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Show D5 TheSalt Lake Tribune REL! IGION Saturday, May Celibacy for Catholic Priests Was Never Written in Stone By Harvey F. E gan IRTER Did you sign a document or make vowto forgo marriage and sexualgratification for the rest of your life?’ Whenaskedthis question, most elderly diocesan priests, true believers and Vatican-friendly, will roll their eyes, shrug their shoulders and groan. These veteranclericsstill have most of their marbles but have no regarding sexuality they have un- COMMENTARY THE NATIONAL CATHOLIC Religion News Service The Rev. Ellsworth Barclay doesn't minda little junk when it comes to saving souls. The Church of God preacher offers sermons Sunday mornings at Star Auto Rebuildersin Chicago. Junkyard Also Salvages Souls Preacher Went for Hubcaps, Stayed to Preach the Word By Jan Ferris RELIGION NEWS SERVICE CHICAGO — TheRev. Ellsworth Barclay needed hubcapsfor his wife’s Dodge Dynasty. Erma House, managerof Star Auto Rebuilders & Parts, was seeking a spirituallift. That was in 1991. And Sunday mornings at the South Side junkyard never have been the same. Barclay, ordained in the Church of God, delivers weekly sermonsin the openair, just feet from rusting Oldsmobiles, cast-off Cadillacs and trashed kitchen stoves. His congregants are the yard’s employees, their relatives and a few others who roam this noisy, shabby strip of South State Street. The Sundayritual was like mostothers since Barclay began preachingat thesite: A few men unfolded wooden chairson the narrow, dusty sidewalk, hauled outa cloth-covered, makeshift pulpit and two pots of a artificial plants, passed around a few well-worn Bi- bles and waited quietly for the service to begin. “T’mused to a church building,” said Exie Holden, the junkyard’s business manager,as she seated her three granddaughters. “But when God gives you a specialpiace, it’s OK to obey.” Barclay came to Star Auto Rebuilders nearly four years ago, after the hubcaps werestolen from his wife’s car. When he mentioned his position as an associate minister at Chicago’s Greater Bethesda Baptist Church, House asked forhelp. “T was feeling kind of bad that day. A friend of minewashaving someproblems,” Houserecalled.“I asked him to pray for her. . I didn’t think he'd comearound this long.” But Barclay, an 81-year-old retired postal clerk, has acquired a devoted following, from Sunday's dozen parishionersto five times as many on Christmas and Easter.Inthis gritty, inner-city neighborhood, his sermonsoffer a weekly measure of peace. “This guy makes you feel better,” said James Moore, a recovering alcoholic who has worked at the junkyard since it opened a decade ago. “Since he camehere, he taught mea lot.”” For Moore and manyof the poor and homeless who frequent the area, the informality of the curbside ministry is more welcomingthan a traditional churchsetting. “A lot of people go to churchjust to see what their neighbors are wearing. I don’t have to put on [any] stockings. I don’t have to duty up here,” said House, wearinga ripped, yellow cotton shirt and blue straw hat. “It’s just like family.” Throughoutthe service, stray dogs laze underfoot or curl up along the corrugated metal wall around the junkyard. Wooden crossesare nailed up, next to advertisements for used fenders, bumpers and stoves — “real good deals,” the sign promises. Buses and cars lumber up and downthe block. The occasional driver honks a horn. “Thefirst time me and my partnerrodeby, he said ‘Now whatthehell. They even have a churchon the street,’ ’ said Eugene Williams, a Chicagopolice officer whoidles in his patrol car every Sunday, catching snippets of the sermonand droppingcoins in the collection plate. Worshipers are never daunted by the elements, even during Chicago’s bruising winter months, Williamssaid. Barclay layers long Johns and overcoats. The group huddles together for warmth. “People said it couldn’t be done,” said Holden, lending a degreeofeleganceinherfurstole, black dress and matching hat. Business is supposed to stop during the hour devoted to worship. But as Barclay launchedinto his sermon — the topic: “Youare Able” — two crews of firefighters came byto borrow a junkedcarforrescue practice. A young manstoppedinfor a refund on a faulty wheel cylinder. Another hoped to sell a truckload of scrap metal, but was stopped short by House. “T'm trying to get the Holy Ghost in me so I can go and get my work done,” shesaid, turning back to the hymn. When the Sunday service ends, Barclay leaves the junkyard and headsupthe road to Bethesda Baptist Church, dons a white robe and takespart in his own church's late-morning program. World Council: Mideast Peace Process in Severe Crisis RELIGION NEWS SERVICE The Rev. Konrad Raiser, general secretary of the World Council of Churches, said this week the Mideast peace process “‘is in a severecrisis.” Raiser made his commentsat a news conferencein Geneva, Switzerland, after returning from his first visit to the Mideast as head of the global church bodyof Orthodox and Protestant churches. “The possibilities of a second round of negotiations in the current peace process seem slim,” Raiser said. During the May 15-21 visit, Raiser met with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, Palestine Liberation Organization head YasserArafat and representatives of Christian churches in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza Raiser said that in his meeting with Arafat, the PLO leader blamed “‘Israeli intransigence” for a “complete impasse” in the peace process. Israeli leaders, on the other hand, were “cautious about taking further dramatic initiatives ahead of the 1996 elections” and “emphasized security concerns which seemed to over- ride their commitmentto furthering the peace process.” He told the news conference that the World Council would continue to support Palestinian aspirations “through prayer, advocacy and