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Friar_David_O.Carm
Guest
This is not true.I think you mean “continent” (practicing continence), not celibate. Celibate means “not married.”
The answer to your question is “Yes.” Married priests and deacons are expected to abstain from marital relations with their wife and, at least in the West, live apart from her.
** **** 1983 CIC. § 1.** Clerics are obliged to observe perfect and perpetual continence for the sake of the kingdom of heaven and therefore are bound to celibacy [for married priests: no remarriage] which is a special gift of God by which sacred ministers can adhere more easily to Christ with an undivided heart and are able to dedicate themselves more freely to the service of God and humanity. § 2. Clerics are to behave with due prudence towards persons whose company can endanger their obligation to observe continence or give rise to scandal among the faithful.See the canon lawyer Ed Peters’s analysis on how even married deacons must remain 100% continent.
Married clergy are allowed to engage in sexual activity with their spouses.