Celibacy is to not be married, which must now be explained to be between one human male and one human female.
Chastity is to not sin with regards to sex, both inside and outside of marriage.
Continence is to abstain from the marital embrace by mutual consent in perfect chastity.
Sex is the reproductive act. Tab A into Slot B. Sex means “the act of sexual reproduction”. Nothing else. Every other genital act is…
Sodomy. Let me repeat that. EVERY GENITAL ACT BETWEEN PERSONS OR DONE SOLITARILY THAT IS NOT PENILE-VAGINAL INTERCOURSE TO UNOBSTRUCTED (mechanically or chemically), INTERNAL COMPLETION IS SODOMY.
When a man and woman who are not married to each other engage in the marital embrace, that is, sexual intercourse, this is the mortal sin of fornication.
These concepts, while related, are different from each other and cannot be used interchangeably.
Sodomite priests often snarkily claim that they are not breaking their vows of celibacy because they are not married, and that sodomy is therefore licit for them. They often say this to their victims when they are grooming them. “The only vow I took was to not marry a woman. No problem! Eeew!”
“Chaste sodomy” is an ontological impossibility, as is “homosexual marriage” (pseudogamy).
The only way for a celibate to be chaste is to not engage in any genital activity whatsoever. Period. No spouse, no sex. And obviously all forms of sodomy are mortally sinful always and everywhere, including sodomitical acts between a married man and his wife, no matter how “common” and “normalized” those acts have become in today’s utterly pornographied culture.
Remember this simple phrase: THAT DOESN’T GO THERE. If “that”, say for example a penis, doesn’t have a natural function “there”, say, in a mouth, then that act is sodomy and it is always and everywhere a mortal sin not only against the Sixth Commandment (Divine Law), but primordially against THE NATURAL LAW, meaning that it is cooked into our natures as human beings to know that it is wrong, in the same way that everyone knows that willful murder of innocent persons wrong. No Ph.D. in moral theology needed.
Married couples are called to chastity by only engaging in licit sex with each other which is open to the transmission of life. Sexually active married couples therefore should be and are expected to be chaste.
Continence is to not engage in the marital embrace. Married couples can together choose to be continent, either for a phase or season, or perpetually.
All of the Apostles except St. John were almost certainly married, but upon being ordained priests and bishops by Our Lord immediately entered into perfect perpetual continence with their wives. Thus only St. John was celibate, but all of the Apostles were chaste and continent.
All married priests and deacons were understood to be perfectly and perpetually continent. It went without saying, because it was obvious that a man who offered the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass or served on the altar as a deacon was espoused to Christ and His Church. It is a testament to how far gone a culture is that clerical continence is not instantly understood and naturally assumed with married priests and deacons, and even elicits rage when mentioned.
These terms, especially “celibacy“, are misused today almost as a rule across the board. Words have meaning and are not interchangeable. We should use these words correctly ourselves, and charitably correct others when they misuse them.
I hope this helps.
Christ is the Bridegroom, who loves The Church, His Bride.
