If I understand her correctly, Fiona Lynch (Letters, 10 May) says that talking about mandatory celibacy, in a religious vocation, is like talking about mandatory fidelity in a marriage. I take it to mean that for her the word “mandatory” is unnecessary, contradictory or meaningless in both cases. From the context of her letter, I presume that, by “religious vocation”, she is talking really about priesthood. If so, it seems to me that, in this instance, we should be comparing priesthood and marriage, per se, without bringing in celibacy. Priesthood and marriage are two states, two distinct callings or vocations which are not mutually exclusive. Hence the existence of married priests in our Catholic Church (and indeed in the Anglican Church). Within these two vocatio