ARTICLE: Joel I. Barstad, 2008, “Monogamy, Celibacy, and Fatherhood: Meditations on Catholic Priesthood.”
DESCRIPTION: Mandatory clerical celibacy has been one of the most contentious elements of the Roman Catholic tradition, all the more so when it is made the key to understanding priestly identity. This essay argues for fatherhood as the key, claiming that both celibate and monogamous priests externally express essential and complementary moments of the inner reality of spiritual fatherhood.