RELIGIOUS CHASTITY
I. INTRODUCTION
The vow of chastity is one of the oldest and the most enduring of all the vows. In Christian
religious life, it entails a life-long commitment. This is also ideal in the monastic system of the
other great religions but the practice is somewhat different. In all the great monastic systems,
celibacy denotes single-mindedness, an unencumbered devotion to God and to the development of
spiritual life. 8
It is unique among the vows professed by the religious. It is the only vow whose
content has been a constant factor in all forms of religious life throughout history.
It is also the only one of the three vows whose object is, strictly speaking, and ‘an
evangelical counsel’ in the sense that it is a response to an invitation not addressed
to all Christians. It is the defining characteristic of religious life. 9
Chastity / celibacy is freely chosen and lived for evangelical reasons. It is viewed as a
commitment of love and not just a renunciation of marriage and sex. To view this vow merely as a
renunciation has a great repercussion in the actual living out of the vow of chastity. The old /
traditional understanding of chastity which focuses more on denial and renunciation and a negative
attitude toward sexuality and marriage as a Christian vocation is often seen today as overly
characterized by fear, guilt, repression, and leading to serious affective underdevelopment in many
religious. 10
The contemporary realization of the importance of sexuality in human life and of
the irreplaceable role in affective growth of friendship with members of one’s own
and the other sex has led to a serious revision of both the theology and the practice
of religious celibacy. The focus of attention, both theologically and in practice, is
still largely on personal development, the improvement of the affective quality of
community life, and the consequent growth of religious in interpersonal
effectiveness. Increasingly, however, religious are realizing the corporate
significance of their chosen lifestyle as a witness complementary to that of
Christian marriage, they are tending to see their celibacy less as a renunciation of
marriage and more as a commitment to growth in love dedicated to the
development of a world characterized by unselfish service and mutual care. 11
8
Diarmuid O’ Murchu, Poverty Celibacy, an Obedience, ibid., p. 40.
9
Sandra Schneiders, New Wineskins Re-imagining Religious Life Today, ibid., p. ll4.
10
Ibid., pp. 91-92.
11
Ibid., p. 92.
Consecrated / vowed chastity is a call, a gift / charism, and a task. It is a call initiated by
God the Father to follow His Son Jesus Christ, who is chaste, through the power of the Holy Spirit.
“Through it the Spirit conforms us with the virginity / chastity of Jesus Christ; it brings us
to ‘re-present in the Church’ the virginal / chaste lifestyle of Christ Jesus.” 12
As a charism, “it is a grace gift given to an individual for the sake of the community. Of its
13
nature, it is a call to service of others in some way.” It is also a gift to be valued since it is not
given to all but only to whomever God wills and however He wills.
As a task, it needs the collaboration of the one called. It is an unfinished project, which
needs a human cooperation. “It is a gift in germinal stage that does not unfold without the
collaboration of freedom. The Spirit, who grants the gift of chastity / virginity without human
initiative, does not bring to its fullness without free human collaboration.” 14
Vowed chastity is a journey by which one becomes a living person through commitment to
the Person of Jesus. It is a commitment to love. Religious life is based on the belief that one has
been touched by God. The vow of chastity is a response to this touch. It entails obligation of
perfect continence in celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom. It is a promise to enter into a
friendship with Jesus. It is primarily a call of love. Vowed chastity is the conservation of our
sexuality, our way of being a man or a woman in the world. As a vow, it touches our embodiment,
or how we manifest ourselves, experience, behave and are seen by others as men / women. It is a
symbol of our core commitment to God because it concerns our deepest recesses. It is a
commitment of our total life and the transformation of our future love. There must be an
integration of our spirit and flesh in the vow of chastity. Love of God and others are not abstract.
I love you with my body, my senses, my perceptions, my attitudes, my behaviors. How I express
myself with my body is an act of relationship with God. A desire to love God with my whole self
is made concrete / explicit in my decision not to marry.
