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	Clerical celibacy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		Clerical celibacy is the practice of various religious traditions in which clergy, monastics and those in religious orders (female or male) adopt a celibate life, refraining from marriage and sexual relationships, including masturbation and "impure thoughts" (such as sexual visualisation and fantasies).
		Celibacy for religious and monastics (brothers/monks and sisters/nuns) and bishops is upheld by both the Catholic Church and Orthodox Christian traditions.
		Among the early Church statements on the topic of sexual continence and celibacy are "Decreta" and "Cum in unum" of Pope Siricius (c.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Clerical_celibacy (2133 words)

	Clergy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		In some cases clergy are financed (or co-financed) by the state, but usually they are financially supported by the donations of individual members of their religion.
		Oaths of celibacy and obedience are required as a condition for admittance (and persistence) for Latin Rite Roman Catholic priests; this is a disciplinary and administrative rule rather than a dogmatic and doctrinal one.
		The clergy of the Orthodox Church are the bishops, priests, and deacons, the same offices identified in the New Testament and found in the early church.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Clergy (3387 words)

	Celibacy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		Clerical celibacy is a requirement for priests, a church law which is maintained by the Western Catholic Church and also by the monastic orders of Hindu and Buddhist traditions in the East.
		The Catholic Church's practice of clerical celibacy among priests and bishops of the Latin Rite and bishops of all rites, Eastern and Western, was confirmed by the Second Vatican Council and reaffirmed by Pope Paul VI in his encyclical letter, Sacerdotalis Caelibatus, June 24, 1967.
		Recently, the issue of celibacy for Catholic priests has again become a source of heated debate, partly in response to the decline in vocations, but also in the wake of discoveries of longstanding ephebophilic behaviour of a number of Catholic priests in the USA and elsewhere.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Celibacy (655 words)

	CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Celibacy of the Clergy
		Celibacy is the renunciation of marriage implicitly or explicitly made, for the more perfect observance of chastity, by all those who receive the Sacrament of Orders in any of the higher grades.
		Among Jews and pagans the priesthood was hereditary.
		Undoubtedly during this period the traditions of sacerdotal celibacy in Western Christendom suffered severely but even though a large number of the clergy, not only priests but bishops, openly took wives and begot children to whom they transmitted their benefices, the principle of celibacy was never completely surrendered in the official enactments of the Church.
	www.newadvent.org /cathen/03481a.htm (8449 words)

	The Anglican Communion and Priestly Celibacy
		Some individual clergy are associated in some way or another, either as members of a third order or oblates or associates with a religious community, and that association may contain a commitment to celibacy as part of the rule which is agreed between the community and the individual.
		Celibacy is the distinguishing external characteristic of the vow of chastity.
		All clergy, as consecrated public and representative figures, themselves entrusted with the message and the means of grace, have a responsibility on behalf of the whole body of Christ to show the primacy of this truth by striving to embody it in their own lives.
	www.vatican.va /roman_curia/congregations/cclergy/documents/rc_con_cclergy_doc_01011993_angcom_en.html (1293 words)

	HighBeam Encyclopedia - celibacy (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-30)
		CELIBACY [celibacy], voluntary refusal to enter the married state, with abstinence from sexual activity.
		In the West, celibacy was common among the parish clergy beginning the 3d cent.; as time passed, the Holy See became adamant in opposing the marriage of the secular clergy (see orders, holy).
		A standard defense of the Western discipline of celibacy for parish priests is that marriage would prevent the priest from giving his complete attention to his parish; critics complain that unmarried clergy are unfit to give counsel on marital and sexual problems.
	www.encyclopedia.com /html/c1/celibacy.asp (565 words)

	Pope Gregory VII
		Among the methods he employed to break their power of resistance, the despatch of legates proved peculiarly effective.
		This battle for the foundation of papal omnipotence within the church is connected with his championship of compulsory celibacy among the clergy and his attack on simony.
		He educated the clergy and the lay world in obedience to Rome; and, finally, it was due to his efforts that the duty of the priest with regard to sexual abstinence was never afterwards a matter of doubt in the Catholic Christianity of the West.
	www.nndb.com /people/953/000091680 (5170 words)

