【英语语言学习】牧师与独身者

This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin.

 

DR. THOMAS GROOME: It was the most difficult thing I had ever done in my life, by far, to leave priesthood. It was painful. It was excruciating. I remember saying to an old spiritual director. I said, Father, if I put as much effort into charity as I have to put into celibacy¹, I would be a saint. And he said, well, maybe it's taking too much effort to remain celibate². So, for other priests it may be a source of holiness and a source of growth. But for me it was not.

 

MARTIN: That's the voice of Thomas Groome. He is now a professor of religious education and pastoral ministry³ at Boston College, married with a 12-year-old son. But more than 40 years ago, he was ordained⁴ as a Catholic priest, committed to a life of celibacy. The Vatican, under Pope Francis, has recently said priestly celibacy is not a religious requirement and is therefore up for debate. It's a discussion former priest Thomas Groome says has been a long time coming. Thomas Groome is our Sunday Conversation.

 

GROOME: There are already many married priests in the Roman Catholic Church. The Eastern Catholic Church has, of course, never required celibacy of their priests. And increasingly, we've had a number of married priests in the Catholic Church - priests coming in from the Anglican tradition, the Episcopalian Church, some Lutherans and so on. They're all welcome with their wives and children. So, we already have in a sense a married priesthood emerging. The issue is should it remain mandatory⁵ for those of us who grew up in the tradition? I think it would bring a tremendous influx⁶ of very fine priests into the church. I've worked at Boston College for 37 years, and I couldn't count the number of young men across the years - I would literally⁷ say hundreds - who have said to me that they'd love to be a priest but they don't want to accept the celibacy requirement. They want to get married, have a family, which is a perfectly⁸ natural desire, built into us by almighty⁹ God. And to be turning away such high-quality young people or to be sending away some of our finest priests because they want to marry seems, at least, problematic.

 

MARTIN: You yourself were a priest for 17 years. When you were first going into the priesthood, how did you think about celibacy?

 

GROOME: I was in an old Irish seminary back in the late '60s, early '70s. At that time, we thought everything was going to change. They changed the Mass. And if you can change the Mass, we thought you could change everything. You know, I remember very vividly¹⁰ an instance in my seminary when one of my colleagues put up his hand and asked our professor, Father Larry Ryan, who went on to become the bishop¹¹ of Kildare and Leighlin - has since gone home to God - and this student asked him, Father, will the celibacy thing ever become optional? And I never forgot his answer. He said, yes, within five years. But the next 35, 40 years of pontificates, with John Paul II and Benedict and so on, were simply unwilling¹² to discuss this issue, even though lots of parts of the world - in Africa, in South America and other places - the celibacy thing has never been a cultural success. It has never had appeal. So, there's many parts of the world, even more so than the United States, where the celibacy has been a very ill fit. So, I think honestly facing it now and with the help of God, Francis will have that kind of sentiment. I think it's a conversation we should have had 50 years ago but I'd certainly welcome it now.

 

MARTIN: It must have been complicated for you though, having made what is to be a lifelong commitment to this life, but you were privately¹³ hoping for this rule to change.

 

GROOME: Yes. You know, and I remember a great question my spiritual director used to ask me was - is it helping¹⁴ you to live your baptism better to remain celibate? And I had to gradually begin to say for me, no, it is not. And that was a hugely painful realization¹⁵ and then how do I tell my family? How do I tell my village? All of this was very painful. I never wanted to leave priesthood. I'd love to have stayed in priesthood. And, of course, I was blessed in many ways. I could continue to do a good deal of what a priest does. I continue to teach the faith in ways that are life-giving and faith-filled. But it was a huge, painful decision. And, as I said, by far the most difficult of my life.

 

MARTIN: How did you friends and family respond?

