The Catholic Church is not infallible in matters of discipline. Nevertheless, if a particular church has long enjoyed (say, for nearly a millennium) any discipline, such being firmly woven into the matrix of her living tradition (that is, her life), and having either the implicit or express permission of the Holy See, and having either clear precedent or some inner harmony with the apostolic sources, I take the existence of such a discipline as evidence of its rectitude, on the principle that a body will not long tolerate that which is antithetical to its essence (this goes, a fortiori, for the Body of Christ, which is guided by the Holy Spirit).
Concerning clerical celibacy, we find two sets of canonical discipline, the Latin and the Eastern, neither of which is universally attested by antiquity (there being fathers and councils from the first centuries who stipulate the requirement of continence /celibacy for all clergy, but also fathers and councils, of this same period, which grant that married presbyters have the right to live with their wives), each of which has been firmly woven into the matrix of a living tradition (that is, the life of a particular church), having the explicit (or at least the implicit) permission of the Holy See, and some precedent or inner harmony with the apostolic sources. That is, we have two distinct disciplines, one more strict, making celibacy the norm, and the other, more lenient, allowing married men, living as such, to hold priestly office.
In keeping with my principle, I count the tradition (in the sense of tradition given above) of the East as evidence in favor of the rectitude of its discipline. Likewise, I count the tradition of the West, which is to require celibacy of all bishops and presbyters (with some few exceptions) as evidence of the rectitude of that discipline. Since discipline, unlike dogma, admits variation without diminution of integrity, and since there is no contradiction involved in two different disciplines obtaining in two different ritual churches, there is no contradiction involved in affirming the integrity of both the East and the West in the matter of clerical celibacy.
All particular churches celebrate the rule of celibacy for at least the highest order of clergy; i.e., all bishops are required to be celibate. No particular church, of any rite, allows a married man to be ordained a bishop. No man, whether bishop, presbyter or deacon, once ordained, may marry. A married presbyter or deacon, if he becomes a widower, may not remarry (“husband of one wife”).
As to what all the fuss is about, well, I wrote a little bit along that line already, over at Called to Communion: Consecrated Celibacy–Sign of the Eschatological Kingdom.
