Steven Patrick. I am a 71 yr old member of Casey's order. My life has been filled with happiness and has been a blessing. Even on the most difficult days I never felt my life to be wasted.

Marriage is almost forced in some cultures to the point where people freak out at the mention of celibacy. I’m not religious but I can definitely see how celibacy is appealing just as much as marriage is to some people. Not everyone is meant to find meaning in life the exact same way.

I am not even catholic, but this guy is amazing! Thanks for your service!

I'm not catholic, but as a protestant, this is the best video on celibacy I've seen.

I agree with everything you say. I'm single and for the last year, celibate. My life has never been better. So many friends and family push me to have a relationship. The problem is I get it. They don't. If I end up in a relationship one day it will be because it's meant to be not because I'm out looking for it because that's what society dictates. This is the reason for high divorce rates.

As a recently baptised catholic, I really enjoyed this video and subscribed! There should be more young catholic people like you present in the new media :)

Father Casey, I am a lay celibate as I have autism and am still waiting for Providence to give me the appropriate young woman. Some days are lonely and I also observe 'homemade' or self imposed vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. Pray for me please. God bless.

Six months later I read what I wrote here and It makes me very sad. I hope everyone forgives me for having acted like I have answers when I don't. It's true no one can know if God exists , but no one can know if He doesn't exist either. I think we have to look at life , the traditions handed down to us, our own experiences, the experiences of others, and at some point bring it all together to make a picture. Does that picture include God? At one time I was sure it didn't, now I'm very close to sure that it does. Why am I happier now than I was before. Why does it feel better to believe than not believe? Why are bad things so much less bad with God in the picture? Why does everything, and I mean EVERYTHING make so much more sense with God than without God? I have stories of people in my life who have died and have given me clear signs they haven't died at all. I wear the Cross of Jesus and I feel at peace, but when I put it away in a drawer for months I felt torn apart, unhealthy, and desperate . All this HAS to have meaning. I can't pretend something exists when it doesn't, yet what I've been feeling is that what I'm really pretending is that all the evidence that tells me God does exist has to be erased in the name of a reality science wants to exclusively hold. I probably make very little sense here, but I think I make a lot more sense now than I did 6 months ago when I made my original comments. Pray for me and I will pray for you too !

Thank you for being so thorough in your answers to questions re: celibacy. There is such a centeredness and calm in your responses to people who are upset. This is a great skill and grace to have when working with people...have a blessed day!

I look toward to watching your videos every time you make one! Thank you for all you do!!

This is without a doubt the best explanation of celibacy I have ever heard! Thank you Br Casey, thank you!

I think that celibacy is really a gift and that priests being celibate is for want of a better word is really SELFLESS . I have great admiration for this aspect of the Catholic Clergy

This is so freeing. In a world where there is a lot of spoken and unspoken pressure to conform to "house holding" and where it's hard to put a spiritual path above fitting in, this insight is super compelling. Thank you!

One positive I see about celibacy as a male, is not having to deal with performance anxiety. I don't just mean the possible physical side affect of that, but the mental stress that some of us carry even if we can physically perform.

Beautiful video! It's refreshing to hear a young priest talking this way with such enthusiasm about celibacy. God bless you.

We need more Caseys in this world to help to built the Reing of God. The real life is praise to God every moment of the day. Serve to the poor and the church never is wasted the life.

Thank you, Brother Casey, for clearing up a lot of the misunderstanding about celibacy and chastity.

Many thanks for giving us Rev. McPartlen's insight on this. As a married Presbyterian, I greatly appreciate it.

Thank you for your input on these tough subjects. God bless you and all our priests. Without you men stepping up to be priests we would be like sheep without a shepherd. Pray for all of you daily.

good video Brother Casey, as always! We pray for you even here in Italy. Go on!!

Giving you credit fr. I can’t do what you do but thank you for putting this stuff out there.

GREAT! Thank so much brother

Your videos should be required in catechism. They are so good!

I love this channel. Br. Casey you’re awesome. Great videos :)

Very good teaching 👍 We pray for all the priests to be faithful to the promises made at the time of their ordination. Chastity is a very beautiful gift. Married life seems to look good, but it's not that easy.

God bless you. I love your channel and discussions !

You are serving the Lord with great devotions nd honestly. You are blessed always.God bless you dear.

Thanks Brother! Helps with my discernment.

Thank you for sharing your wisdom with us ! 👍🏻🙏🏻❤️

Superbly well explained and a very contemporary subject

Dear Father Casey. May God bless You for ever. There are Few like You. Thank You Dear Lord

Bless you Fr.Cassey very interesting video

I'm agnostic my self but I like how he explains Christian doctrine

Thankyou dear bro.clearing so many question in my mind..God bless you dear.

