Celibacy is not a matter of compulsion. Someone is accepted as a priest only when he does it of his own accord.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
The vow of celibacy is a matter of keeping one's word to Christ and the Church. a duty and a proof of the priest's inner maturity; it is the expression of his personal dignity.
The truly longstanding tradition in the church is that some are called to celibacy. Some feel called to it. But the church has never supported that celibacy be mandated for someone not called to it. It's never imposed on someone.
Celibacy is not just a matter of not having sex. It is a way of admiring a person for their humanity, maybe even for their beauty.
If, hypothetically, Western Catholicism were to review the issue of celibacy, I think it would do so for cultural reasons, not so much as a universal option.
A priest encounters temptation every day, and some of that desire is very natural.
The church may hold whatever it holds with regard to clerical celibacy.
If priests were allowed to marry, if this would be an optional thing, and if he could have wife and children, he would certainly have less temptation to satisfy certain sexual impulses with minors.
I might be celibate, but I appreciate the wonder of the sacrament of marriage.
And so um, I knew that I really didn't want to be a priest and didn't want to be a celibate, though I could probably manage it. Um, and um, ultimately I left.
A celibate clergy is an especially good idea, because it tends to suppress any hereditary propensity toward fanaticism.
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