Why the Church no longer teaches the superiority of celibacy over marriage

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Richca said:
The essence of christian perfection consists neither in the detachment of the goods of the world nor in the detachment of the joys of marriage, but in charity and the conformity of our will to God’s will in all things through charity.
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So Jesus was just joking when he said “Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust corrupts and where thieves break through and steal.”

And when he said “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” He didn’t actually mean it?

And when St Paul said “But I would prefer you to be without worry. Whoever is without a wife is worried about the things of the Lord, as to how he may please God. But whoever is with a wife is worried about the things of the world, as to how he may please his wife. And so, he is divided.” He was again just joking around?
 
I agree shoving it down people’s throats won’t do anything.
But how does this relate to the superiority of celibacy?
 
whyeyeman said:
No it’s not. Because by teaching error those people out themselves outside the church.
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Yes, because simply deciding that people who disagree with our personal understanding of Catholicism is how we judge whether people are authentically Catholic or not. So I can totally look at the Pope or a bishop and just dismiss the TEACHING AUTHORITY OF THE CHURCH because my conservativism totally protects me personally from heresy.
 
I think the question was whether the church has stopped teaching this, and if so why.

I don’t think the church has actually stopped teaching it; I believe people just don’t seek formation and they then make conclusions. There may be some priests and bishops who want to avoid this topic given various scandalous topics; but the truth and the teaching hasn’t changed.

It’s a greater sacrifice and so a greater gift; but if Married people really put their shoulder into their marriage and their family life they would realize that it’s not that great a difference between the two gifts
 
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I was just reflecting on the title of this thread. The Church indeed does still teach that celibacy is a higher (supernatural) call and vocation, while marriage is in the natural order. Where it is appropriate nowadays at meetings and conferences etc. even in a Sunday homily at times, the higher and supernatural calling of virginity and celibacy is still spoken about. Because celibacy is of the supernatural order, it requires a special Grace and this is underscored by Jesus.
If one’s own parish priest never speaks about it, is not an indication that all priests no longer speak about it or that the teaching of The Church has changed. The teaching of The Church on this matter will never change, simply because the supernatural order is higher than the natural order - for one only.
 
whyeyeman said:
There is no such thing.
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No such thing as a personal understanding of Catholicism? Of course, there is. That’s how language works. No one communicates so perfectly that their brains become replicas of each other. We all interpret, all embrace some level of unknown heresy into our minds to try to wrap our minds around the words of a text or the words of a teacher.

The faith never comes to us pure. It never comes to us free of errors. This is even more so the case as few of us are actually taught by people with adequate theological training, and the Church, prior to Vatican II, formed Catechetical material that taught advanced theology to children whose lacked the philosophical education and mental capacity to understand it. There was SOME effort to dumb it down, but the people dumbing it down were no experts in educational theory.

But the good news is that salvation doesn’t come through perfect theological knowledge. While our Catholic faith has great intellectual traditions, it is meant for common people.

Remember, that we are the students in need of correction throughout our entire lives. Our spiritual formation is constant. And indeed, strive to understand that the Church is always reforming herself and debating with herself. Not everything about our faith lack ambiguity or room for debate. It has plenty of room for debate.
 
On the contrary, in AL Francis makes it clear that there is no superiority, that it is relative. He says that in some sense marriage is superior to celibacy and in other ways it is the opposite.
In the CCC we do not say a word, but insists on a complementarity between the two states, so that who reads the CCC will conclude that there is nothing that is superior to the other.
 
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Why deny an evdience?
the CCC, AL, and all the recent teachings on marriage no longer say this truth, and these documents speak rather of complementarity, which implies that there is no relationship of superiority.
Some here are even surprised because they have always been told that there is equality between the two states of life …
 
