“Personally, I have difficulty describing celibacy as a “gift”, much less even considering practicing it.
Obviously Weakland agreed with you. Liberal Catholics HATE celibacy. Conservative Catholics are the ones who think it is valuable. I’m not sure you could find a Catholic pundit who is pro-life, anti-birth control, anti-homosexualist agenda, anti-priestesses, and against “gay marriage” who is also against celibacy. You sure can find Catholic pundits who are for all those liberal things and they invariably hate celibacy.
“But, that all clergy must be celibate is a fabrication of the Catholic church.”
The Catholic Church doesn’t believe that.
Freegards
As a lifelob=ng Catholic with eons at Catholic girl’s schools and two aunts who are nuns, I have never heard of celibacy referred to as a “gift”.
I often hear of it as a “sacrifice” to Christ ... giving up something to honor God. And sacrifice is a cornerstone of Catholicism.
To say it is a “gist” means that some may not receive that gift, but a sacrifice is free for anyone to give.