XPost: alt.religion.christian.biblestudy, alt.religion.christian   
   roman-catholic, england.religion.misc   
   XPost: free.christians, hk.soc.religion.christianity   
   From: œ@att.net   
      
   The Problem with Celibacy   
      
   Mandatory clerical celibacy is not the problem. Clerical celibacy, in   
   and of itself, is not the cause, nor even a contributing factor, in   
   the sexual scandals involving Catholic clergy: married non-Catholic   
   clergy are also guilty of the same kind of sexual offenses of which   
   celibate Catholic clergy are guilty.   
   Stuart Reid, deputy editor of The Spectator, London Telegraph, Apr.   
   12; states the case with memorable alacrity:   
   There is a very serious problem in the Catholic Church, but let's be   
   clear what the problem is not. It is not, as so many believe, the rule   
   of celibacy. ("I mean, if they was allowed to get married, they   
   wouldn't be rogering them choirboys, would they?" The same sort of   
   reasoning, in posher language, can be found in broadsheet newspapers.)   
   If you want proof that celibacy is not the cause of child molestation   
   or promiscuous homosexuality, look at the Church of England, or visit   
   your nearest internet paedophile circle. The truth is that celibacy is   
   the only hope that paedophiles - and their potential victims - have.   
   The same day, the Chicago Sun-Times published a column by well-known   
   author Fr. Andrew Greeley, a long-time defender of continuing   
   mandatory clerical celibacy. Though he mislabels the current scandal   
   as one of sexual "child" abuse, his points are worth noting:   
   The argument one hears and reads over and over that celibacy is the   
   cause of sexual abuse is a vicious anti-Catholic lie even if it comes   
   from columnists and editorial writers who claim to be Catholic. In an   
   ABC news poll, 6 percent of Catholics and 6 percent of other Americans   
   said that there had been a sex abuse case in their congregation - a   
   finding that shows that the problem is not just celibate or Catholic.   
   Most child abusers are married men (and in some cases married women).   
   Their abuse results from deep emotional problems. If a priest with   
   these proclivities marries, then he will be a married sex abuser. No   
   clinician disputes that truth. The alleged link between celibacy and   
   sexual abuse is specious.   
   Greeley continues with a blast at "resigned priests", whom the   
   mainstream media so willing puts before the public these days:   
   Is there no historian of anti-Catholic nativism who will rise up and   
   shout that attacks on the celibate priesthood have been an integral   
   part of anti-Catholic bigotry for two centuries? Historically, the   
   bigots insist that the priest is either a slimy character looking for   
   young people or nuns to assault, or is something less than a real man.   
   A few resigned priests in effect make that argument today against   
   those of us who have tried to keep our promise of celibacy. Those who   
   accept the argument as though it were unquestionable truth are de   
   facto anti-Catholics. Somehow, the fact that these loud louts now   
   sleep with a woman seems to constitute prima facie evidence that they   
   are more real men than we are and uniquely qualified to criticize our   
   inadequacies. That too is anti-Catholic bigotry and should be labeled   
   as such.   
   (Another version reads "loudmouths" for "loud louts". Greeley names   
   nobody, but A. W. Richard Sipes and Eugene Kennedy are the two,   
   usually labelled "former priests", who seem to be most often given a   
   national audience on TV and in major newspapers. One need not even   
   wonder if anybody who could be labelled, say, "former dissenter" would   
   be obliged so willingly, or given such ready credence.)   
   Celibacy does have a problem, however: it is far too often in and of   
   itself.   
   Celibacy is a precious gift, to the individual and to the Church. Yet,   
   it is a demanding gift. Over the centuries, the discipline of clerical   
   celibacy developed along with a whole way of life - comprising the   
   spiritual, devotional, and ascetical - to the benefit of the   
   individual celibate, the community in which he lived and worshipped,   
   and the Church as a whole.   
   Much of this involved adapting the disciplines of monastic life to the   
   life of the priest in parochial ministry. And much of it was   
   abandoned, lock, stock, and barrel in the 1960s. Not everywhere, not   
   always. But in enough places, in enough ways, to have made a profound   
   difference in the way many priests have conducted their daily lives. I   
   have found support for this proposition in places I would not have   
   thought very likely.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)