Alcoholism & Celibacy of Priests and Luxury among the Faithful - Valsan Thambu's critique of Catholic Priests and Hierarchy: Comment

https://youtu.be/IrmB4te17-o?si=dmzyPVhuDutAcJoK

Dr Valsan Thambu, a great scholar, a senior educator and a critical thinker I admire.  I have read his autobiographical work on what he tried to do at St Stephen’s, and have been in communication with him.  

His response to Bp Thattil’s lamentation on the ethical degradation of the faithful and the clergy was around 2 points.

1.       Alcohol use among the clergy

2.       Luxury and/or ostentation among the faithful.

 

He appeared to have a convinced opinion about catholic clergy, apparently from his personal knowledge of catholic priests, in general as addicted to alcohol and dependent on it. He concludes that the major reason for this is the compulsion imposed on them to remain celibate,  and in the mortal struggle to get over the natural animal passion, they seek recourse to alcohol.

His point appears to be that the compulsory celibacy on priests is unnatural and unwarranted.

He accepts that some may be gifted with the grace to remain celibate, but most are not.

I agree with him that celibacy need not be made mandatory for being a priest in the church. That was not originally so, and it had evolved gradually, and was accepted as a norm somewhere in 306 AD (Council of Elvira).  Even after Elvira, it had not been uniformly so several churches.

Some of the Eastern Churches (Maronite, Melkite, Ukranian etc.) are having married clergy. Syro-Malankara church, when rejoining Catholic church was said to have given the option of having married clergy.

Having been an ordained priest for over 30 years, and having met fellow priests within Syro-Malabar church, priests of Latin and Malankara churches in different parts of India, and having met several priests in various other countries, especially, in the United States, I found his allegations exaggerated, if not baseless:

(i)              There are several catholic priests I have come to know closely who do not consume alcohol at all.

(ii)            There are hundreds of others who are not at all in the habit of drinking, yet not averse to having a drink or two for a party or a solemn meal, and who enjoy it.

(iii)          In my encounter with hundreds of catholic priests in different parts of the world, I have come across or come to know not even half a dozen who were alcohol dependent, or who needed alcohol to lead a healthy priestly life.

(iv)           I have come across or heard about priests who had a daily dose of alcohol, but they were few and far between.  There have been also some priests who were addicted to smoking. Other than these few exceptions, I have hardly come across catholic priests who required to indulge in alcohol to suppress the animal passions that are said to be natural to human beings.

(v)             In the several instances of my short-time ministries in the parishes of USA, as an Indian I was surprised to see, alcohol being readily available in the priests’ residences.  They are not kept hidden, but very often publicly displayed in their living room or dining hall. But I have hardly ever seen any of them indulging in drinking at any point of time; nor did they have to make any excuse or show a pretence for having a drink or two on some occasions; nor does the culture look down upon it.

(vi)           However, in Kerala culture, especially in the Syro-Malabar Church (often turning Zero-Jesus),  or perhaps, in the middle-class Indian culture in general, having a drink is considered something evil, not befitting a spiritual person/leader, something not to be done, yet something a good many of the Indians (men) would like to indulge in. (But I was pleasantly surprised to read the statistics in this regard – according to National Family Health Survey (NFHS 2021)  the national average for men who consume alcohol is 19%, and for Kerala, it is 19.9% - likely hiding in self-reporting adjusted, still it may not be more than 25%.  Now is it about hard drinkers or addicts or generally about those who consume alcohol, including the occasional ones, I am not sure.  

(vii)         In the Latin church, this is much less seen as a taboo by the faithful. So even in Kerala, the trend is likely to be more common among the priests of the Latin Church.

(viii)       While accepting that I enjoy a drink or two on occasion, I am absolutely sure that I have hardly felt any propensity for it, or felt that it was needed to keep the animal passions under check or as a substitute for it. While accepting that to lead a celibate life is not easy, nor claiming to have had perfection in this matter, rather confessing to errors or deviations in this regard, which I continue to correct and refine,  – our pastoral involvement, professional commitment and engagement, our lifestyle oriented to prayer and independence, and not alcoholic dependence, are what help us (to a great extent) to lead a celibate happy life.

(ix)      From my limited experience of lay faithful and priests, I have observed much greater alcoholic dependence or addiction among the lay people when compared to the priests – it may be that in 1000 priests it is likely to find a maximum of 2 addicts (less likely), whereas it could be easily 15 or more among the laity.  Are the lay faithful taking recourse to alcohol because they are not having a worthy life partner to satiate the animal passions natural to human beings?

I felt that Dr. Thambu was venting his animosity or apathy towards the Catholic priestly lifestyle, rather than presenting factual information and logical arguments. His personal experiences with Catholic priests might have been limited to a particular circle. While there may be instances of alcoholic indulgence or deviation, connecting these to form a general judgment that presents the Catholic clergy in a negative light raises questions about the bona fides of his arguments.

On the second point he focuses, I am rather fully in agreement with.  Whether luxury is needed or not, whether it is sinful or not, are debatable issues. It can have an economic argument as well. That apart, personally, my thumbs up to a simpler lifestyle with minimum needs, and no wants. No claims to that either! But before crying foul about the indulgence of the faithful in this regard, those in the authority are bound to examine their own lifestyle and see while in positions of power including that of leading a local faith community, whether they are victims of this trend in their personal lives as well as in the activities they lead and animate. 

Post Script: On second thought, I have to confess, as is almost evident to all: the Catholic church survives and thrives as a robust institution, (besides the strength drawn from its founder Jesus Christ, which should be the case with any other Church, claiming to be Christian) because of the army of dedicated full-timers as priests and nuns, who have set aside the natural animal passion for something they thought as nobler and worthy, and good many of them, drawing a 'kick' from engaging in such activities, full-time with very less to care about their families, and being most of the time compensated adequately by the devotion and trust (and also care,  though not always) of the faithful, and even of others that come into contact with them. This aspect of exhilaration, not necessarily from alcohol, is perhaps unfamiliar to Dr. Thambu, though his own dedicated work at St. Stephen's might have provided similar experiences.  I don't think it was anybody's clever ploy or contrivance that led to the emergence of such an army, but a spontaneous and spirited response to various needs and crises.

In this case, the priests having greater autonomy and possibility for initiatives, might have greater satisfaction from a typically secular point of view, when compared to the consecrated women, who do not enjoy that degree of freedom and autonomy; however, still accomplishing marvellous feats with individualised care as well as institutional ministry. This secondary status, not being an ideal one, is also to be realistically seen as the reflection of the secular world on this religio-spiritual domain.