Celibacy

A framed photo of the happy couple on their wedding day stands on a living room table, the bride in a traditional white gown, the groom in a tux. They live in a cozy house with a white picket fence, flowers and a big dog. The wife serves coffee and cheerfully disappears.

Italian Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, a rare and often outspoken liberal within the highly conservative Catholic Church hierarchy who was nevertheless often mentioned as a candidate for pope, died Friday. He was 85. Martini, a Jesuit and former archbishop of the important archdiocese of Milan, had Parkinson's disease. The archdiocese announced his death. For years, Martini had been Europe's most prominent liberal cardinal, frequently voicing openness on such divisive church issues as priestly celibacy, homosexuality and the use of condoms to fight AIDS.

Re "Church Settles Suit, Toughens Policies," Aug. 21: No church reform can be effective until the pope grants permission for priests to marry or at least to have loving, sexual relationships with consenting adults. The vow of celibacy has too often resulted in the sexual abuse of innocent, impressionable children. Just as church leaders condemn abortion they should also condemn the "spiritual" abortion that takes place when children are sexually abused. Gilbert A. Rubio San Diego

From humble beginnings in southwest Mexico, Gabino Zavala entered the priesthood and embarked on a remarkable journey that landed him squarely in the corner offices of the nation's largest Roman Catholic archdiocese. An auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, he oversaw the church's vast San Gabriel region, a diverse community considered vital to the future of the church. Then, from his pulpit, he became a forceful champion for social and economic justice. Popular and approachable, Zavala was widely known by his first name.

Requiring a vow of celibacy serves as an unintended invitation to deviant sexual behavior. Most young people experience heterosexual urges, which society designates as normal. The smaller percentage of youngsters whose sexual urges deviate from that norm experience internal conflict. They wish they experienced the same impulses as their peers, but the God-given impulses dominate. A vow of celibacy resolves that internal conflict. But it does not guarantee elimination of the socially condemned, God-given sexual urges.

Standing before more than 10,000 Roman Catholic priests, Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday strongly reaffirmed the Vatican's commitment to priestly vows of celibacy, cutting off speculation that he might reconsider the issue in light of the church's sexual abuse scandal. At an outdoor vigil in St. Peter's Square that veered between moments of deep reverence and outbursts of enthusiasm more characteristic of a soccer game, the pope told the gathering of priests, believed to be the largest in history, that celibacy "is made possible by the grace of God … who asks us to transcend ourselves."

The nation's largest Lutheran denomination opened debate Monday over a proposal to allow noncelibate gays and lesbians to serve in the clergy. Leaders of the 4.7-million-member Evangelical Lutheran Church in America are expected to decide during their weeklong Churchwide Assembly in Minneapolis whether to alter existing policy, which requires gays and lesbians in ministry to remain celibate. The new policy would permit local congregations, if they wanted, to choose ministers or lay leaders who were in "lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationships."

After years of contentious debate, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has voted to require that all unmarried ministers, deacons and elders be sexually celibate. The move was intended to ban ordination of homosexuals, but has rattled thousands of single, sexually active heterosexual church officers who now face a serious dilemma: repent, resign, or lie and face possible church prosecution.

The sexual revolution has spawned a group of counter-revolutionaries: Single adults committed to celibacy. Bucking societal trends, more than 400 men and women of varied ages and backgrounds have found a haven in the National Chastity Assn. Some members have never had sex, but others have been married. Many say they didn't join for any religious or moral reasons; they're just fed up with the singles' bar scene and empty relationships.

