Things highly valued are enshrined in customs and tradition. Customs and tradition make us what we are. We are Catholics, not just Christians. We are a special brand of Christians.
The Catholic Church administers 7 sacraments, including Reconciliation. Their priests, representing the Church and God, hear the confessions of the faithful and absolve their sins. This absolution of sins is a service rather than an execution of authority. The Church sees herself an ambassador of reconciliation between God and sinners and among sinners. These priests, unlike Protestant pastors, are celibate. Why? The Catholic Church sees her priests as representatives of Jesus. Therefore, the Catholic Church consistently denies women the opportunity of ordination because Jesus is a man. Moreover, Jesus was single and devoted his whole life to evangelization. Therefore, the Catholic Church demands priests to be celibate, though the apostles, bishops and overseers of the early church were mostly married. It is unimaginable, or even offensive to think of Jesus having married to a woman.
Indeed, it is advantageous to have a celibate Jesus. Had Jesus married to a woman, part of his life would have belonged to that woman. He would not totally belong to the believers. Similarly, it is important for the Blessed Virgin Mary to remain perpetually a virgin, despite contrary evidence found in the gospels. The Church wants a total ownership of Mary. The Church will not allow a husband to claim any right over Mary. The Church wants to claim an exclusive right herself. Our Lady is the Mother of the Church. If somebody fathers the Church, that somebody can only be God and not any ordinary mortals. Therefore, St. Joseph can only be the husband of Mary in name, be her protector and the legal guardian of Jesus. Therefore, St. Joseph could not have any sexual relation with Mary. The gospel says otherwise.
When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took his wife,
but knew her not until she had borne a son; and he called his name Jesus (Matthew 1:24-25).
"knew her" is an implicit way to say "had sex with her". The word until is a faithful translation from Greek. The text says Joseph did not have sex with Mary until she had given birth to Jesus. This suggests that Joseph did have sex with Mary after the birth of Jesus. Of course, you can argue that the text does not affirmatively say that Joseph had sex with Mary after she gave birth to Jesus. But was there any better way for Matthew to articulate his ideas? Could Matthew write "he took his wife, but never knew her, not even after she had borne a son; and he called his name Jesus."? Impossible. How could Matthew know even if Joseph really never had sex with Mary? Therefore, the text probably describes the usual, common Jewish practice: a husband abstains from sex with his pregnant wife. Whatever the husband did afterwards was none of the author's business. In such a case, it is impossible to derive any clue about the virginity of Mary from this verse.
Some priests suggest that Joseph did not dare to have sex with Mary because she was God's. This sounds reasonable. But again, we are speculating on the psychology of a man living 2000 years ago. It is rather shaky. Returning to my hypothesis: that the Catholic Church enshrines certain values in her customs, tradition and theology. Virginity is highly valued by the Catholic Church because there is a hierarchy of celibate priests and nuns. The Church demands 100% devotion from them. They are needed for the growth and development of the Church and the trust from outsiders. Who else would be the best candidate? Mary, the mother of Jesus.
The discussion above is only a sociological reflection on the need to make Mary a perpetual virgin. There is no theological ground nor substance. I hope the dogmaticists would not be offended.
My God, virginity is a highly prized virtue. The world needs it to heal its evils. Strengthen priests and nuns to live up their chastity vow, to shine forth the angelic virtue of this particular way of life. Amen.
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