Two parts here 2 different subjects...
Celts were primarily Druid, they did however have a wide array of Gods and Godesses, mainly of earthen nature to oversee successful crops. They also believed once a King Died he became a god, and would continue to guide them. Gods however took the forms of many things or animals and would visit during dreams or in visions. Morigon, (Dont hate me if I'm wrong) Took the form of a Sacred Cow. A sign of life, fertility, and Happiness for women.

On the second point, Did you know the Catholic church had Married Popes? between 300- 600 A.D. The Papacy was often in Chaos, even being moved once to France from Italy. There was one period that there were 3 Popes at the same time! Celibacy was adopted in the 7th century in the Church for several reasons, most of them more political than religious.

Rabbi's during the time of Christ were supposed to be Celibate as entering the inner rooms of the Temple was strictly a Men Only thing, and Women were though to be "Unclean" as punishment for the sin of Eve. Rabbi's would go though elaborate bathing rituals before entering the temple as would Men able to enter the Temple. Jesus Cured a Blind man in one such bath.

Yeah, Morrigan, a goddess who represents both battle and fertility (but what celtic goddess doesn't represent fertility?) Could take the form of a white cow or a raven/crow (I forget which).

But she made reference to a celtic form of christianity...?

It's hard to come up with a good source for "Celtic Christianity." There's not a lot of written documentation from that timeperiod from the perspective of the Celts on anything, including religion. It's a difficult area in which to pursue scholarly research. The popularity of modern Wicca and attempts to reconstruct Druidic ritual confuse the field farther and it's even more difficult to separate solid research from conjecture -- or even conjecture based on historical evidence from wildly hypothetical conjecture.

Thus, I've not spent any time in that area, except to note that there is periodic evidence of practices that don't conform to Rome. Much of it's from early in church development, when even continental practices weren't cohesive. As orthodox practices trickled west, they were eventually adopted on the island, too, it just took a little longer, perhaps. I believe that co-ed monasteries were approximately the same time as the continental church was still working through priestly celibacy issue.

It's an oversimplification, but I believe that "celtic churches" retained and incorporated local beliefs in much the same way as isolated continental villages did. (See "Night Battles" by Carlo Ginzburg for an example from Italy.) The British Isles, especially the outer reaches (Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Isles of Man, and so forth) were sufficiently geographically isolated that lots of things were different there over time. Heresies come late there and are more socio-political than doctrinal, for example.

Interesting, yes. And exactly what I expected.

That's exactly the process I think happened. It was 1- understood implicitly, that a man of the times would have been married, only mentioned if he was *not* married; 2- not considered important enough to write down; or 3- suppressed intentionally. Your thought that it was to coordinate with the new celibacy of priests is quite likely. It's how these things happen. How could they expect priests to be celibate if Christ himself was not?

So it's an older custom than I thought. :) Still happening, for various reasons. :)

Eleven Priests in Chicago Area Removed

By MEGAN REICHGOTT, Associated Press Writer 9/26/2005

Eleven priests suspected of sexual misconduct with minors more than 20 years ago have been barred from clerical work, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago said Monday.

The men cannot present themselves as priests, engage in public ministries or act as an agent of the archdiocese, although they have not been removed from the priesthood, said Chancellor Jimmy Lago.

Lago would not disclose specific allegations or the priests' names or parishes.

The 11 were among a group of 14 priests whose alleged sexual misconduct was forwarded to Vatican officials two years ago by Cardinal Francis George, archdiocese officials said. One of the priests has died and two other cases will be decided by pending canonical trials.

The Vatican studied the cases last year and authorized George to conduct a review that included opinions from advocates for the priests and advisers, Lago said.

"Cardinal George has determined, based on the information presented, that sexual misconduct did occur," he said.

The sexual abuse, which allegedly took place 20 to 30 years ago in all of the cases, was reported both to the parishes and civil authorities, Lago said.

The statue of limitations has expired in all the cases, officials said.

Victim advocates said the church should have made the priests' names public.

"I think that this begrudging, long overdue action ... does not relieve Cardinal George of his responsibility," said Barbara Blaine, president of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests. "There's 11 known child molesters out there that are not going to be found on any sex offender registries."

George's actions follow changes adopted three years ago by U.S. Roman Catholic bishops at the height of the clergy sex abuse scandal. In June, the bishops extended their policy of permanently barring sex offenders from church work.

The crisis erupted in January 2002 over revelations that many bishops had moved guilty priests among parishes without warning parents or police.

The archdiocese paid out $18.2 million in the last fiscal year to settle legal claims by people alleging sexual abuse by priests. Since 2002, 19 of its priests have been removed from ministry, Lago said.

Morrigan, Yeah, thats who i was thinking about---

I do know that when St. Patrick was converting Ireland, that several pagan rituals were "Merged" with Catholisism to make the religion more appeling to the Celts.

Also Christmas was placed on Dec 25th to 'compete' with the Winter Soltice, and some other pagan holiday around that time. Many things celebrated as "Christian" such as Christmas 'Trees' , Easter 'Eggs' Candles placed in windows, etc, are Celtic/Druid/German/Pagan in nature, infused into Christianity as well.
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BACK to gay priests... Pope Benny said the Ban comes as a result of the Priest/Altar Boy Sex scandals now rocking the church worldwide. As it was men wth boys, in his eyes a "Homosexual' act...

HEY BENNY- TRY BANNING CHILD MOLESTORS INSTEAD OF 'GAYS'!!!
GAY DOES NOT EQUAL CHILD MOLESTOR! HUNDREDS OF STUDIES SHOW THIS! (Does this then mean its 'better' to molest Altar Girls?) Sometimes being a Catholic makes me want to PUKE.

What did the lady on the beach say to the priest?

Excuse me father, can you get out of my son?