humanitarian aid.” “T am also aware that Israelis have invested considerable hopes in the peace process and, in this, they should be supported and nourished,” hesaid. “But, for a legitimate peace processto continue, it is essential that the Palestinian people, who are unequal partners, be support- ed and encouragednot to give up hope for peace.” Tyo Tit Pertae dertaken. Thechurchis always extremely for priests to cope with their sexu- al selves was almost unheardof In 1139, the Second Lateran Council je celibaey mandatory for priests. Legacies for the chil- dren ofpriests had becomeexcessive and the solvency of church properties was endangered. The precise in its choice of words for official documents and sacramental ceremonies. Whywas a vowof celibacy praised in seminary classrooms but not mentioned or celebrated in the ordination liturgy?Silence herecarries a hint of ambivalence, confusion, discomfiture. most-important reason for this re- Priestly celibacy in the Latin remembrance of making a vowor formative decision was not that rite, although it admits of excep- taking an oath of lifelong celibacy. Their lives and priestly ministrations have been chasteand celibate, but current confusion about sexuality has raised qu My seminary preparation for the priesthoodwasloose and the- celibacy was seen as a higher or purer state of life, or even that unmarriedclerics would be more free to devote themselves to the care of souls. The chief reason, it appears, was economic — not an evil motive, but not a reason intrinsically related to the sacrament of holy orders. Several churchhistorians have since pointed out that some antiquated restraints imposed on priests — a tonsured pate, a temperance pledge, prohibition against horse races — have quietly been put to rest. The celibacy oretical. The world was an enemy, the flesh a danger. We lived like monksdeepin a quiet cloister and starved our cultural interests, social concerns and sensual appetites. In countless classes and conferences, sexuality was a muddled and rarely mentioned subject. Ancient fantasies and fears abounded. For manycenturies, sexual intercourse was considered degrading, a carnal experience approved only for married couples when they wanted a baby. A Jansenisti’ stringency had erept darkly from France to Ireland and then wormedits way into the fears of many U.S. Catholics Chastity is “the moral virtue that moderates and regulates sexual appetites.’ Regulates, not annihilates. Chastity is to be ob- injunction, too, is written in eras- able Latin, not carved in granite. Have today’s middle-aged priests taken a public vowoflifelong celibacy? The rites of ordina- tion do not say so. Before VaticanII, only one reference to sexuality was noted in the three steps toward the sacramentof holyorders. The ordaining bishop said to the candidates for subdiaconate, “Youwill be obligated to serve God perpetually and with his assistance observe chastity [servare castitatem]” A fewrosyspiritualwriters surmise that a priest’s obligation to observe perpetual celibacy was implied in this ceremony. An implication is a slippery basis on which to bind persons to life of perpetual sexual deprivation The ordination rites were revised after the Second Vatican Council. In theliturgyfor the diaconate, the bishop nowasks the candidates: “Are you resolved to remain celibate for the sake of the kingdom andin lifelong service to God and mankind?” Each candidate answers, “I am.” A resolution, not a vow, is asked and made. Here semanticists have a field day. But priests maywonderwhat exact obligation served constantly by all persons, including married persons. Celibacyis ‘the renunciationof marriage and any voluntary sexual pleasures.” The surprising newsis this: A vow is not madetaken-given-received. Our professors assured us that abstinence from sexual experiencesis possible and salutaryfor disciplined persons. Practical suggestions, however, for maintaining a celibate life were in short supply. A young man’s com mitment to perpetual celibacy was a plunge withoutaneffective preparation. When the celibate life is chosen, the actual problems and valid expressions of human sexuality are not automatically clarified. Subsequent counseling tions, is the law of the church. ManyChristians, however, intuit an anomaly, some doubts in the mind of the church about celibacy and sexuality itself. Since VaticanII, the church has been enfeebled as more than 100,000 priests resigned. The Rev. Karl Rahner, a towering guide to the council, sent a warning to the Vatican: “If in practice you cannot obtain a sufficient numberof priests in a given cultural setting without relinquishing celibacy, then the church must suspend thelawofcelibacy.” A business losing manyof its executives and salespersons is headedfor bankruptcy. The Vatican continues to repeat its selfdefeating injunction. Sharks are swimming around the barque of Peter. A few favorable winds are blowing in this sea of troubles. Some year soon, the church will decree that marriage is optional for priests. The church could provide an easyreconciliation and give a gra- cious welcometo priests who have served admirably and then departed from the active priesthood by entering an enduring marriage. Thousands wouldgladly return The NewTestament everywhere urges compassion, rapport, the love of a father for his returning son. Rigidity here has the bitter taste of permanent rejection Open arms herecould initiate a newera for the priesthood and the church Another Pentecost could begin Fr. Harvey F. Egan, mr.mAG Suit Event | of the Year ; iS @ MADEIN U.S.A. @ Only at Mr. Mac’s eee rica @ Double Breasted @ We can fit you Bo ratty $2 $3.4900 wkd # ¥ $64900 Sectionals as low as $4.4.900 ll $599 x +suit ty a) PWR Pa Suit Headquarters CYOt ZCMI CENTER MIDVALLEY 5728 S$. REDWOOD RD. « st, SLC 35 Lele) MIDVALE 1090 E: 7200.8, BOUNTIFUL CC Ae? 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