When I set out to do a story about celibacy in the priesthood, I had no idea how hard it was going to be. It almost didn't come together at all.

As a Catholic, I always wondered why it was necessary for priests to be celibate. I knew that celibacy was a long standing religious tradition, and that many of the great Saints had been celibate, but I didn't understand why this form of "perfect chastity" was still such an intrinsic part of being a priest in the Catholic Church.

I was interested in having priests talk openly and honestly about the role celibacy plays in their lives. This proved to be almost impossible.

The problem was the name of the show. Priests appreciated what I wanted to do, but they refused to be associated with anything with "Sex" in the title. I spent hours on the phone explaining that the piece would be a respectful, intelligent look at celibacy and that I was not interested in sordid tales of Seminary sex. It was no use.

I had 6 priests cancel interviews a few days before the appointments were set. I had to cancel a trip to New Jersey at the last minute when my main interview, the president of a major organization for married priests, suddenly called off our meeting. One married priest had just agreed to meet up with me, when he asked me, almost as an afterthought, "Have you ever done a story with pornographers?" Alas, how could I lie to a priest? I told him that we do stories about sexuality in all its diversity… that was the end of that.

The fear was that I was going to reduce everything down to "sex". Married priests didn't want the public to get the impression that they had left the Church exclusively because of a desire to have sex. Celibate priests thought I would want to talk about "self abuse" and broken vows.

It took me almost a year to find individuals who were brave enough to speak to me about the issues surrounding mandatory celibacy in the Church. I am grateful to them for trusting me.

Pedro Orrego
Associate Producer, SEXTV