Ngo Dinh Diem (president of South Vietnam from 1955 to 1963) was Roman Catholic. A book I’m reading describes him as “a lay celibate.” (No lame jokes about this being an oxymoron, please.) What exactly is a lay celibate in the Catholic Church? Does it just mean he was Catholic, a lay person, and unmarried? Or did he have to take a vow that he would remain unmarried for life? What–if I may ask without offending anyone–is the point of such a thing?
From context I would guess that it means that he is celibate and a layman (i.e., not an edumicated person, like a priest.)
Some people take vows of celibacy for one reason or another; I never did understand it.
Some people feel drawn to the celibate life while not wanting to renounce the world and enter a convent or monastery. A lay celibate will take a vow of celibacy but will remain in the world rather than withdrawing. It is more formal than just being a layperson, Catholic and celibate - it implies formal vows. It is possible to be a lay celibate and married but I don’t know how they get around the go forth and procreate like rabbits injunction.
I guess the point is that they feel that this is the form of their vocation. I would suspect that some people do this in preference to taking full vows as a nun, sister or a monk or priest.
primaflora who once was convinced she had a vocation
Since celibate means ‘observing a religious vow not to marry’, a married celibate is an oxymoron.
In the Roman Catholic Church, the three basic vocations are married, religious, or single. Sometimes single can be thought of as a “default” meaning you didn’t feel called to get married or become a religious. But in fact being single is just as valid a choice of vocation as the other two, as it provides a unique way of serving God. Therefore, a vow can be made to dedicate yourself to this lifestyle, and therefore be celibate (meaning never to marry. Not having sex outside of marriage is a given.)
Just an aside, but “layman” or the laity are not uneducated; they just haven’t taken religious vows.
One example of lay celibates is Opus Dei, a (mainly) lay Catholic organization, in which most members don’t give up their “worldly” life. In the interests of fairness, I provide both Opus Dei’s website and an anti-OD website (Opus Dei is fairly controversial.)