There's something particularly comforting about a young really smart person being such a great teacher. Makes me feel like the future is going to be ok.

A protestant once said that celibacy is immoral. When I gave him verses where Jesus said about celibacy, he was silent and left the discussion. New at least he realized

Excellent work Father.

Thank you very much for your wonderful video

people arguing that it isnt biblical just dont want to look at the fact that we are all to emulate Christ within us. And for some Christ has given them that wondefyl grace to emulate him in auch a way of celebacy. and besides the beauty of the theology behind celebacy far outshines any reasoning to why ones shouldnt. A preist wedding his church as Christ loved and wedded his church.

The problem is that, at least in my country, most men choose priesthood (thus permanent celibacy) when they are about 19. Even when they graduate from a seminary and take their vows at the age of 25 or 26, they are - in my opinion - still too young to understand how heavy the burden of celibacy might become in the future. As a result, it is common knowledge here that many of them live a lie, have sexual partners or "wives". I remember two priests in my parish who "had a woman" and a child; when it became too obvious (there was no excessive secrecy about it ;-)), the priests were relocated to another city, as it is customary here. I also remember a priest in his 30s who was obsessed with sex and, during our RE classes, he made us talk a lot about it. I felt very uneasy in class because of that, I was only in my early teens then but found his interests rather strange and unhealthy.

As a long, long-lapsed Catholic, I always thought the difference between celibacy and chastity was important but it wasn't mentioned. I still loved the video.

Thank you Father 🙏 very informative video

They're really good reasons, thanks. I also think the family-liability argument is actually quite considerable. I think a person has far more time to focus on their mission, than they would have with a family, and Paul confirms this in 1 Cor 7:32-35. A life of celibacy still scares me though. Love and sex seem like such incredible pleasures. On the balance of everything will I really maximise my well being by remaining celibate? It feels like such an immense joy that I'm giving up.

You are a man of faith father. Nobody is a saint before he dies but... I think you will be. Keep going thru that path. God bless you a be saint.

I think you forgot one more reason which is very important, in my opinion as a catholic, and that is confession. In marriage you are supposed to tell your spouse everything and not keep secrets hence it's logical for a priest or any other member of the church carrying out confessions to not marry in order to keep the people's sins between themselves, God and the priest. If priest were married I personally wouldn't trust getting a confession myself.

Hello Father. So I am a new seminarian and somehow was looking for inspiration and landed on your channel. Best decision ever. For someone who graduated with Film, I started to question. However, watching your videos has given me hope. Quick question, was the green screen deliberate not to be keyed or what? Thank you for your inspiring vids

Considering I was once married and I then chose celibate life later, then was given an opportunity for marriage again, the Church gives us the GIFT of celibacy. One can't turn backwards once going forward. It's nice to know that as a religious person in the Catholic Church, I as a woman and you as men, have options to be holy people -- and still serve the Lord. Loneliness is getting very difficult, for me, though, in order to move forward with my work and school and I would not want to contaminate my partner who I dearly love, so he entered the military. And he doesn't want to contaminate me, so there we have it: back to the pains of suffering for my spouse. Literally at this point. My spouse AND the church. Which is good, because I have three grown children and three grandchildren. I am enduring. It's simply the absence of the Love of marriage right now, for sure for me and I know that it is for the love of my life, Cesar Augusto David Escobar Calderone....

Awesome, this was great!

I’ll never understand this , but it is very much admired.

Thank you Father Casey

Thankyou for that...So important to have Holy Priests. Not sure who it was who said that a priest is more important than an Angel. The Miracle at every Mass is amazing. To receive Jesus in the EUCHARIST is like food for the soul if we are in the state of Grace

Can you please create a how to celibacy video for divorced catholics, and those who could never get married: So celibacy not so much as by choice, but because of other reasons, like faith or bad luck. TY. Is masturbation allowed?

Thank you, Casey.

Thank you so much fr bright explanation on celibate life for priests and what would you say about the religious women.

Enjoying listening in.

Brother Casey, was there a point you thought you may be called to priest hood? Had you known for a while you were called to the consecrated life? What would you say to people who have a potential call to this way of life? Lastly, i have spoke to a few friars about their calling here in the UK, each one different. I wondered was there any doubt for you at times? How did you manage that? I havent looked at all your videos so many some answers are there? thanks and God bless Tony

As you rightly point out Brother Casey , celibacy is a discipline and one that is a basic part of my life .

I was raised Protestant but I enjoy your videos!

