The Waterbury Democrat., 1937-05-08
Catholic Data
Celibacy - Is it possible? Is practical? Is it historical?

Webster's dictionary defines Celi- bacy as "the state of being unmar- ried: single life, especially that of a bachelor; or one bound by vows to an unmarried life"
 Is Celibacy Without Immortality Possible?
 A gentle old lady who we know of, make no bones about her ans wer when the Catholic priesthood is involved. Impossible" She fumes, making 8 Dr.-Jekyll-and- MT. Hyde change from her former gentility. "Celibacy's against nature. It's a gross hypocrisy that fools the fools, degradeS virgins and-and"-and on she went about tunnels and con- vents and orphan asylums, until her daughter, beautiful, twenty eight and unmarried, had to rush for the smelling salts and the aromatics. In the United States there are more than twenty million adults who are unmarried. Some of them are relatives and friends of mine and yours.
 Twenty million bachelors and maidensl Who is to accuse them all, or even & majority of them of grievous immortality. No one but beast-like man, who tries to cover his own evil passions in accusations against others.
 You know and I know many per- fectly moral unmarried men and women who have chosen the single life for purely worldly reasons, be- cause they were called neither to the married nor religious state. Knowing this, how can anyone cast the shadow of suspicion on the Catholic priest, who VOWS both celi- bacy and chastity = who receives daily the many graces which God bestows on His priests = whose duties for God and Gods children leave little time for any worldly thoughts? Common horse-senSe gives the answer.
 Is A Celibate Clergy Practical?
 How often have you read in the secular press of the Catholic priest at home and in foreign lands, stick ing to his post through war and re- bellion, through fire and flood, through famine and plague-rush- ing into the worst dangers and Stay- ing there till his work has been done or his life taken. Courage? Yes, but more than that an un- divided allegiance to his duty and to his God. Is a celibate priesthood practical? Who can deny 1t when the real test comes?
 Is Clerical Cellbacy Historical
 Did Christ command 1t? No, but He Himself practiced it and advised 1t when He told the rich young man that to be perfect he must leave all things and follow Him. St. Peter, 'tiS true was 8 married man, but at the tune that Christ called nm either his wife was dead, or he had left her to follow his Master. All the other Apostles, so far as the Bible shows, were unmarried. St. Paul, the great celibate, advised in no uncertain terms the state of celi- bacy for those who were called. The early Fathers gave the same advice and from the earliest days celibacy was willingly practiced by most of the clergy. It was not, how ever, until the time of Leo, the Great (440-461), that the law of priestly celibacy was obligatory throughout the Western church.
 Please bear in mind that celibacy of the priesthood is not a dogma of the church. It is simply an oblig- atory law imposed in view of the duties and dignity of the priesthood. Naturally the Catholic church does not presume to enact disciplinary laws for any clergy other than its own.
 Detailed information on priestly celibacy or on any other Catholic subject will be gladly 1urnished on request. Address:
 Catholic Information Society of Yonkers,
 1lO Shonnard Place, Y0nkers. N. Y.