here as it pertains to the forced obedience to the mandatory celibacy rule, he will be missing an enormous historic opportunity to align the church back into God's will in a fuller way.