More than 600 members of a conservative Catholic priests' group told the nation's top Catholic bishop that ending mandatory celibacy will do nothing to boost the numbers of U.S. priests. The Confraternity of Catholic Clergy said allowing priests to marry is not "the answer to the current problems facing the universal and local church." The group's president, the Rev. John Trigilio, wrote to Bishop Wilton Gregory, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Standing before more than 10,000 Roman Catholic priests, Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday strongly reaffirmed the Vatican's commitment to priestly vows of celibacy, cutting off speculation that he might reconsider the issue in light of the church's sexual abuse scandal. At an outdoor vigil in St. Peter's Square that veered between moments of deep reverence and outbursts of enthusiasm more characteristic of a soccer game, the pope told the gathering of priests, believed to be the largest in history, that celibacy "is made possible by the grace of God … who asks us to transcend ourselves."

The nation's largest Lutheran denomination opened debate Monday over a proposal to allow noncelibate gays and lesbians to serve in the clergy. Leaders of the 4.7-million-member Evangelical Lutheran Church in America are expected to decide during their weeklong Churchwide Assembly in Minneapolis whether to alter existing policy, which requires gays and lesbians in ministry to remain celibate. The new policy would permit local congregations, if they wanted, to choose ministers or lay leaders who were in "lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationships."

A Lutheran church in Chicago has ordained a lesbian who refuses to take a vow of celibacy, becoming the first to test a new resolution that gives bishops leeway in disciplining such violations. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America requires vows of celibacy for gay but not for heterosexual clergy -- a policy the Rev. Jen Rude, 27, calls discriminatory. Chicago's bishop, Wayne Miller, did not try to block Rude's ordination at Resurrection Lutheran Church, but he did not attend the ceremony.

Re "God and gays," editorial, Sept. 29 It is rather ironic that a religion born of an adulterous monarch seeking a divorce so he could marry his mistress would be in such a tizzy over homosexuality. That being said, sexual orientation is not a choice, but sexual expression is determined by one's own personal will. Insisting that priests have satisfying sex lives and partnerships condoned by the public while serving God is completely missing the point of a life of religious vocation.

A camera planted in the bedroom of Roman Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube has felled President Robert Mugabe's most prominent and outspoken critic in Zimbabwe. The Vatican announced Tuesday that it had accepted Ncube's resignation from his leadership post, which came after the Zimbabwean state media in July splashed lurid photographs and video footage of a naked man resembling Ncube in what they called his "love nest."

A national assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America urged its bishops Saturday to refrain from defrocking gay and lesbian ministers who violate a celibacy rule, but it rejected measures that would have permitted ordaining gays churchwide. Still, advocates for full inclusion of gays were encouraged, calling the resolution a powerful statement in support of clergy with same-sex partners.

Catholic priests in at least five U.S. dioceses probably will follow the lead of priests in Milwaukee and ask church leaders to open a discussion on mandatory celibacy, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. Local priest groups in New York, Chicago, Boston, Pittsburgh and southern Illinois said they will circulate letters to their bishops asking them to consider allowing married priests to help ease the clergy shortage across the country.

So, Cardinal Roger Mahony said once again that there's no correlation between celibacy and child abuse ("Mahony Says Victims' Requests Led to Secrecy," April 3). If there are not many research studies made, it is because there has not been any interest placed on the issue. When we look at the inmate population in state prisons, one can see that the incidence of rapes and sexual abuse among inmates is very high. "Kandahar's Lightly Veiled Homosexual Habits" (April 3) further proves this misconception.

The renegade Roman Catholic archbishop who was excommunicated by the Vatican after he installed married priests as bishops acknowledged that the Rev. Sun Myung Moon was supporting his crusade against mandatory celibacy. At a weekend conference in Parsippany of married priests, Zambian Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo distributed a statement headlined "Thanks," crediting the Korean evangelist.

Re "Pope Benedict, why isn't celibacy enough?" Opinion, Nov. 25 What R. John Kinkel begins to document sounds like nothing less than a war by the Vatican hierarchy upon the Roman Catholic priesthood, both gay and straight. This sounds strange, but such a war is not without precedent. Upon taking power in the Soviet Union, Josef Stalin directed his purges against the good and decent people in the Communist Party, of which there were many, in order to convert the party into a dependable instrument of his will.