The Growing Socio-Cultural Acceptance of Priestly Celibacy among the Indigenous Nandi Community in Nandi County, Kenya

Abstract

Priestly celibacy, a distinctive characteristic of the ministerial priesthood in the Catholic Church, has courted controversies within and outside the Church. Indigenous African communities largely held a cultural and philosophical thought on marriage as a foundation of continuity of life. Few studies have examined the emergence of priestly celibacy in the Catholic Church and due to the existing contextual gaps in studies on priestly celibacy, the paper critically assessed the acceptability/non-acceptability of priestly celibacy among the Nandi community, Nandi County, Kenya. The paper took a qualitative exploratory cross-sectional design. The study purposively sampled 33 community members including sages aged over 75 years in three distinct localities in Nandi County; Kobujoi, Kabiyet and Tindiret sub-counties for their indigeneity. Data was collected through interviews and focus group discussions. The data were transcribed before being subjected to a content analysis tool (NVivo 8, QSR International). The findings indicated that the Indigenous Nandi community could not fathom the practicality of priestly celibacy. They loathed Fr. Joseph Kuhn on sight (the pioneering Catholic priest in Nandi County in the 1930s). Celibate Catholic priests were not culturally and socially accepted by the Nandi community in the mid-20th century but by the turn of the 21st century, priestly celibacy had gained acceptance as indicated by the acclamation of Late Fr Martin Boyle (Irish Priest who settled in Taachasis, Tindiret in the 1990s). The two White priests from different eras and contexts reflect the evolving nature of priestly celibacy in the Nandi Community, Nandi County, Kenya. The gradual societal shift towards priestly celibacy at the community level has probably arisen because of the value attached to purity in religious festivals and ceremonies. Thus, the study concludes there still exist cultural and social rigidities among the Nandi Community with regard to priestly celibacy in the Catholic Church. The study recommends that the celibacy requirement for the Catholic priesthood should be upheld based on the growing acceptance of priestly celibacy among the community