	Glossary of Vocational Terms
		The public dedication to celibacy is celebrated in a special rite, even by religious, and it is to precede ordination to the diaconate.
		Clergy who are engaged for the most part in pastoral work and who are not members of a religious institute.
		But their celibacy, in the Latin Church, is under solemn oath and they promise obedience to a bishop as their immediate superior under the Pope.
	www.religiouslife.com /glossary.phtml (8031 words)

	Election, Education, and Celibacy of the Clergy
		The isolation of the clergy from ordinary rank and occupation, and the multiplication of theological controversies, naturally turned attention to ministerial education.
		Among theological schools, that of Alexandria took the lead at the beginning of the period, but was soon rivalled by that of Antioch.
		Moreover, the strict safeguards which it was thought necessary to provide for the purity of the clergy indicate that the prohibition of family relations was often the occasion of immorality.
	www.edwardtbabinski.us /sheldon/celibacy.html (2058 words)

	Editorials: Problems With Celibacy AND Evolution, Creation & Racism
		As to the sex-starved secular clergy, they were so often accused of incest that they were at length forbidden to have mothers, aunts or sisters living in their house.
		With what impunity fornication rages among them [the papal clergy] it is unnecessary to remark; emboldened by their polluted celibacy, they have become hardened to every crime...
		Subsequently, Pope Gregory VII in 1074 reaffirmed celibacy with a decree.
	www.gospelgazette.com /gazette/2002/may/page2.htm (2699 words)

	Paul VI - Sacerdotalis Caelibatus
		This deep concern between celibacy and the priesthood of Christ is reflected in those whose fortune it is to share in the dignity and mission of the Mediator and eternal Priest; this sharing will be more perfect the freer the sacred minister is from the bonds of flesh and blood.
		We are not easily led to believe that the abolition of ecclesiastical celibacy would considerably increase the number of priestly vocations: the contemporary experience of those Churches and ecclesial communities which allow their ministers to marry seems to prove the contrary.
		In fact, the responsibility falls not on consecrated celibacy in itself but on a judgment of the fitness of the candidate of the priesthood which was not always adequate or prudent at the proper time, or else it falls on the way in which sacred ministers live their life of total consecration.
	www.vatican.va /holy_father/paul_vi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_24061967_sacerdotalis_en.html (9214 words)

	\| Book Review \| Journal of World History, 14.2 \| The History Cooperative
		The appearance of celibacy in world literature is taken up (though here she tends to restrict herself to European works).
		Her final chapter is on the new celibacy and contains a sustained attack on the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church on sexuality in general.
		In the epilogue, she forthrightly refuses to evaluate celibacy, claiming that her purpose was only to trace its history and then proceeds to say that she has strong opinions about the subject.
	www.historycooperative.org /journals/jwh/14.2/br_3.html (890 words)

	Boston.com / A&E / TV / Film Attacking Celibacy Riles Catholic Church
		Adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse are interviewed as are a pedophile priest who resorted to surgical castration when his sexual urges did not abate after he joined the priesthood, and a former parish priest and Franciscan nun who left the church to marry and raise a family together.
		"The Church does not deny that certain members of the clergy have committed heinous crimes resulting in immeasurable harm by their betraying the trust of those they were sent to serve," it said.
		"'Celibacy' may be highly critical of the establishment, but it was very reassuring to meet real men of God," he said.
	www.boston.com /ae/tv/articles/2004/06/27/film_attacking_celibacy_riles_catholic_church (592 words)

	Catholic Parents OnLine
		He went on to write that the promise of celibacy made by diocesan priests (and the vow of chastity made by members of religious orders) “is done publicly, after much discernment and preparation, so the person understands why it is done, and [whether he has] been called to it.
		Because of this, priestly celibacy is something positive, something taken up by some to be a sign that we all are waiting for something even greater than the good things of this earthly life, like marriage and family.
		Celibacy was valued from the very early days of Christianity, although the number of clergy who were celibate was relatively small until the third century.
	www.catholicparents.org /news/oncelibacy.html (2390 words)