The council in Carthage was over ruled by the 2nd echumentical Council where it stated “to require this is setting forth a criteria of holiness greater than the apostles. We as the Church acknowledge that the lawful marriage ties become STRONGER after ordination. If any man seen worth to be ordained a Subdeacon, Deacon, or Priest dismisses his wife let him be Deposed. Else we would be down right scornful of marriage, an institution blessed by our Lord himself by this presence and words.”

Is it true that married men can serve the church by being deacons (with the spouse's permission)?

I used to know a Lithuanian priest who was ,"Married", with 3 children ! I am married , but both my wife and I live lives of Prayer & Celibacy !

What about deacons? Were they expected to stay continent after ordination? It intrigues me, because the Church now ordinates married men to be permanent deacons.

Many years a go, Priests were married. Often times, their heirs inherited church property and the church put an end to that in The Second Lateran Council (1139) made the promise to remain celibate a prerequisite to ordination, abolishing the married priesthood. Exact.y, married clergy have been doing things easily being married for how long now?

I think relationships take commitment, sacrifice and a lot of hard work. I'm sure you as a friar and with the work you do, feel although it's your calling you need to fully commit to it to nurture your calling. I get it. If you chose to marry you would need to put all that sacrifice into the relationship and home, many do that and it's what should happen in a healthy marriage. For you you feel within you a vocation that for you is stronger than marriage and that spreading and working God's word is what you need to nurture for yourself. BTW I'm actually an atheist lol but I'm very open and interested in others ways of life and I found your channel and I think you are pretty cool. I admire you for being you in this day and age and following your heart. I'm actually learning a lot from you and your thinking on life even though I don't plan on converting I respect you. Good job:)

So why isn't contience required of married priests now (those who have come over from the Angelican church).

I’m not religious by any means but I practice celibacy so I can relate

Br. Casey and the priest named some excellent reasons for transitional deacons, priests, and religious to be celebate. I think celibacy is a gift, both for the individual making the promise of celibacy or the religious taking the vow of chasitity. Celibacy or chastitity are gifts from God to the clergyman or religious and they are gifts from the recipient to the Mystical Body of Christ There are some practical advantages as well. I discovered that while I was a seminarian in my first parish, there are a lot of needy people out there and the only place they can go to get consolation, spititual direction, a friendly ear, something to eat, or gas money even at 2:30 AM is a Catholic Church, even if they are not Catholic. No wife would would stand for the time a priest is away from the family to take care of some ministerial need. This may be a bit old fashioned these days but since prayer is essential and community is is important and helpful celibacy is necessary. One other thing, matrimony and holy orders are sacraments of vocation, different vocations requiring 100% commitment. I don't think most people can adequately do both. I have noticed that recently diocesan priests have more and more left rectories to live in apartments or somewhere else that isn't a rectory. Were I a diocesan bishop I would consider requiring clergy to live a communal life together in rectories. By communal life I mean celebrating Mass together, praying the Liturgy of the Hours together, dining together, and recreating together. I would also consider them to be in the same Jesu Caritas group. If parishes are rural and have only one priest. I would ask all of the priests in a particular area to live together in one house. They can still make themselves available to parishioners by phone. I do know something about diocesean life as I compleated seminary at a Benedictine monastery and spent a year in a large rectory. I also spent a couple of years as a missionary on Guam as a Capuchin.

Both. Gift AND burden. Everything in life, it seems, has a double edge.

Brother Casey, I'm slightly disappointed that you didn't mention the point of view from some of the eastern rites. A friend of mine is considering a vocation to the priesthood as a married byzantine priest. In the Ruthenian (Byzantine) rite, the discipline is that only celibates can be considered when it comes to picking the next bishop, but married men can serve as parochial priests and missionaries.

1 nemind... in reply. where does it say a priest/pastor must be married. Also... Peter was married and other Apostles... it says in Scripture... Christ said leave Mother father....everything.. come follow me... and they did.

The link to the bishops blog does not work, could you fix it? :)

Celibacy is a gift of the Holy Spirit, no different from healing, tongues, or giving. God gives different gifts to different people. No one should be inherently expected to be celibate, just like no one is expected to speak in tongues. If God wills it, it is a beautiful gift. If He doesn’t, that’s fine too-He will give other, equally important gifts. It’s important not to elevate one spiritual gift over others, as they all are given and taken away by the same God.

Thank you father i love u put video avery days

Is the passage from Matthrew: 19, 12 referring to celibacy or getting castrated? Some people, e.g., Origen, took the Bible seriously and got castrated. Just wondering...

Celibacy... Gift... it's a Gift of Purity.

I think in a religious order it would be difficult to be married, as living is communal. I wonder if married men could serve as diocesan priests in some format. I know of men who left the priesthood to marry. They agonized over leaving. I wonder if there could be a place for them, especially with the priest shortage.

