Plymouth — A lack of support for one’s calling is difficult, Emily Martin realized; a thought that prompted her to write a letter sent to approximately 200 recipients.

“A year ago, I was working at a church supply store and a priest came in,” said Martin, who lives in Plymouth and attends Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish.

“We were all talking and (the priest) started talking about celibacy, and how he wished the Church would change her position on celibacy for priests,” she said.

Martin said she was only a few months away from getting married herself and was excited about her own vocation. Studying pastoral theology at Sacred Heart Major Seminary had also helped her better understand the beauty of the different vocations in Catholic life.

“I was amazed because I was so happy in my vocation,” she said. “I was trying to tell him how beautiful his vocation was.”



Martin remembered feeling discouraged after the conversation.

“The priest had said that he never felt support,” she said. “If my marriage wasn’t supported, I’d probably feel like it was a burden too,” she added.

When she got home from work, Martin decided she wanted to do something about it, which gave rise to the idea of sending a letter thanking priests for their celibacy in service to the Church.

“I sat down and in 10 minutes I wrote the letter,” she said.

The letter, which can be found on Page 6 in this edition of The Michigan Catholic, begins with “Dear Father: This may be the first, last, or one of many times that you are sincerely thanked for your celibacy. God has put it on my heart to extend a ‘thank you’ for your sacrifice for our Church.”

The next day, she sent the letter to all of the priests and seminarians at Sacred Heart Major Seminary, and received several kind responses. She was encouraged by her now-husband, Adam Martin, to send the letter to all of the priests in the Archdiocese of Detroit.

In the end, around 200 letters had been sent.

Fr. George Pierre Ingram, a priest of the Companions of the Cross and an assistant professor of theology at Sacred Heart Major Seminary, said he was surprised when he received it.

“We do receive a lot of support and affirmation from the people of God,” Fr. Ingram said. “We get praised for our ministry, generosity or preaching — it is usually directed toward what we do. But it’s very rare to be praised for who we are, our identity, and our celibacy in particular.”

He said there are many opinions in society either criticizing or defending priests’ celibacy, but there is “not always a depth of understanding of what it means.”

Martin’s letter, he said, “is not naïve at all; she understood that many priests struggle with celibacy in their lives. She showed a deep understanding of why the Church allows her priests to be celibate in the Latin Church.”

Fr. Steve Mateja, associate pastor at Our Lady of Good Counsel in Plymouth, had led Emily and Adam Martin in their marriage preparation program and celebrated their wedding liturgy.

He said he was surprised when receiving the letter, and taken aback by the words, which “spoke not just to the theological ideal of celibacy, but to the beauty of the gift of living a celibate life.”

After receiving the letter, he encouraged Martin in her project, “because others could benefit from it as well … to grow in the love and appreciation for their celibate life.”

Fr. Mateja said chastity is a virtue all people are called to live, and celibacy is a gift from God for particular vocations, not something “forced.”

“So all of us are called to live chastely in our own vocations in life: married people, single people, priests and religious,” he said.