	Catholic Culture : Document Library : Sacerdotalis Caelibatus (The Celibacy Of The Priest)
		The consecrated celibacy of the sacred ministers actually manifests the virginal love of Christ for the Church, and the virginal and supernatural fecundity of this marriage, by which the children of God are born, "not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh."[45] [46]
		The law of ecclesiastical celibacy and the efforts necessary to preserve it always recall to mind the struggles of the heroic times when the Church of Christ had to fight for and succeeded in obtaining her threefold glory, always an emblem of victory, that is, the Church of Christ, free, chaste and catholic."[76]
		The causes of the decrease in vocations to the priesthood are to be found elsewhere--for example, in the fact that individuals and families have lost their sense of God and of all that is holy, their esteem for the Church as the institution of salvation through faith and the sacraments.
	www.catholicculture.org /docs/doc_view.cfm?recnum=5032 (8022 words)

	Celibacy
		A slender volume of somber reflections on the priesthood by the rector of a Catholic seminary has become an unexpected hit among priests, raising eyebrows with its unsparing discussion of celibacy homosexuality, and sexual abuse among the clergy.
		Cozzens does not address the question of whether gay or heterosexual priests are honoring their vows of celibacy, but he does say that the number of gay seminarians is high enough to make some heterosexual seminarians uncomfortable.
		In one of his most provocative sections, Cozzens takes on the issue of sexual abuse among clergy and asserts that most priests who are abusers target teenage boys as victims, unlike most other child abusers, who, he said, tend to target girls.
	www.angelfire.com /ky/dodone/ClergySex.html (1222 words)

	Priestly celibacy
		And so the free choice of sacred celibacy has always been considered by the Church "as a symbol of, and stimulus to, charity": it signifies a love without reservations; it stimulates to a charity which is open to all.
		The causes of the decrease in vocations to the priesthood are to be found elsewhere—for example, in the fact that individuals and families have lost their sense of God and of all that is holy, their esteem for the Church as the institution of salvation through faith and the sacraments.
		In fact, the responsibility falls not on consecrated celibacy in itself but on a judgment of the fitness of the candidate of the priesthood which was not always adequate or prudent at the proper time, or else it falls on the way in which sacred ministers live their life of total consecration." (#83)
	www.tldm.org /News4/priestly_celibacy.htm (2790 words)

	Celibacy Of The Clergy
		celibacy is a sign of this new life to the service of which the Church's minister is consecrated; accepted with a joyous heart celibacy radiantly proclaims the Reign of God.
		PO 16.] Moreover, priestly celibacy is held in great honor in the Eastern Churches and many priests have freely chosen it for the sake of the Kingdom of God.
		Though it is not "forbidden" for the clergy to marry in the Christian religion, it is strongly recommended that one does not marry, if one is to be a priest or minister.
	www.catscans.com /catholicsite/celibate.htm (760 words)

	Christianity Reinvented
		Among the earliest Christians, the major ritual consisted of gathering in home churches and sharing a meal that became known as the eucharist, from the Greek for "giving thanks".
		Until about the 11th century, celibacy among the clergy was either optional or not stringently enforced.
		Despite protestations to the contrary, the church's insistence on priestly celibacy is unrelated to the demands of ministerial life -- as proven by the many thousands of Protestant, Orthodox Christian, Jewish, and Muslim clerics who have active ministries yet remain free to marry and raise families.
	www.innerself.com /Spirituality/reinvented.htm (1826 words)

	Christendom of the 21st Century? - CWS Talk! - ChristianWebSite.com (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-30)
		Among other things, the Reformation broke the fetters that constrained certain aspects of intellectual life during the Middle Ages.
		In the view of liberal Catholics, much of the current crisis derives directly from archaic if not primitive doctrines, including mandatory celibacy among the clergy, intolerance of homosexuality, and the prohibition of women from the priesthood, not to mention a more generalized fear of sexuality.
		It may be true that from the liberal Northern perspective, pressure for a Reformation-style solution to critical problems in the Church — the crisis in clerical celibacy, the shortage of priests, the sense that the laity's concerns are ignored — seems overwhelming.
	www.botcw.com /talk/showthread.php?t=10273 (6672 words)

	-- Beliefnet.com (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-30)
		Celibacy serves the Church as an institution more than it serves Catholic priests or laypeople.
		Celibacy leaves a priest radically available to serve his neighbors, and often he experiences real intimacy with Christ and others.
		In today's Catholic Church, celibacy is classified not as a dogma, like the male-only priesthood, but simply a "discipline" or regulation.
	www.beliefnet.com /story/105/story_10566_2.html (439 words)

