Letter to the National Post Aug 27th

Re: Father Ramond J. De Souza

Raymond De Souza’s arguments on why priests don’t marry, simply makes me sad for the Catholic priesthood. He assumes that because Jesus didn’t marry, priests shouldn’t either because they represent Christ. But surely whether Jesus married or not, which is now questionable, married priests could still properly represent Him. What a shame if for 2000 years priests didn’t marry on a false assumption that Jesus didn’t marry. De Souza then says that priests are following the apostles who either were single or left their wives to spread the word. Nowadays however it is not necessary to leave your wife or remain single to dedicate your life to Jesus or God. Leaders of all other religions marry and still perform their religious and spiritual functions as well as Catholics priests do. De Souza then refers to the fact that in early Jewish tradition, the priests did not have sex before performing their ritual functions. Although this is true, they did marry and have normal sexual lives at all other times. It is very strange to think that one of the reasons that Catholic priests now don’t marry is because Jews 2000 years ago thought that the expulsion of male and female body fluids somehow made one impure. Lastly, and most importantly De Souza says that there is no marriage in heaven. Does he really know what goes on in heaven and whether having been married on earth is relevant there? The truth is that we know nothing of what really goes on in heaven and assuming that we do is highly presumptuous. In summary, De Souza is single based on false or questionable assumptions about Jesus’ life, about the need to be single to do priestly work, and about what is desirable in heaven. How sad.