Celibacy

the state of being unmarried. By common usage, the term refers primarily to men, but virginity is as much a state of celibacy as is bachelorhood. Nuns take a vow of perpetual virginity. Coelebs, originally meaning unmarried, has acquired the force of bachelor, as in Coelebs in Search of a Wife. Celibacy has been further intensified by its application to a single life as the result of a religious vow. The monks of various religious orders take a vow of celibacy. In the Greek Church celibacy is required of bishops and monks, but priests and deacons may remain married if married before ordination. They may not marry after ordination. In the Roman Catholic church celibacy is enjoined upon all ranks of the clergy. A married man may be consecrated only if his wife enter a religious order. The position of the Roman Church is stated well by a writer in the Americana:

As no one has a right to demand to be consecrated a priest, the Roman Church has, by this addition, violated no one's right. Her position, therefore, is expressed by saying that, profoundly convinced that an unmarried clergy is best suited to her work, she admits to her ministry only those who voluntarily engage to lead a celibate life, and as long as she finds a sufficient number of such candidates she refuses to hamper her work by the employment of others.