God loved us also through the flesh. Through the dedication of His flesh even to the point
of the cross, Jesus made His love concrete. It would have been impossible for us to grasp His love
at the same depth without a manifestation of love. Our response of love is also specific and
12
Jose Cristo Rey Garcia Paredes, Celibacy-Virginity for the Kingdom of God, ( Philippines: ICLA
Publications and Claretian Publications, 1995 ), p. 12.
13
E. Blais, et. al., Consecrated Celibacy, ( Canada: Canadian Religious Conference, 1971 ), p. 50.
14
Jose Cristo Rey Garcia Paredes, Celibacy – Virginity for the Kingdom of God, ibid., p. 12.
concrete, not abstract. To see, hear, touch, yearn for, think about, speak to, or relate to another is
an embodied and sexual act. Celibacy / chastity touches all aspects of our embodiment and
relational capacities. 15
The vow of chastity calls for an integrity of behavior. That is not easy, as one enters into
the complications, which arise in human intimacy. All relationships in a celibate’s life have to be
judged as to their place in the primary relationship promised to God and the commitment to grow
in love implied in the vow. 16
To live a life of consecrated celibacy / chastity means to build up a community of true love
and friendship. This in turn requires the agility to relate with others, with self, with creation, and
above all, with God. This is absolutely necessary to grow as persons, as Christian, and as
religious.17
II. DEFINING AND UNDERSTANDING THE TERMS USED
1. Celibacy - is simply the state of being, for whatever reason, unmarried. The celibate
person is free to marry when she chooses to do so. In the Christian context celibacy involves, as
its appropriate form of chastity, abstention from sexual relations, that is, from fornication or
adultery. It is important for religious to realize that in our culture simply being celibate /
unmarried is not itself religiously significant. 18
“Celibacy (coelibatus) is the way of life of lay people outside matrimony and widowhood,
of those preparing for priesthood, of the deacons, and of priests. It seems rather a male concept.
This term usually refers to men who have renounced marriage for a religious motivation.” 19
2. Consecrated Celibacy – involves, first of all, a free choice to remain unmarried for the
whole of one’s life to make it a state of life. Consecrated celibacy is the defining characteristic of
religious life as a public lifestyle in the Church. It is embraced for religious / supernatural motive,
not out of necessity, misfortune, or coercion. Permanence remains an essential characteristic of
15
Based on Judith A. Merkle, A Different Touch: A Study of Vows in Religious Life, p. 239.
16
Ibid., p. 247.
17
Based on E. Blais, Consecrated Celibacy, ibid., p. 150.
18
Sandra M. Schneiders, New Wineskins: Re-imagining Religious Life Today, ibid., p. 208.
19
John Thadathil, Handouts on Evangelical Counsels and Consecrated Life, ( ICLA, Quezon City, 1999 ),
pp. 71-72.
the life commitment of matrimony and religious profession. Sexual abstinence, that is,
abstinence from genital relationships, is the appropriate form of chastity for the consecrated
celibate as it is for any Christian celibate. 20
3. Chastity (Castitas, Castus) – “It is difficult to find an appropriate term for
religious celibacy. Chastity is certainly inadequate because all Christians are called to chastity
and religious chastity is no more chaste than married or single chastity.” 21
“This is the way of the consecrated (LG 42, 43; PC 1, 5, 12), of those preparing for the
priesthood (OT, 10), of young people before getting married (GS, 49), of those already
married (GS, 49, 51). This concept is applicable to all Christians. A chaste person is one who
lives his/her sexuality in the right way according to his/her vocation and charism. All
Christians must be perfectly chaste. People can be physically virgin but not chaste, chaste and
not physically virgin. 22
4. Virginity ( Virginitas ) – It is the way of Christ’s life ( LG, 46, 50; PC, 25 ), of
Mary (LG , 46, 57, 64 ), of consecrated persons ( LG 42, 50; PC 12, 25 ), of those preparing
for priestly ordination ( OT, 10 ), and of priests. It is rather a religious concept applied to all
consecrated men and women, and also to the priests. This is often considered as the condition
of bodily integrity resulting from the absence of sexual union and maternity. 23
5. Human Sexuality – It includes two principal aspects of a person namely, the
identity and interpersonal relationships; and the two dimensions namely, the physical or
biological dimension which includes genitality and the spiritual dimension which involves the
emotion called love. 24
6. Genital Sexuality – Refers to behavior, thoughts, fantasies, desires, and feelings
that involve or promote directly or indirectly genital behavior. Genital intercourse and
masturbation are two explicit forms of genital activity. Feelings and fantasies that activate
genital processes are also included in genital sexuality. 25
20
Sandra M. Schneiders, New Wineskins: Re-imagining Religious Life Today, ibid., pp. 208-209.
