The Single Life, Part 3: Rethinking Celibacy [Audio]

For Part 3 in our series The Single Life, we explore the topic of celibacy. To many people ‘celibacy’ sounds like an old-fashioned, painful discipline, relegated to monks and nuns in dusty old robes. But Christine Colón, author of Singled Out, says that needs to change, and that the notion of celibacy needs to be reinvented for the modern church. In this interview, she explains why she wants to see the word ‘celibacy’ used in place of ‘abstinence’. The word ‘abstinence’, she says, conveys a sense of ‘missing out’, and ‘waiting’ for something to ‘complete’ you. ‘Celibacy’ on the other hand, conveys a lifestyle and a way of living that is about positive choice, rather than denial.

• See the whole 7-part series, ‘The Single Life’
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