astrixx said:

I wonder the same thing.

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Sventington said:

As I understand it, the whole vow of celibacy thing grew out of trying to prevent church members from passing on land to their descendants. Since it has no real root in the Bible and really isn't glorifying the Christian God, it's probably something which should be done away with. I mean, having to commit to a system where you feel bad about the urge to masturbate just doesn't sound healthy, physically of mentally.

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It may be part of the reason.  I asked my Catholic friend why they require that and he says it signifies your choice of service/devotion by giving up something that you strongly desires.  The funny thing is, my friend is a gay Catholic. He obviously disagrees with their position on gays

But the whole celibacy thing isn't necessarily bad.  People like to give the Catholic Church shit about it.  However, it's a feature a lot of religious ascetism as well: aka yogis/sadhus in India and even Buddhist monks practice celibacy.  For some reason, they don't really molest little boys.  I think their devotion might be exhibited in a healthier context, though.