By Dominic Lawes
As one may know, celibacy is an important part of being a priest. If one doesn’t know, priests in the Roman Rite ordinarily are not married. There are of course practical reasons for a celibate priesthood but these are secondary to the spiritual and theological. An unmarried priest can give more of himself to his community and can relocate to different parishes as necessary, but it’s his example of the salvific unmarried life to come, and his living out in the person of Christ, who was also unmarried, that gives life and meaning to the celibate priesthood. The joyful and fulfilling call to the celibate life can only be realised and maintained with proper formation. Hence, for five days, six senior seminarians travelled up to Bendigo, where we dedicated time to learning, reflecting, and praying about the life of the celibate. We focused on the practical, human, psychological, and spiritual dynamics of the celibate life. A healthy and fulfilling celibate life is only found through a mature and consistent integration of such aspects.
Fortunately, we had Fr Jake Mudge at the helm of our five-day seminar, giving us the opportunity to deepen our understanding of what it means to live a mature and integrated celibate life. Fr Jake was until recently a formator at Corpus Christi before becoming the parish priest of Kennington, Bendigo. We were fortunate enough to take up residency in an old-style home, a five-minute walk from the CBD. Our home lent itself to being a comfortable and relaxing space to host Fr Jake’s short talks, as well as time for sharing experiences and reflections. Each morning we attended 9.15 am mass at Fr Jake’s parish. All six seminarians were introduced to the parish and received an excited reception. We always enjoy participating in parish life, wherever we go, as it is a motivating reminder of the priestly life we’re working towards. After Mass, we travelled home, grabbed our much-needed coffees, and awaited Fr Jake’s arrival for the morning sessions.
John Vespa in St Therese’s Church, Kennington, where Fr Jake Mudge is parish priest.
Our sessions focused on refreshing our knowledge of our junior seminars from our early years, as well as our personal vocation stories, the call of celibacy in them, and how our prayer lives, human relationships, and self-knowledge can work together to realise the joy of the celibate life. We were blessed to receive Fr Jake’s wisdom and experience with the issues discussed. Likewise, we were struck by each other’s sharing of our vocation stories and reflections. Not one of us could honestly say that we came back to Melbourne unchanged in our attitudes, dispositions, and motivations toward celibacy, or that we wouldn’t take what we learnt with us beyond ordination.