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 FREEING CELIBACY, by Donald
Cozzens. Liturgical Press. 115 pp.
$15.95.
Reviewed by ARLINE B. TEHAN, the
author of Prince of Democracy: The Life
of James Cardinal Gibbons (Doubleday)
and a longtime book reviewer for the Hartford
Courant in Connecticut.
IN HIS LATEST book, Freeing Celibacy,
Father Donald Cozzens offers a cogent
examination of the Catholic
Church’s perennially perplexing
question—the required
celibacy of its priests.
And the solution he provides
is brilliant in its simplicity:
Since celibacy is a
gift freely given by God, it
should be optional, not
mandated.
Father Cozzens, who is
presently director of religious
studies and writer in
residence at John Carroll
University in Cleveland, is well suited
for this task. A priest for 40 years, he
was formerly rector of St. Mary’s Seminary
in Wickcliffe, Ohio, a vicar of
diocesan priests, a professor, psychologist
and theologian. He is also the
author of three excellent books: The
Changing Face of the Priesthood, Sacred
Silence: Denial and the Crisis in the
Church and Faith That Dares to Speak.
Writing with courage and compassion,
Father Cozzens never sounds shrill
or confrontational. Instead, in a quiet,
thoughtful voice, he offers a reasonable
solution to a many-faceted problem
for today’s Church.
With disarming candor, he declares, “There is something sexy about
celibacy.” Then he proceeds to discuss
the contemporary fascination with
celibacy among the public, who see
the priest as being “off limits, yet with
a spiritual aura making him safe to
approach, safe to reveal.”
More significantly, Father Cozzens
suggests that mature, healthy celibates—both those in the priesthood
and those in the laity—possess the
compelling attraction “that comes from
the contemplative center of the soul—the only place where people come to be
at home with themselves....”
“For those gifted with the charism, it
is a blessing, it is their truth, and the
key to their spiritual freedom. But for
those normal healthy men who lack
the charism, it is a burden,
which can become a silent
martyrdom.” As one priest
sadly remarked, mandated
celibacy costs “not less than
everything.”
In his thoroughgoing but
highly readable account,
Father Cozzens discusses
priestly celibacy in all its
aspects: its history, obligations,
exceptions, shadow,
power, oppression and the
issue of homosexuality.
Early in the Church’s history, priests,
bishops and even popes were allowed
to marry and have children. In fact,
not until the 12th century did the rule
change, but only for priests of the Latin
rite or Western Church. To this day,
Byzantine, Coptic and Maronite clergy
can be married, as can priests of the
Anglican/Episcopalian Church who
have converted with their families to
the Roman Catholic Church.
Christianity, Father Cozzens declares,
has long been suspicious of sexuality
(see the writings of St. Augustine), recognizing
that, although its expression
in marriage is sacramental, sexuality
can also be demonic. Hence, Church
authority concluded that celibacy was
appropriate for those who spoke for
God and for the Church, and who held
the power to forgive sins and excommunicate
rebels.
Celibacy provides the institution with
power. “Control another person’s sexuality,
and you control his center of vitality,
the core of his identity and integrity.
And many priests take on the resentment
and immaturity of adolescents,
obsessed with what is forbidden, waiting
for opportunities to break out and experiment.
Ecclesial power exercised as command,
and control no longer works for
thoughtful, reflective, adult believers.
It may have worked in earlier eras during
the feudal structure of the Church,
but it doesn’t work today.”
In suggesting the benefits to the
Church of having a married clergy,
Father Cozzens touches on the power
of women. “What it desperately needs
is the voice and influence of the feminine,
embodied in the lives of today’s
women of the Church. A married clergy
would bring us closer to that reality.”
He concludes with an audacious
suggestion: “It is reasonable to wonder
if Church authorities reacting to
the clergy abuse scandals would
have responded more pastorally and less
corporately had they been parents
and grandparents themselves....”
Noting that the “shadow side of
celibacy is loneliness,” the author concludes,
“If we concede that celibacy is
a charism, a free gift from God, then
mandated celibacy is an oxymoron.”
Father Cozzens has produced another
book in which his fresh viewpoints,
his clear affection for his
Church and his compassion for those
he serves demand serious consideration
by bishops, priests and lay readers.
You can order FREEING CELIBACY from St.
Francis Bookshop.
BLACK AND CATHOLIC IN THE JIM CROW SOUTH: The Stuff That Makes Community, by Danny Duncan
Collum. Paulist Press. 178 pp. $14.95.
