Comment & Debate
Rev. Donald Cozzens. “Commentary: Celibacy should be rethought”. CNN. May 15, 2009: “In the Catholic tradition, even though sex is cast as sinful unless expressed in the conjugal embrace of husband and wife, it is held as fundamentally good, a part of God’s creation.
The church even holds that marriage (including spousal lovemaking) is a sacrament — something sacred that contributes to the sanctity of husbands and wives. In light of this official teaching, it is dawning on many Catholics that mandatory celibacy for priests, a canonically imposed discipline of the church, is precisely that — a discipline.”
Ed Minderlein of Marlborough, a married priest: “denying people of the God-given right that is essential to human nature, the right to companionship and the right to procreate.”[1]