Celibacy is always, shall we say, an affront to what man normally thinks. It is something that can be done, and is only credible, if there is a God and if celibacy is my doorway into the kingdom of God.
“If you believe what you like in the Gospels, and reject what you don’t like, it is not the Gospel you believe, but yourself.”
To live without faith, without a patrimony to defend, without a steady struggle for truth – that is not living, but existing.
No one is forced to be a Christian. But no one should be forced to live according to the "new religion" as though it alone were definitive and obligatory for all mankind.
Those who with God's help have welcomed Christ's call and freely responded to it are urged on by love of Christ to proclaim the Good News everywhere in the world.
Distinctions Matter
Distinctions Matter Forward
Missale Romanum
Pre-1951 Calendar