Edward_H said:
if Married people really put their shoulder into their marriage and their family life they would realize that it’s not that great a difference between the two gifts
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One must make the difference between an intrinsic sacrifice, and an accidental sacrifice. If a married person makes great sacrifices for his family it would be accidental, that, it is not intrinsic to each marriage. Certain in their marriage does not encounter particular difficulties, their great difficulty is perhaps in their service and their family is rather for them as a consolation.
An authentic sacred celibacy is in itself already a sacrifice, it is when one is attracted by the joys of marriage and renounces to it for love of God that one lives an authentic sacred celibacy.
One can be single and make commitments to support the human family. So in the evening instead of meeting his private family as do those who are married, we go to meet old people abandoned, or orphans who need private lessons etc, we take care of the human family in distress. And if we are contemplative we spend our moments of intimacy with the angels and God, we beg them to help the human family in distress
 
Catholicwife32 said:
If you have evidence that the Church’s teachings on holiness and celibacy ever fell into the category of dogma, by all means actually quote the document and provide the link. Don’t just name a few references to old counsels while insisting “They all said this” when no one has the time to comb through all those documents to verify whether what you’re saying is true.
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I am French-speaking, so my references are in French.
But believe me the superiority of celibacy on marriage is a dogma of Faith of the Catholic Church, it is canon 10 on the marriage of the Council of Trent
 
We don’t need to over-intellectualize love.

If someone does something out of love of God, though it benefits others, that act is infinitely more valuable than an act done out of vanity though it benefits others.

You should apply a screen to so many of the words above.

God loves as a Father. We should talk with Him as children.

No need to add intellectualism where none is needed.
 
To pretend that one is acting out of love for God when nature itself pushes us to act so, is more questionable than to do it when we have no human interest in doing so.
Yes, even those who hate God make great sacrifices for their children and for their spouses, because nature drives them to do so. Even animals do it they are often ready to sacrifice their lives for their children by instinct. So we can be more in the illusion when we say we act out of love for God when our loved ones are beneficiaries
To act when one has no human interest in doing so or when nature does not urge us to do so is a greater sign of genuine devotion to God
 
Edward_H said:
If someone does something out of love of God, though it benefits others, that act is infinitely more valuable than an act done out of vanity though it benefits others.
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why say that those who serve the human family for free do it out of vanity and without charity?
 
Not so. God knows our intentions. (see the Gospel from Today’s Mass, Monday 2nd week of Advent).

And it’s very helpful to periodically do what the Church recommends: “rectify our intentions”

It only takes a second or two, periodically to renew our love for God during the day, chatting with Him, and as you approach a task or act of charity saying to Him: “for You, my Father, all for You”.

We shouldn’t psychologize what is spiritual. Our relationship with God should be direct, simple, and child-like…as Jesus told us to come to Him as children.

Too many people wrap themselves into an unhelpful interior analysis of matters, when God is standing right next to them, hoping they will ask for help.

So, we begin again, and rectify our intention, often. Lord for You.

I say a morning offering which renews my love of God, and which sets out at least initially with the right tone and spirit, and then I try to frequently during the day in a natural way go back to my Great Father and tell Him all over again that I love Him and want to serve Him in this or that task.
 
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People can often get corrupted /impure in why they do things. “…I am doing these dishes so that I can have my own time later and say to the wife…well, I did the dishes”.

That’s not an act of love, but one of calculation.

People fall into these corruptions all the time.
 
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of course people can act out of interest, we are talking about people who serve the human family for God’s sake and you talk about vanity, why have a prejudgment of corruption a priori?
My goal was to say that celibacy is an appropriate state of life to serve the human family. For example, committing to free time to visit old people or to support orphans is more appropriate, more necessary, than to commit to founding a family in a context where there is no no objective need to do so.
 
Mboo said:
I am French-speaking, so my references are in French.

But believe me the superiority of celibacy on marriage is a dogma of Faith of the Catholic Church, it is canon 10 on the marriage of the Council of Trent
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So you mean this.
Can. 10 If anyone says that the married state excels the state of virginity or celibacy, and that it is better and happier to be united in matrimony than to remain in virginity or celibacy,[15] let him be anathema.
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I’m sorry, but this doesn’t state that celibacy is superior or holier. It states that it’s wrong to consider the married state as superior.

The idea that the celibacy is holier I don’t believe is or was ever a dogma of the Church. It’s certainly been taught, but there are varying levels of authority in regard to theological certainty.

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