Per Christum Catholic Blog

The relationship between the vocation of family life and the celibate vocations are well connected. Priests don’t just appear out of no where. They are, often, the sons of devout Catholic fathers.

In some circles, the sight of a pious young man who is single and church attending occasions considerable excitement: perhaps we have a future priest here!

But with American Catholic birthrates being exceedingly low in most sectors, and the need for greater rejuvenation and renewal in parochial family life still pressing, sometimes, that pious, young, single, church-going man actually needs to be introduced to a pious, young, single, church-going lady, to meet, marry, and make some Catholic bambinos, and make their spiritual journey together for life.

In a real way, the wrongly termed “vocations crisis” is well related to the wrongly termed “marriage crisis”. There is certainly correlation between healthy Catholic families and vocations. More failed marriages = fewer vocations.

For your consideration, dear readers, I give you: Marriage And Celibacy: Love’s Link: Interview With Author Father José Manglano. By Miriam Díez i Bosch.

MADRID, Spain, JAN. 14, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Father José Pedro Manglano says history has shown that when marriages are in crisis, the vocation to celibacy also has problems.

The priest speaks of the link between matrimony and celibacy in his new book, “El Amor y Otras Idioteces: Guía Práctica Para No Perder a Quien Tú Quieres” (Love and Other Foolishness: A Practical Guide to Avoid Losing Your Beloved).

In this interview with ZENIT, Father Manglano explains what true love is, and how it can become eternal.

Q: A priest speaking about “love and other foolishness” — this attracts attention …

Father Manglano: How funny that you start there! That’s what everyone asks me …

Q: But I insist, it isn’t common …

Father Manglano: Quite true. It’s obvious that it’s something that attracts attention. But, why is it the first question that comes to mind? Perhaps what is being asked could be rephrased: What can a celibate have to say about love? As if it is taken for granted that one who opts to be celibate makes himself a stranger to the question of love.

It seems to me that this seemingly unimportant fact points to a situation clearly spelled out in Benedict XVI’s “The Salt of the Earth”: History shows that in the eras in which marriages are in crisis, celibacy is as well.

Q: Why does a celibacy crisis come along with a marriage crisis?

Father Manglano: Celibacy and matrimony, just as the Church suggests, are the two sublime ways of attaining a life in love. There are other forms of loving lives, yes, but no other sublime forms.

Today we are experiencing a certain crisis in marriage, and we are living a certain crisis in the meaning of celibacy. It is not understood that the celibate could be a lover and can know about love. Nevertheless, his life is a loving exercise directed toward the man Christ, and to all men and women, near or far away.

And not only that: The celibate Christian has an experience of God who is Love, and from him, he receives wisdom. If that doesn’t seem true, ask St. John of the Cross, whose canticle is a paradigm of any loving relationship.

Q: But your book speaks of the love between boy/girlfriend and spouses.(Read All)