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Good post. Fr Cochini quotes Pope Siricius, prior to 400 a.d., as tying the Celibacy requirement to the O.T.,practice of the Priests having to be continent while serving their stint in the Temple. They had to live apart from their wives and abstain for conjugal relations. As the N.T. Priesthood would be offering the Unbloody Sacrifice daily, the requirement for perpetual continence/celibacy was established and it is of immemorial tradition and, Fr Cochini argues persuasively, it is of Apostolic Origins and, therefofre, although subject to change as a discipline, unlikely to be changed.

BTW, although this was a good article, I have heard some weird things about TFP. I wonder if others had any information about them? As I recall, they were started by Plinio de Olivera or someone with a name close to that

I don't know who started TFP, but I came to know about them through the publication America Needs Fatima.

They send me stuff in the mail every once in a while, and I have never seen anything strange or unorthodox in their newsletter. I think it is run by the hispanic community, as most of their articles are written by people with spanish names and they have an artist who sculpts for them who is of spanish origin also. Not 100% though.

Let me add a point that John Noonan raised in Contraception, a history of the Church's position on that issue. The early Christians were looking for the early return for Jesus, and so they acquired a different view of family and children than the Jews, who were looking to reproduce their numbers. The Montanist controversy and the rise of the monastic movement in the late 3rd century are further evidence of the apocalyptic mood of Christians. Hence, virginity was highly regarded in the Christian community, whereas it was not among pagans generally or among the Jews. Marriage is a concession to the delay in the Lord's Coming and its sacramental standing owing to Our Lord's exaultation of the marital bond and, at the same time, owing to the Church's desire to distance Christians from the gnostic teaching that sexual union is evil. Virginity has always been something that sets apart the select few. whether lay or cleric.