Huston Smith, a renowned commentator on world religions, submits that you should not judge a religion by its worst expressions, but by its best: its saints. That’s also true in terms of judging the merits of vowed, consecrated celibacy. It should be judged by its best examples, as is true too for the institution of marriage.
I write this apologia because today consecrated celibacy is under siege from critics in almost every circle. Celibacy is no longer understood or deemed realistic by a culture which basically refuses to accept any restrictions in the area of sexuality and, in effect, sees all celibacy, lived for whatever reason, as frigidity, naïvety or a misfortune of circumstance. Our culture constitutes a virtual conspiracy against celibacy.