 

GROOME: In varied¹⁶ ways. They were respectful and my family love me and were accepting of it. And yet I know many of them were bewildered by it, disappointed in it. They understand a little better now, especially in light of some of the debunking¹⁷ of the pedestalized myth that had surrounded priesthood, tragically¹⁸ in many ways, with the dreadful scandals and cover-ups and all the rest of it. But I think most Catholic laity¹⁹ now understand why celibacy would be a terribly difficult life to live, especially for the diocesan priests. So much of it is a very lonely life. And so I think family have realized that it wasn't a loss of faith on my part. It was simply that I - the lifestyle in which I found myself simply was not nurturing²⁰ and life-giving. In fact, it probably was becoming destructive of me. And I think that's one of the dangers of obligatory²¹ celibacy, that it can lead to self-destructive and outer-destructive behavior.

 

MARTIN: Was there a moment, was there a specific event when that loneliness came into relief?

 

GROOME: I think the moment of decision came for me during a 30-day retreat. And I had gone on the retreat quite unsuspecting. About the 18th day, I began to realize that I was fooling myself and trying to fool my director, who was a wise, old Jesuit priest and wasn't easily fooled, which is why he kept bringing me back to the question: is your celibacy a source of holiness and a source of wholeness and joy in your life? And I kept saying, well, no, it's not, but I really want to be a priest. I love being a priest. I'm committed to being a priest. I think I'm a fairly decent priest. And so I'll put up with it. It's, you know, an irksome and difficult and lonely but I'll soldier on. But then by about the 18th day, my house of cards collapsed²² and I had to face into realizing that this wasn't true. And then I gradually made the decision - I didn't rush out and get married the next day. I took a leave of absence from priesthood. And during that year, spent time in a Trappist monastery²³, considered at one point and had some conversation with becoming a Jesuit possibly. 'Cause my attitude was, well, if I'm going to try, if I'm going to live this celibacy then let me live it in community, because part of my difficulty was the loneliness of it. And so I thought, well, maybe I'd do better in a good avowed²⁴ religious community where at least I'd have some community support. But as I said, in the midst of that year, I met this wonderful woman and fell in love and she was open to falling in love with me and marrying me. And so, indeed, that's precisely²⁵ what we did about two years later. I applied²⁶ to Rome for dispensation and got it, received it, and then eventually we moved on into marriage together.

 

MARTIN: Has being a husband and a father affected²⁷ your faith at all, introduced a new dimension to it?

 

GROOME: Oh, yes. Oh, my goodness. Indeed, enriched it enormously. I've often said I'd love to go back and re-preach some of the sermons I gave on marriage now that I know a little bit more about it. I wouldn't be nearly as self-righteous and as advising either, because I know the challenges of it. And in many ways my marriage has become a tremendous call to holiness for me. So, I think priests would be - their lives would be enormously enriched by being married.

 

MARTIN: Would you go back if the celibacy requirement disappeared?

 

GROOME: Let me say, Rachel, that I would certainly sit down with my wife and have a long conversation about it. And with my little boy, with my son. But certainly I'd be very excited about the possibilities.

 

MARTIN: Former priest Thomas Groome chairs the department of religious education at Boston College.

1 celibacy   

n.独身(主义)

参考例句：

• People in some religious orders take a vow of celibacy. 有些宗教修会的人发誓不结婚。
• The concept of celibacy carries connotations of asceticism and religious fervor. 修道者的独身观念含有禁欲与宗教热情之意。

2 celibate   

adj.独身的，独身主义的；n.独身者

参考例句：

• He had defended the institution of a celibate priesthood.他捍卫了独身牧师制度。
• The instinct of the celibate warned him to hold back.单身汉的本能告诫他回头是岸。

3 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

4 ordained   

v.任命（某人）为牧师( ordain的过去式和过去分词 )；授予（某人）圣职；（上帝、法律等）命令；判定

参考例句：

• He was ordained in 1984. 他在一九八四年被任命为牧师。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He was ordained priest. 他被任命为牧师。 来自辞典例句