Reviewed by ANN TASSONE, an intern
at St. Anthony Messenger last summer.
Ann is a senior at Xavier University in
Cincinnati with a double major in English
and communication arts.
THIS IS AN eye-opening collection
of firsthand accounts of struggle and
perseverance in the African-American
freedom movement. Author Danny
Duncan Collum provides powerful
interviews with 44 members and associates
of Holy Family Parish in Natchez,
Mississippi, who lived through the
1950s-60s period of terror
and hope.
A white man, Collum was
raised in a white Southern
Baptist church and attended
Mississippi College, which is
Baptist-affiliated. He was the
associate editor of Sojourners magazine from 1980 to
1988. As a student at Mississippi
public schools in
the 1960s, he witnessed the
court-ordered integration.
He was confirmed in the
Catholic Church at Easter 1989, and is
now an assistant professor of English
and journalism at Kentucky State University.
Holy Family Parish was the first
African-American Catholic parish in
Mississippi, and one of the oldest ones
in the United States. Since the early
1900s, Holy Family has been staffed
by the Josephites, an order of predominantly
white priests devoted exclusively
to African-American missions.
The African-American families who
founded Holy Family Parish and all of
those who kept it alive over the decades
are an integral part of the city of
Natchez and its history. Many of them
took prominent roles in the effort to
transform the city, and “they helped to
write the first chapters of its post-Jim
Crow history.”
After providing background on the
African-American freedom movement,
Collum describes the Catholic Church’s
involvement in the movement, as well
as Mississippi’s stance on civil rights.
Collum introduces readers to Sidney
Gibson, Mamie Mazique and many
other members of Holy Family Parish
who reflect on their experiences of
working against injustice in the South.
“During those times of need,” he
writes, “the Catholic priests and the
nuns and the people of the Church
went out of their way to help all people
and not just Catholics. They made
things happen, and that built up the
respect and prestige that people had
for the Catholic Church.”
These interviews reveal the strength
of everyone involved in the freedom
movement and the toll that it took
on their lives. Many people speak of
their anger then because it
seemed that the ordinary
acts of human kindness,
such as public acknowledgment
of one another,
were forbidden.
Each of the book’s 14
chapters has up to 17 contributors.
The chapters are
arranged according to different
phases in the civil-rights
movement.
The book wraps up with
what it is like to be African-American and Catholic today. Many
contributors mention the enormous
progress that has been made due to
the hard work of past generations. The
integration of African Americans and
whites in the South is addressed, noting
that churches have come a long
way since the civil-rights movement.
Collum mentions that Holy Family
School is still open, and that many
people in Natchez consider it an essential
part of their lives. Holy Family
Parish is still staffed by the Josephites
and pictured on the cover.
It is evident that the people who
contributed to this book found God in
the midst of their struggles and used
their faith to lead them to equality.
You can order BLACK AND CATHOLIC IN THE JIM
CROW SOUTH: The Stuff That Makes
Community from St.
Francis Bookshop.
POPE BENEDICT XVI: A Personal
Portrait, by Heinz-Joachim Fischer.
The Crossroad Publishing Co. 213
pp. $19.95.
FROM POPE JOHN PAUL II TO
BENEDICT XVI, by Sister Mary Ann
Walsh, R.S.M. Sheed & Ward/Rowman
& Littlefield Publishers, Inc. 212
pp. $21.95.
THE RULE OF BENEDICT: Pope
Benedict XVI and His Battle With
the Modern World, by David Gibson.
HarperSanFrancisco. 364 pp. $24.95.
Reviewed by VINAYAK JADAV, S.J., a
Jesuit priest from India, graduate student
of journalism at Marquette University, Milwaukee,
Wisconsin, and an intern last
summer at St. Anthony Messenger.
VATICAN JOURNALIST H.J. Fischer’s
“30-year personal and professional relationship
with Joseph Ratzinger” and
U.S. bishops’ media liaison Sister Mary
Ann Walsh’s experience of being in
Rome during the papal transition in
2005 inspire their respective books. The
first is a portrait, the other a witness.
The third book is an analysis. David
Gibson’s in-depth exploration of the
mixed response that Cardinal Ratzinger
received upon his “surprise election” as
the pope may not be easy reading; it is
key, however, to understanding what
makes Ratzinger Pope Benedict XVI.
