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Goodbye Father: The Celibate Male Priesthood and the Future of the Catholic Church

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Goodbye Father: the Celibate Male Priesthood and the Future of the Catholic Church" by the late sociologist Richard Schoenherr deserves a lot of praise for its brilliant analysis of the priest shortage, present and future. But the real value of the book, in my opinion, is its insistence that the shortage cannot be viewed as some interesting but isolated phenomenon. As David Yamane, who took over the editing of the book after Schoenherrs untimely death, notes in the Introduction, the shortage is only one manifestation of a whole network of interacting trends pressing for change in many directions. Here are the others:
* A decline in dogmatism and a rise in pluralism of world views.
* A demise of the cultural control that developed out of the churchs European and Western origins.
* Doctrinal changes coming out of Vatican II, particularly those that have weakened belief in the absolute superiority of celibacy as a way to holiness.
* The erosion of male control over church ministry, largely due to the feminist movement, especially among nuns and laywomen.
* Increased lay participation in ministerial and sacramental roles.
* A growing recognition of the "saving power" of the Scriptures.

In other words, the book analyzes how all these trends are working together and argues that isolating one or the other and working on it alone is not going to get the church out of the mess it's in. It's a heavy read but I don't see how any thoughtful person can dismiss its overwhelming logic.

Not coming from a Roman Catholic tradition, I've been intrigued by the debate surrounding the celebacy of the priesthood and the male exclusivity of the clergy. After all, other denominations have moved ahead, not without struggle to be sure, but moved nonetheless, to model what it means for all of God's people to have a place at table, and to officiate in the offerings that the table provides.

Richard Schoenherr's "Goodbye Father" provides powerful insights to those of us laypeople who struggle with one's appropriate role in the church, and who are looking for a deeper analysis of this religious tradition.

In his discussion of why dropping celebacy will happen prior to changing the patriarchy of the ministry, Schoenherr defines how the embeddedness of patriarchy, the decline of that partriarchy in other denominations, and the depth of the debate about marital-status exclusivity contributes to his thesis. That discussion provides clues into the struggle the church faces, but also gives hope that the stance on celebacy can change.

That today's issues are now indicative of Schoenherr's predictions demonstrate the wisdom with which the author presents a significant contribution to the role of men and women in the church. This book deserves a read by anyone concerned about those roles, regardless of the denominational background of the reader.

A strong and well honed intellect draws good conclusions only when there is a solid foundation. In the case of this work, and really any other work that advocates ordaining woman and, to a lesser extent lay participation in the governance of the Church and married clergy in the Roman rite, the ground work of possible future schisms is laid. And over what? Interestingly enough, it is often over temporal power, the same thing that the advocates of women ordination and lay governance often claim they are trying to overcome.

In considering "change" in the Catholic Church, a few core immutable truths must be acknowledged in order to come to an appropriate decision.

1) The Catholic Church is a Theocracy, with Jesus Christ as the head and the pope as His representative on earth. She is not a democracy, a republic, a dictatorship, a communist nor a socialist organization.

2) As a Theocracy, with the Jesus Christ, who is perfect truth, as its head, it is to be noted that all truths communicated to humanity either by word or action are perfect in all respects and are, therefore, not subject to error.


Using some of this foundational information, once can conclude that the ordination of women to the ministerial priesthood is a theological impossibility. Meaning, even if a valid bishop lays hands on a woman and says the proper words and has the intent to ordain her a priest, it will not happen. Why? It is simple. All sacraments require form, intent and matter to be administered. For example, in baptism, there is the form (I baptise you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit), the intent (to baptise someone) and the matter (the water and the person being baptised). In a priestly ordination, the form is the words of ordination, then there is the intent on the bishops part to ordain that person a priest and then there is the proper matter in the validly ordained bishop and a male participant.

Why must a priest be male? This goes back to foundational point number 2. Everything Jesus communicates to humanity via word and example is perfect simply because He is God. Therefore, if Jesus only ordains men into the ministerial priesthood, then it is communicated through Jesus's words and example that only men can be ordained as priests. A reading of Ephesians 5:21-33, in conjunction with the foundational understanding that an ordained priest is an "altar Christus", reveals a far deaper meaning to the all male priesthood in light of salvation history.

As to the celibate priesthood, I suspect many here and in the US in general are ignorant of the fact that there are already married priests in the Catholic Church. Most of the eastern rite churches in union with Rome, such as the Melkites, permit a married clergy, specifically marriage before ordination. There are about 22-23 Churches in union with Rome. The largest church in union with Rome is the Latin Rite Church. It is in the Latin Church that there is a longstanding tradition that the ministerial priest be celibate all the better to more perfectly immitate Christ in form and function per the instruction of St. Paul (i.e., it is better to be an enuch for the kingdom of God). That said, as it is a dicipline, the Chuch has granted exceptions in the Latin Church for married Anglican clergy who convert to Catholicism and are ordained priests. Currently there are a little over 100 married priests in the Latin Church.