21
Ibid., p. 208.
22
John Thadathil, Handouts on Evangelical Counsels and Consecrated Life, ibid., p. 72.
23
Ibid., pp. 71-72.
24
Philomena Agudo, I Chose You ( Pasay City, Philippines: Daughters of St. Paul Publications, 1989 ), p.
113.
25
William F. Kraft, “Celibate Genitality,” comps., Readings on Psycho-Sexual Dynamics of Human
Sexuality, p. 230.
From the Constitutions and Statutes of Marist Brothers
Following the chaste Christ 19. It is Jesus who gives meaning and value to celibacy lived for
the sake of the Kingdom.
The Vow of Chastity 20. By the evangelical counsel of chastity, Jesus calls us to live, as He did,
a life wholly given to God and to people. Our accepting to be celibate “for the sake of the
kingdom of Heaven” (Mt 19,12) is our response to His call, and a witness to this Kingdom. This
acceptance brings into being a union with God that does not involve a human partner, and
establishes us as brothers to all people (ET 13). In professing the vow of chastity, we accept the
gift of the Father3, and we give ourselves to a love relationship with Christ and with Him alone,
holding nothing back. We set aside married love and fatherhood, and we live out perfect
continence in celibacy (ET 15) (c 599).
In Mary’s Footsteps 21. We look to Mary, as Father Champagnat did, as guide and support in
our learning to live the chaste life1. She is the woman who was the first to live a life of virginity
because of Christ (Luke 1, 38).
Chastity and Friendship 24. Chastity that is lived truly opens our hearts to friendship, which is
a gift of God, who reveals His love in a human person1. As consecrated men, we love those
whom we meet as brothers and sisters in Christ. We avoid any friendship that is exclusive or
possessive.
24.1 In our life of chastity, we must avoid a double danger - forgetting that this vow is a call to
love, and losing sight of the special quality of consecrated love. On the one hand, therefore, we
must resist the tendency to withdraw from friendship with others, and, especially, to withdraw
from the friendship of our Brothers. On the other hand, we must exercise prudence, which must
guide our relationships so that our friendships are consistent with our consecrated chastity, and
do not distance us from prayer, from the apostolate, or from community. If the need arises, we
notify the Superior of a situation that is becoming a problem for us.
Chastity, Prayer, Sacraments 25. To foster our love relationship with the Lord, we need to be
faithful to meeting Him in prayer, especially in meditation. Receiving the Body of the Lord gives
us strength to go on our way through difficulties
Presentation
Topics members
1 Dimensions of Religious Chastity; charismatic, community, Cedric, Pascoal, Paul,
Ecological; Missionary and Apostolic and Ascetical Fabien, Leonard, José
dimensions of Religious chastity
2 Religious Chastity as a sign: Christological, Ecclesiological Peter, Bartholomew,
and Eschatological Innoscension, Arinze
3 Uses and Abuses of the vow of chastity Elias, John, Mary
James, Telesphore, Sr
Rosette
4 Means to grow in chastity Etienne, Fortuna,
Daniel, Adi
5 Intimacy: A healthy way of living the vow of chastity. Rado, Kra, James,
Benson