While I fully understand the spiritual depth and religious availability of a celibate priest, I cannot help thinking the church would gain by initiating a two tier priesthood some similar to our eastern and oriental orthodox brothers. The Vatican should order a three year study of married priests in both orthodox and Lutheran and Anglican parishes. The church should allow married couples who have shown outstanding holiness and service to be ordained. Their sacramental authority would be limited to the mass, baptism, marriage, anointing of the sick. I can just imagine Catholics returning to the faith by the millions as well as thousands of men asking to service. This of course is not a new idea.

Just because Mount Everest is the highest peak on Earth doesn't mean we should all live there.. yes the highest ideal is being celibate like Jesus but it is not healthy or realistic to preclude all priests from Marriage when God allowed marriage and the Catholic church until the 11th century allowed marriage! St Peter was married remember? The church should make it an option. The Orthodox Church requires priests to be married but the Bishops and obviously the monks are not married. This is a much more balanced wiser approach

It does take a lot of worldly pressure off a person having a vocation that encourages celibacy. No one questioning why you have not married yet, no pressure in dating, etc... Sounds rather nice actually.

If this is an inappropriate question I apologize but I've always been curious. Taking the vow of celibacy, does that include not masturbating? Speaking from a guy's perspective, we all have urges. What do priests do when they feel them if they take a vow of celibacy? Thanks.

I knew three different friends in my lifetime that has fathers who are protestant ministers and all of them and their siblings and even one of their mother was screwed up by their fathers attending more time to their congregation than to their families. The mother ended up having an affair with someone from their church and my friends wife even became involved in witchcraft. After those examples I became convinced at an early age that it was a good idea that priests shouldn't get married. Other examples are that two of the children of these ministers ended in jail for various reasons.

So, how do you deal with the biological aspect of intense desire, especially as a young man still full of hormones and reproductive urges? Is masturbation allowed, and how does that fit into the practice of being celibate?

Celibacy is a choice and gift as well. I asked a monk once if he has no sexual urges at all. He said he has that explains everything.

Fr. Casey, did Peter have a mother-in-law? (Matthew 8:14-17, Mark 1:29-31, Luke 4:38) Did Peter's wife pass away before before he became an apostle?

Fr. Casey...wasn't the text misread? Celebrate? Right! I'm kidding. Listen, Im married and sometimes we too are celibate! Lol🤣🤣🤣

The part about the superiority of celibacy was very confusing, because it is true that celibacy is better than marriage, and that's. defined in the Council of Trent. That's not to say marriage is bad, on the contrary! I know you didn't deny it, but you almost talk about it as if it was wrong. True, it's not sufficient to explain priestly celibacy, but that doesn't make it less true.

that other priest accent is beautiful you sound good to casey i just like how different his is

I’m a bit confused...the part about celibacy being greater than marriage...doesn’t god need people to marry in order to continue existing? How does the catholic religion continue if everyone remains celibate and there is no one left to preach to? I wasn’t brought up religious I’m just starting to learn so bare with me...if god relies on people marrying should he hold celibacy in a higher regard? 🤷‍♀️

I believe celibacy is a gift, but only to those who have a calling for it. It should not be imposed on anyone. One reason I'm not Roman Catholic, but I still respect them as an Episcopalian :)

I'm not looking towards being a priest but I am going to stay celibate

Of course no one is perfect but with God's grace getting back on track can happen quickly

Question: if God commanded humanity to be fruitful and multiply, then by choosing to be celibate aren't priests violating God's command and committing a sin?

An excellent vedio on celibacy

What did Jesus mean when he says because they were born that way? It’s a vague statement can you elaborate?

Indeed it is a rich tradition, but it ignores that the institution of the marriage is older and more affluent in content than the institution of the church so much that, as you pointed out, the relation of the ordained to the church is as if they were wedded to it. In some of the Abrahamic literature, marriage is regarded as an essential and holy bond before god. I'm not sure about Catholisim, but in many traditions, literature is superior to precedent.

I'm a 41 year old US Marine, medical disability. 5 deployments, 3 in war zone. Im a virgin. Right out of hs went to corps, really do not have time extra curriculum. IED made my virginity permanent.

It takes 6 year to become a Priest so its plenty of time to discern your call if you are mature enough , I do think that candidates to the priesthood are more worldly now than before and there is more care taken on weeding out those who are not suitable ..

I have a question for you. I was baptized as a catholic and raised in a Lutheran, can I be member of the Catholic Church? Thanks for your time and what you do. Bob

What should I do with morning wood? (Beat it into submission?)

I remember talking with a priest who jokingly said he’s not sure that married clergy will ever be allowed, but if it was it he was sure it wouldn’t be until he was too old to take advantage of it.