Celibacy is the answer

I commend the Synod of Bishops in Rome for recently embracing the time-honored tradition of celibacy guarded by the Catholic Church for centuries as a brilliant jewel.

The Second Vatican Council confirmed that the Christian priesthood can be understood only in the light of the newness of Christ, the Supreme Pontiff and eternal Priest, who instituted the priesthood of the ministry as a real participation in His own unique priesthood.

To share authentically in the ministerial priesthood of Christ means to devote one's entire life to the faith while sharing with Christ his very condition of living. Indeed Jesus promised a more abundant recompense to anyone who should leave home, family, wife and children for the sake of the Kingdom of God. (Luke 18: 29- 30).

There is ample evidence in the words of Jesus and St. Paul (Matt. xix I2; Cor., vii, 7-8 and 32-35.) for looking upon virginity as the higher call, and by inference, as the condition befitting those who are set apart for the work of the ministry.

In the words of Pope John Paul II: "The value of celibacy as a complete gift of self to the Lord and his church must be carefully safeguarded ... The life of chastity, poverty and obedience willingly embraced and faithfully lived confutes the conventional wisdom of the world and challenges the commonly accepted vision of life."

PAUL KOKOSKI Ontario, Canada