In no wise, whether by incurrence of an impediment by choice or by imposition, does Church law or teaching require such persons to be celibate at all, let alone for their entire lives.
NOT EVEN WRONG CODE
Clearly some marriage impediments last only for a time or apply only in regard to certain potential spouses while others are permanent and universal.īut, getting back to Martin's claim, the list of impediments by which one is prevented from marrying in the Church is taxatively presented in the Code of Canon Law (19) and, search that Code from start to finish, one will not find any of Martin's subjects (lesbians, gays, bi-sexuals, and/or transgenders) listed as being impeded from marriage. Other impediments whereby one is prevented from marrying can arise not by one's personal choice but by conditions of life, such as being too young (nonage, 19) or being too closely related to another person (consanguinity, 19). Martin, for example, is not simply single, he is celibate because he chose, as a cleric (1983 CIC1087) and as a religious (19), to be bound by two impediments against marriage and to share thereby in the "special gift of God" (1983 CIC 277 § 1) that celibacy is. While lots of people, for lots of reasons, are single, celibacy is the willed state of not marrying. I am reminded of a furrowed-brow comment a friend once made upon hearing some speaker bungle several ecclesiastical terms: "That's not right," he said. "That's not even wrong. I don't know what that is." So, as when Martin misconstrued the significance of his book having an " Imprimi potest", I pause to untangle these concepts for those who would like to understand and apply them more accurately.įirst, there is no Church law or teaching that lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, and/or transgender people "must be celibate their entire lives".
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