Sir, - Paula Nolan and D. K. Henderson (December 18th) should consult their dictionaries. There they will find that being celibate means being unmarried. Period.
Celibates - be they priests or lay people, male or female - who engage in coition simply break the moral rule that unmarried people should not do so. In breaking that rule, Bishop Casey and other Catholic bishops and priests are in the same boat as others - including politicians and media people - who do so. For those who believe that that moral rule is not valid, this is nothing to worry about, though it does worry Garret FitzGerald (December 13th).
For Catholics, however, it is something to worry about, as breaking it lines up after-death deprivation which, we Catholics believe, is particularly severe for bishops and priests, unless (as Bishop Casey is trying to do) they endure enough before-death deprivation. The extra severity in their case is due to the scandal due to their status., just as the status of Catholic moral rules breakers does so for all rules (including those related to Eucharist reception, pregnancy termination, preaching, and so on).
Of course, for those who do not believe in after-death deprivation this is a peculiarly Catholic matter. However, they may find when they die (including via suicides, assisted and otherwise) that afterdeath deprivation awaits them too, unless they endure enough of it in this life to offset rulebreaking.
Please excuse my offering explanations which our Catholic bishops are obliged (to lessen their after-death deprivation) to offer. - Yours, etc.,
From Joe Foyle
Sandford Road, Ranelagh, Dublin 6.