"Untainted by sexual intercourse, the priest was a man apart from and above his congregation. Franz Franken, a laicized priest, described the pre-Vatican II public image of the priest: ”A priest was not seen as a collaborator or mediator, but as a magical numinous being with special hidden access to God, a being to which one could attach one’s most secret wishes and hopes, like the devotional objects of pilgrimage sites … so that at the time of Vatican II, a priest who no longer lived a celibate life was frequently branded and condemned in the Catholic public sphere as the most terrible disgrace of the Holy Catholic Church.” The Church went to great lengths to safeguard the sexual purity of its priests. Both codes of canon law valid during the time span covered by this monograph-those of 1917 and 1983-advised priests to avoid persons who might jeopardize their celibacy. The 1917 Code of Canon Law identified such persons specifically as women. In Germany, the 1954 Cologne Diocesan Synod established detailed rules governing interactions between priests and women. For example, young priests on vacation were prohibited from swimming with groups of young girls, and seminary students were not allowed to have any contact with girls during holidays. One priest reported that, during his seminary training, he was advised to avoid interactions with his siter because this too could be fraught with danger! The priest’s authority was based on his otherness, and the most visible manifestation of that otherness was his celibacy."