PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – The Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence is airing a commercial touting the benefits of a celibate lifestyle as part of an annual television campaign to encourage young men to consider joining the priesthood.
The 30-second spot features priests from the diocese speaking about the meaning of celibacy and their decisions to abstain from sex.
“Celibacy is the opportunity to serve and to love,” one priest says.
The commercial is one of two that will be broadcast more than 400 times combined on cable television stations – including ESPN, Comedy Central, MTV, Discovery and TNT – from Christmas Day through late January, the diocese announced Friday. They are also available on YouTube, the video-sharing Internet site.
The diocese has done similar outreach campaigns in the last few years, but this is the first one to feature local priests speaking on camera about the priesthood, said the Rev. Michael Najim, the diocese’s assistant vocations director.
“We want people to understand that celibacy is not a life of isolation,” Najim said Friday. “Celibacy is not a life of suppression.”
Najim said even though celibacy has been attacked by some as an “outrageous lifestyle,” he said it was actually “deeply intimate,” sacred and also inspires reflection.
He said any man studying to become a priest at one point or another has grappled with the question of whether he can live a celibate lifestyle.
The other TV ad, titled “Fulfillment,” includes footage of Bishop Thomas Tobin, a young child being baptized and other religious rituals.
Currently, 22 men from the Diocese of Providence are studying for the priesthood, and six are in the application process, Najim said.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
