The Catholic Church is at present tearing itself to pieces over the issue of the law of clerical celibacy. It might seem to some only a marginal or administrative problem, but it in fact goes to the heart of the matter on every side of modern church life. It is, of course, first of all an issue of sexuality, originall deriving from a beleife that all sex produces moral impurity. But it has gone on to become an issue about power, about pastoral care, and about sheer honesty. The publication in English of Vogel’s scholaraly study of the subject is immensely to be welcomed. -from the Foreword byAdrien Hastings