What Ireland has lost by a stupid ban

BISHOP Edward Daly’s call to end mandatory clerical celibacy to ease problems facing the Catholic Church (News, Sept. 13) echoes an ancient refrain in Ireland.

This issue has been smouldering ever since the Middle Ages and is best expressed by that Limerick poet, Brian Merriman in his Cúirt An Mheán Oíche, c. 1780, where the women of Ireland put their men and priests on trial for their lack of lovemaking and marriage. “But oye, my heart will grow grey hairs Brooding forever on idle cares, Has the Catholic Church a glimmer of sense That the priests won’t marry like anyone else ... It passes the wit of mortal man What Ireland has lost by this stupid ban.” (The Midnight Court, trans. by Frank O’Connor, 1945).

It is true that the ban on marriage was introduced “to make sure clergy committed themselves to God alone”, but the compelling earthly reason that it was introduced by Pope Benedict VIII in the 11th century was to ensure that there would be no claims on church property by the priest’s offspring.