5 mandatory   

adj.命令的；强制的；义务的；n.受托者

参考例句：

• It's mandatory to pay taxes.缴税是义务性的。
• There is no mandatory paid annual leave in the U.S.美国没有强制带薪年假。

6 influx   

n.流入，注入

参考例句：

• The country simply cannot absorb this influx of refugees.这个国家实在不能接纳这么多涌入的难民。
• Textile workers favoured protection because they feared an influx of cheap cloth.纺织工人拥护贸易保护措施，因为他们担心涌入廉价纺织品。

7 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

8 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

9 almighty   

adj.全能的，万能的；很大的，很强的

参考例句：

• Those rebels did not really challenge Gods almighty power.这些叛徒没有对上帝的全能力量表示怀疑。
• It's almighty cold outside.外面冷得要命。

10 vividly   

adv.清楚地，鲜明地，生动地

参考例句：

• The speaker pictured the suffering of the poor vividly.演讲者很生动地描述了穷人的生活。
• The characters in the book are vividly presented.这本书里的人物写得栩栩如生。

11 bishop   

n.主教，（国际象棋）象

参考例句：

• He was a bishop who was held in reverence by all.他是一位被大家都尊敬的主教。
• Two years after his death the bishop was canonised.主教逝世两年后被正式封为圣者。

12 unwilling   

adj.不情愿的

参考例句：

• The natives were unwilling to be bent by colonial power.土著居民不愿受殖民势力的摆布。
• His tightfisted employer was unwilling to give him a raise.他那吝啬的雇主不肯给他加薪。

13 privately   

adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地

参考例句：

• Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
• The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。

14 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

15 realization   

n.实现；认识到，深刻了解

参考例句：

• We shall gladly lend every effort in our power toward its realization.我们将乐意为它的实现而竭尽全力。
• He came to the realization that he would never make a good teacher.他逐渐认识到自己永远不会成为好老师。

16 varied   

adj.多样的，多变化的

参考例句：

• The forms of art are many and varied.艺术的形式是多种多样的。
• The hotel has a varied programme of nightly entertainment.宾馆有各种晚间娱乐活动。

17 debunking   

v.揭穿真相，暴露( debunk的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The debunking of religion has been too successful. 对于宗教的揭露太成功了。 来自互联网

18 tragically   

adv. 悲剧地，悲惨地

参考例句：

• Their daughter was tragically killed in a road accident. 他们的女儿不幸死于车祸。
• Her father died tragically in a car crash. 她父亲在一场车祸中惨死。

19 laity   

n.俗人；门外汉

参考例句：

• The Church and the laity were increasingly active in charity work.教会与俗众越来越积极参与慈善工作。
• Clergy and laity alike are divided in their views.神职人员和信众同样都观点各异。

20 nurturing   

养育( nurture的现在分词 )； 培育； 滋长； 助长

参考例句：

• These delicate plants need careful nurturing. 这些幼嫩的植物需要精心培育。
• The modern conservatory is not an environment for nurturing plants. 这个现代化温室的环境不适合培育植物。

21 obligatory   

adj.强制性的，义务的，必须的

参考例句：

• It is obligatory for us to obey the laws.我们必须守法。
• It is obligatory on every citizen to safeguard our great motherland.保卫我们伟大的祖国是每一个公民应尽的义务。

22 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

23 monastery   

n.修道院，僧院，寺院

参考例句：

• They found an icon in the monastery.他们在修道院中发现了一个圣像。
• She was appointed the superior of the monastery two years ago.两年前她被任命为这个修道院的院长。

24 avowed   

adj.公开声明的，承认的v.公开声明，承认( avow的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• An aide avowed that the President had known nothing of the deals. 一位助理声明，总统对这些交易一无所知。
• The party's avowed aim was to struggle against capitalist exploitation. 该党公开宣称的宗旨是与资本主义剥削斗争。 来自《简明英汉词典》

25 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

26 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

27 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。