Scandalous news has a way of getting around the world at a speed which is truly mystifying. The news of what was described to me as Adrian Hastings’ latest eccentricity was no exception. “Fr. Hastings,” I was told some time in May right here in Ngara, “is this time proclaiming disobedience to his bishop as a virtue and trumpeting the announcement of his forthcoming wedding”.

In late September, I finally got hold of the offending piece (“On Celibacy”, New Blackfriars, March 1978. pp. 104-111). I soon felt less sorry for Fr. Hastings than for his detractors. In truth, I know of many priests who feel the way Fr Hastings says he does, with the difference that being better able to articulate the reasons for his feeling he can express it as a legitimate stand. Before I could quite make out the value of Fr Hastings’ arguments, I already felt sure that the most solid support for his position came from the saying of Jesus: “Go learn the meaning of the words: what I want is mercy, not sacrifice” (Mt. 9:13).

The fact, however, that so many members of the Church who cannot lightly be accused of hypocrisy still maintain that all priests must lead a celibate life prevents me from sharing Fr Hastings’ certainty in upholding the opposite view. Perhaps there are reasons beyond my understanding yet within theirs which make it wrong or at least inopportune to repeal the law of celibacy. Yet, one cannot be blamed for voicing an opinion and mine is that Fr Hastings, as a Catholic priest, is indeed free to marry, as are all Catholic priests who did not choose celibacy for its own sake but only agreed to it as to a conditio sine qua non to fulfil their vocation to the priesthood.