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couple of weeks ago I challenged the conventional wisdom of some Catholic
liberals that celibacy is the cause of sexual abuse of children and young
people by priests. I pointed out that it was also a problem for married
Protestant clergy. What was unique for Catholics was the cover-up by church
authorities -- a strategy that worked for a long, long time. Celibacy does
not cause abuse, and marriage is not a cure for it. I was deluged with hate mail from angry priests and laity. It was obvious, they ranted, that celibacy was the cause of abuse. Yet a Greek Orthodox priest wrote me an e-mail asserting that "even the married Greek clergy are not immune from pedophilia." He referred me to the Web page the Orthodox Church maintains about its problems, www.orthodoxreform.org. My ranting critics ridiculed my sociological data about the professional and personal happiness of priests in comparison with ministers. I suggest they look up the Greek Web page. |
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The Greeks are
transparent about their problems. They don't seem to rally around their
offenders in protective circles of denial. Quite the contrary, they seem to
distance themselves from the abusers. They don't argue, as I heard several
years ago from an Irish priest, "Father, they are PRIESTS!" |
Keep in touch... |
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It may well be that celibacy should be optional if only to attract more young people to priestly vocations. I wonder, however, how many young women would want to be married to a priest in the Church today. The Catholic Church is in a gosh awful mess, mainly because the Roman Curia has, in the words of the London Tablet, aborted the reforms of the Vatican Council and concentrated all power in itself. The great -- and reasonable -- hopes of the council have been blighted, not permanently indeed, but temporarily. Once an admired and respected profession (vocation, if you will), the priesthood is now in disgrace. It remains to be demonstrated that married priests could restore the image of the clergy and the morale of the laity. A young man who
considers the priesthood today has to make a strong act of faith that it
would be a happy choice. Nor is the restoration of the Latin mass likely to
have much of an effect, despite the starry-eyed conviction that it will undo
some of the effects of the council. Those who wish to revoke the council
seem blithely unaware that you can't do that, and it is blind folly to try. |
 A Stupid, Unjust, And Criminal War: Iraq 2001-2007 Father Greeley calls to task those who justified, planned and executed the war and reminds us that God weeps at the destruction of war, whether lives lost are ‘ours’ or ‘theirs.’  Order
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