A “friend of Ratzinger,” Fischer casts
out shadows of prejudices against the
former head of the Congregation for
the Doctrine of the Faith. Fischer’s book
loyally attempts to iron out the “reactionary
reputation” of the German
hard-liner. It places Ratzinger in perspective
by revealing several unknown
aspects of him.
Fischer supplies some historical background
on the Second Vatican Council
so readers can understand the risk of a
doctrinal lapse in the Catholic Church.
This in turn helps us understand
Ratzinger’s clarion call against “a dictatorship
of relativism.”
The journalist is in his element while
narrating the conclave that elected
Benedict XVI. Fischer is a storyteller.
The story gains momentum in its description
of the cardinal who “entered
the conclave as a pope and emerged
as a pope”—contrary to the popular
Roman proverb, “whoever enters the
conclave as pope comes out as a cardinal.”
The procedural details, despite
the cardinals’ confidentiality, attest
to thorough investigation and make a
thrilling account.
In Fischer’s final analysis, Cardinal
Ratzinger’s so-called conservatism was
his seeking a “new way of being a
Catholic.” Ratzinger’s journey as writer,
which began with Introduction to Christianity and reached Salt of the Earth,
bears testimony to that.
Barring digressions into details of
liberation theology and repetitions
of the fact that the pope was elected
despite being the dean of cardinals
and head of the Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith, the story keeps
moving. It avoids centering on the
personality of Cardinal Ratzinger, but
rather shows the cardinal’s brilliant
and prophetic dynamism.
Fischer reveals the process
called Ratzinger more than
the person of Ratzinger.
Rare pictures like ones of
the pope’s baptismal registration,
Marktl papal beer,
Joseph Ratzinger at the
piano and the Benedict XVI
teddy bear draw amusing
attention. The appendices
on the pope’s homilies and
chronology are of reference
value only.
Sister Walsh’s compilation makes an
appetizing reading because of the
minute details on the two popes and
the Vatican events, reported in a running
commentary style. Interspersing
the reportage of the Catholic News Service
journalists’ and editors’ reflections
along with the U.S. cardinals’ firsthand
experience makes for an authentic
account of a papal life.
The book is an example of editorial
craftsmanship. “Great” John Paul II
graciously fades out and Benedict XVI
gently enters in, in the dovetailing
chapter, “A Worthy Successor.”
While the cardinals’ comments
betray a pattern of answers to a given
set of questions, Walsh’s own investigations
lead the reader through each
day’s course of events between the
death of John Paul II (April 2, 2005) and
the election of Benedict XVI (April 19,
2005).
In “Conclave Rules,” Walsh grabs
readers’ “great curiosity about the
inside story of conclave voting” and
immerses them in the rarely described
step-by-step proceedings. Walsh tries
to describe Ratzinger’s most vulnerable
feelings upon becoming the pope,
and I found that section spiritually
moving.
Tighter editing of the interviews
could have helped the Walsh book.
That aside, it provides more than
stereotypical stories on the popes.
Gibson, on the other hand, researches
the milieu of Cardinal Ratzinger in
order to address the “bad cop” image of
Benedict XVI. Gibson sees the actual
“shades of gray” from the Sistine chimney
as a metaphor for the future of the
Church, which is not to be imagined
just “black or white.”
Ratzinger, “the man with
the worst press,” is judged
silhouetted against the person
of John Paul II, conclave
dynamics, the Nazi
regime, Augustinian metaphysics,
Vatican II and,
finally, the Congregation
for the Doctrine of the
Faith. Explaining in a scholarly
manner (referencing
Ratzinger’s own writings)
the “Counter-reformation”
intent behind Ratzinger’s alleged conservatism,
Gibson disarms the harsh
critics of Benedict XVI.
Portraying Ratzinger’s contradictions
as “self-effacement” and falling in
the “path of influence” for power does
not help make the case for his integrity.
By ridiculing cardinals at the conclave
and sensationalizing the vote tally,
Gibson falls into the trap of cheap journalism.
To his credit, though, Gibson has
undertaken the difficult task of laying
out Ratzinger’s intellectual roots and
the rationale behind his election.
Yes, these books are a lot on the
pope, but each has a flavor of its own.
Bon appetit!
You can order POPE BENEDICT XVI: A Personal Portrait, FROM POPE JOHN PAUL II TO BENEDICT XVI and THE RULE OF BENEDICT: Pope Benedict XVI and His Battle With the Modern World from St. Francis Bookshop.
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