As to lay governance, one must refer to point number 1. The Church is a Theocracy and should not be confused with other political bodies. Keep that in mind and one can more readily see the limitations on lay governance in the Catholic Church.

God bless

Goodbye Father attends to the heart of the crisis facing the U.S. Catholic Church-the quality of pastoral care for the people. Schoenherr understands that the religious care of the people revolves around an ordained priesthood and the Mass, so the quantity and quality of priests truly matter. For Schoenherr, life is a paschal mystery in that people are involved at every moment in linking their lives to the life, death, and ressurection of Christ. The liturgy makes that connection more powerfully present in people's lives. The limitation of the Catholic priesthood to celibate males denies people who are thirsty for spiritual life an adequate level of religious care. The ordination of married people and women promises a greater number and deeper quality of priests. Goodbye Father is informative of my thinking and formative of my aspirations. It humbly invites us to think more deeply and act more courageously in regard to what may well be the will of God.

In the past few years, Catholic clergy and laity alike have expressed concern about and frustration with Vatican policy governing church practice and policy. The Catholic church has long held that ordination to the priesthood is reserved for males, that homosexual behavior is sinful, and, of course, that pedophilia is wrong. In addition, the church has severely limited the extent to which laity can participate in the governance of the church. Until recently, the laity has done little more than gently resist the first practice, question the second and agree with the third.

Recent revelations about the extent to which pedophilia has been practiced among Catholic priests and the efforts undetaken by some high ranking church officials to hide this information, has shocked, then angered and finally mobilized laity and priests to resist autocratic church policy and to work toward church reform. Laity are now insisting on a voice in church governance and access to church records in order to avoid scandals in the future.

Perhaps if the clergy and laity had taken seriously Richard Schoenherr's 1993 book Full Pews and Empty Altars, they would have begun their efforts to reform the church earlier and even avoided the present crisis. In that book, Schoenherr accurately predicted the decline in the number of priests over the next couple of decades and the implications of this decline for parish life. However, church authorities either ignored or disparaged the findings of this careful social science study and the laity was not activated by its important message. The initial reaction of the clergy to Schoenherr's latest book, Goodbye Father, posthumously published in 2002, has been lukewarm at best. However, if early published reviews of the book are an indication, the laity is poised to take this study into account as they work for change in the church.

In Goodbye Father, Schoenherr moves beyond his earlier work. He presents convincing theoretical and empirical arguements leading to the conclusion that the shortage of US clergy and the changing composition of the US laity will necessarily result in voluntary celicacy for clergy and, within three or four decades, to the ordination of women. The conceptual structure Schoenherr builds to support his conclusion is scholarship at its best and the data analysis is careful, precise and sophisticated.

This book should be read by laity interested in change in American society in general and reform of the American Catholic church in particular. It provides important insights that can guide strategies to increase laity participation in church policy and to strengthen and enhance church ministry. It should be ignored by clergy and laity, and in particular by church hierarchy, at their own peril. To ignore the insights, forecasts and conclusions of this brilliant book is to deprive oneself of a deeper understanding of the profound changes taking place in the contemporary Catholic church. These insights, in turn, should suggest wise strategies to effect church reform.

If the Catholic church is to retain a central role in the spiritual life of Christians, if it is to be a sacramental representation of the church, Catholic clergy and lay members alike must take very seriously Richard Schoenherr's important new book, Goodbye Father: the Celibate Male Priesthood and the Future of the Catholic Church (Oxford Press). Schoenherr shows, on the basis of years of careful research and his great love of the Church, that the tradition of an exclusively celibate male priesthood is about power and the maintaining of control, not about the spiritual life of Catholics. Schoenherr's analysis predates the Church's recently uncovered scandals involving child sexual abuse by clergy and the covering up of that abuse by church officials. But anyone reading his book can understand how a power structure that excludes women who are called to be priests and silences a strong laity will, over time, end up undermining the spiritual health and the very sacramental purposes of the Church. Such a power structure has left the Church open to abuses of power in many forms -- harming children in the current scandal and the Church itself so long as this patriarchical power dominates. Schoenherr is not without hope; he provides a strong vision for a more vibrant, spiritually whole Catholicism. A must read for all who hope the Church can be healed.

Goodbye Father attends to the heart of the crisis facing the U.S. Catholic Church-the quality of pastoral care for the people. Schoenherr understands that the religious care of the people revolves around an ordained priesthood and the Mass so the quantity and quality of priests truly matter.

For Schoenherr, life is a paschal mystery in that people are involved at every moment in linking their lives to the death and resurrection of Christ. The liturgy makes that connection more powerfully present in people's lives. The limitation of the Catholic priesthood to celibate males denies people who are thirsty for spiritual life an adequate level of religious care. The ordination of married people and women promises a greater number and deeper quality of priests.

Goodbye Father is informative of my thinking and formative of my aspirations. It humbly invites us to think more deeply and act more courageously in regard to what may well be the will of God.