[Just another Joe]

Ultimately, continence - celibacy — receives its supreme value from the fact that Jesus chose it for Himself and for His Mother Mary.

The author lost me right there.
Jesus may have chosen celibacy for himself but for his mother?
Didn't Mary go on to bear other children after Jesus was born?

[DogwoodSouth]

Actually, the perpetual virginity of Mary is an ancient dogma of the Faith, defended by the early Church Fathers and even by Martin Luther!

I won't “re-invent the wheel” since so much has been written on the subject by others, but I'll summarize the “Mary had other children” question by saying that while in the word “brothers” (as in “brothers of the Lord” in Scripture) COULD have referred to any male relative of the Lord (i.e. cousin, step-brothers, etc.) So, it IS biblically possible that Jesus was an only child of Mary. Couple this biblical possibility with the unbroken Tradition of the early Church on this subject and you've got a pretty strong argument for Mary's perpetual virginity.

You can read more about it here: http://www.catholic.com/library/Mary_Ever_Virgin.asp.

[NYer]

Didn't Mary go on to bear other children after Jesus was born?

No. She remained a virgin ... yes, a virgin