	Date: Tue 30 May 89 16:57:28 Subj: Snakes, what snakes? A Brief History and Analysis of Sa (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-30)
		Many accounts hold that his father was and a minor administrator for the Roman Empire, a deacon of the church and himself the son of a priest.
		The rules of celibacy among the clergy were apparently not strictly adhered to in fourth century Briton.
		Word came to Rome of this heresy and the charge to convert Ireland and punish the offending clergy was born.
	www.skepticfiles.org /weird/patrick.htm (2613 words)

	My Way - Entertainment
		Disturbing images such as a roomful of skulls in a desert cave inhabited by early Christians, modern-day self-whippings and reenactments of crucifixion punctuate "Celibacy," by British filmmaker Antony Thomas.
		The film examines the religious roots of celibacy and explores connections to the recent church controversy.
		It includes a graphic scene in which a member of a Hindu sect wraps his penis around a stick and contorts himself to show the supremacy of the spirit.
	entertainment.myway.com /article/id/411743\|entertainment\|06-27-2004::17:46\|reuters.html (509 words)

	Beacon Lights of History Volume III Part 1 - Hildebrand A. D. 1020-1085 (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-30)
		That which filled the soul of Hildebrand with especial grief was the alienation of the clergy from their highest duties, their worldly lives, and their frail support in his efforts to elevate the spiritual power.
		So celibacy was re-established as a law of the Christian Church at the bidding of that far-seeing genius who had devised the means of spiritual despotism.
		The Pope is supported by the monks, the inferior clergy, and the vast spiritual powers universally supposed to be delegated to him by Christ, as the successor of Saint Peter; the Emperor is supported by large feudal armies, and all the prestige of the successors of Charlemagne.
	www.worldwideschool.org /library/books/hst/european/BeaconLightsofHistoryVolumeIIIPart1/chap3.html (6688 words)

	Pope Defends Clergy Celibacy Order [Free Republic] (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-30)
		Celibacy caused the dumbing down of intelligence by making the smartest men and women of their time unable to reproduce.
		Every time a person takes a vow of celibacy, enters a monastery, a convent, or the priesthood, and lives up to that vow, they are proving that a person actually is in control of his body, and liberal sexual ethics falls apart.
		Celibacy is not a biblical principle, but is a tradition invented by men.
	www.freerepublic.com /forum/a3775ab3e0a4c.htm (3429 words)

	Cover story: Analysis: Clerical sexual abuse: exploring deeper issues
		Attorneys for victims of clergy abuse try to subpoena secret files, while reporters hunt for answers to questions that should have been clarified by solid research dozens of studies ago.
		The celibacy theory: Some priests are driven to molest minors because of the frustrations caused by imposing a lifetime of sexual abstinence on them.
		It cannot be denied that the Vatican effort to maintain maleness and mandatory celibacy among its clergy has profoundly affected both the number and quality of Catholic priests.
	natcath.org /NCR_Online/archives/051002/051002f.htm (2284 words)

	Roman Catholic Church (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-30)
		It is a hierarchical organisation in which ordained clergy are divided into the orders of bishops, priests and deacons.
		As well as ordained secular clergy, the Church encourages monasticism, and has many orders of monks, friars and nuns who live in celibacy, and devote their lives entirely to God.
		The colour associated with the robes of cardinals is a crimson red, while the red of bishops who are not cardinals (and of Apostolic Protonotaries and Honorary Prelates) is really a Roman purple, and that of the lowest class of monsignors (Chaplains of His Holiness) has a violet hue.
	roman-catholic-church.iqnaut.net (4889 words)

	Catholic Culture : Document Library : Popes Through the Ages
		Alexander's death has caused confusion among scholars because an account of the death of another St. Alexander, who was not a bishop, tallies somewhat closely with the account of the Pope's martyrdom in the "Liber Pontificalis." Duchesne, the learned editor of the "Liber Pontificalis," concludes that there can be no certainty in the matter.
		Among other things the Pope declared that converted Arians did not have to be rebaptized and that priests should be celibate.
		A Roman, prominent among the clergy, a friend of St. Augustine, Sixtus was a natural choice for pope.
	www.catholicculture.org /docs/doc_view.cfm?recnum=5823 (16170 words)

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