Fears of a feminized church: Catholicism, clerical celibacy, and the crisis of masculinity in Wilhelmine Germany

This article examines the relationship between German Catholicism and the so-called 'crisis' of masculinity of the early twentieth century. Focusing on the masculinist rhetoric of reform-oriented Catholics, particularly within the context of an energetic and colourful campaign against the institution of mandatory clerical celibacy, the article sheds new light both on the intersection of religion and culture in Wilhelmine Germany and, more specifically, on a rather striking convergence of Catholic masculinism and volkisch-oriented thought in Munich on the eve of the First World War.