CELIBACY SEMINAR AT PALLOTTI COLLEGE
By William Lowry
Speaking to any group of young men about the value of celibate chastity is no easy feat.
It is one diligently undertaken each year, however, in the life of seminary formation by Fr. Hoa Dinh SJ in our annual senior celibacy seminar.
The seminar was hosted this year in the striking surrounds of Pallotti College in Millgrove.
Our seminar was this time around a little different with the wonderful addition of Pamela Glyn, a clinical psychologist from New Zealand, who beamed in via Zoom much to our delight to speak to us about the voyage of self-discovery.
Each year the 5th and 6th years complete their ‘cycle’ of celibacy seminars which begin in the 1st and 2nd year.
An important emphasis is placed in our formation on understanding, integrating, and joyfully living out our celibate chastity. This is because of the importance of this gift in the life of the priest, as difficult as it is, seminarians and priests choose to abstain from something which is itself beautiful and natural in sexual intimacy for the sake of giving themselves, or that is giving the love of God they have received more freely in a gift of complete self-donation, being available totally to the needs of the other.
As Fr. Hoa emphasised in the seminar, celibacy is not intended to turn us into a ‘refrigerator’, that is make us cold and removed from the realities of human living, but rather it is all about the forming of healthy relationships, being free from those aspects which inhibit our ability to respond freely to the call of the Lord, to love not exclusively as in marriage but as the Father loves universally and unconditionally, being ever more attentive to the needs of others in any circumstance. To be able to ‘give’ of oneself to others however, we must first have a firm sense of ‘self’, of who we are and whom we are giving.
This insight was the most fruitful for me in the seminar, to really cultivate a love for God and others, we must first cultivate a healthy attitude of love for oneself, without falling into selfishness.
Pamela examined the fundamental aspects of the self, where our attitudes beliefs come from, the impact of our early ‘schemas’, frameworks for grasping the world and the mechanisms we use and dissonance we fall into in often trying to doggedly preserve ourselves from change. Who we are at this deep fundamental level orients our beliefs, thoughts and behaviours and how we live and relate to others and ourselves, understanding and integrating our past, our traumas, insecurities and idiosyncrasies is the only way anyone can be truly free to dedicate themselves without self-interest or power, but rather in reciprocity and true compassion.
‘From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required’ (Lk 12: 48b). For us who, please God, will be called to the gift of ordained ministry, much is rightly expected from both God and his people. We cannot take this gift for granted, nor does our formation allow us to do so.
Our recent seminar was simply another step in the process of metanoia of conversion towards Christ, giving over all those aspects of the self that inhibit our growth in love for God and neighbour.
Celibate Chastity, this gift offered to the priest, can only be viewed and understood in this light, not in any ‘pragmatic’ sense. Poor and deficient as we are, we are yet still called to make present the loving and saving action of our Risen Saviour in the world for everyone we meet.
May we continue to pray for joyful, loving, empathetic and integrated priests, who gladly live out this precious gift in their lives.
Seminarians pray with Fr Hoa Dinh at the end of the celibacy seminar. PICTURE: Jackson Saunders.