The one thing that is sort of sneered at and not really believed is bisexuality. Any bisexual man is just seen as a closeted gay man. That shows how narrow-minded people are. The other thing that's totally neglected and which nobody approves of is celibacy. People again assume that you're just repressing something.
Edmund White
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.
Gene Robinson
When you really see how much God loves you, there's no greater love than that, and I had to match that amount of love He had for me, which is the reason why I decided to take a vow of celibacy.
Jessica White
I've tried everything but celibacy, and I really want to know what it feels like to be touched by someone with a mental touch and not a physical touch.
LisaRaye McCoy-Misick
I took the vow of celibacy in 1906. I had not shared my thoughts with my wife until then, but only consulted her at the time of making the vow. She had no objection.
Mahatma Gandhi
For both Protestants and Catholics, and whether or not absolute continence is demanded of the clergy, celibacy remains a blessed spiritual state.
Meir Soloveichik
Celibacy is the worst form of self-abuse.
Peter De Vries
Celibacy is not a matter of compulsion. Someone is accepted as a priest only when he does it of his own accord.
Pope Benedict XVI
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.
Pope Francis
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.
Pope John Paul II
I decided to try celibacy because I heard it would help the meditation, and I tried meditation because I heard it would help with the music. So, it all really comes back to the music.
Rivers Cuomo
For the standard of Christian life was to be strained to a higher pitch; more fasting was required, and more careful separation from the manners and enjoyments of the world; celibacy and martyrdom had great value set upon them, and second marriages were prohibited.
Robert Rainy
Celibacy used to offend family-values conservatism; now it offends equally against the opposite spirit.
Ross Douthat
That clerical celibacy doesn't guarantee asceticism is obvious, any more than attending Mass guarantees prayerfulness (trust me on that one). But it preserves the call even when the system is corrupted.
As to marriage or celibacy, let a man take which course he will, he will be sure to repent.
Socrates
Marriage may often be a stormy lake, but celibacy is almost always a muddy horse pond.
Thomas Love Peacock
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.
Timothy Radcliffe
You know, in some ways, the celibacy tradition goes back to the tribe of Levi and, certainly, sacrifice and the notion of sacrifice. In the Old Testament, the shedding of blood was for a man to perform. It was not for the woman, who gave life.
Vincent Nichols
