Time to Abolish Clerical Celibacy

frontpagemag.com ^ | January 3, 2002 | Jamie Glazov

[dtom]

Time to Abolish Clerical Celibacy

FrontPageMagazine.com | January 3, 2002

FATHER ARTHUR CARRAHER is a Roman Catholic priest in Toronto. He has just recently confessed to being a child molester. He faces seven charges of indecent assault in Dublin, Ireland.

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Tragically, this 79-year-old criminal might avoid justice, because it looks like he will live out his final days in Canada. Already ill, this individual benefits from the fact that bureaucrats have yet to ratify an extradition treaty that would force him back to Ireland.

It is clear that "Father" Carraher settled in Canada to avoid punishment for his crimes. His victims, meanwhile, whose lives he shattered at a young age, cry out for justice.

This outrage is just another reminder of the serious problem that has grown within the Catholic Church as a result of the imposition of clerical celibacy.

I am a Catholic. I believe in the Church. I have also had the privilege of meeting, and befriending, many Catholic priests in my life - and a large proportion of them are obviously pious people who are not child abusers.

Having said that, I must say that, as a Catholic, I can no longer stay silent about the pathology that the enforcement of celibacy has caused within the Church.

Forced clerical celibacy simply has to go. It is directly connected to the widespread existence of pedophilia and homosexuality in the priesthood. Many of my fellow Catholics will be outraged at me for raising this issue. But I am far more concerned about the victims who have had their lives and identities destroyed for a lifetime, than I am about making some people uncomfortable about bringing this taboo subject up for discussion.

Let?s get one thing straight: enforced celibacy has nothing to do with Christian theology. That?s why it was never an enforced rule for priests until the 11^th century, when the Church officially mandated it for completely non-theological reasons. Pope Gregory VII (1073-1085) banned priests from being married because he wanted to solve the problem of their families inheriting Church property.

Anyone with half a brain would have known that Pope Gregory?s act was going to invite a tremendous evil into the Church. I mean, think about it: does it really take a rocket scientist to figure out what will happen to males in an institution that forbids them from getting married? Let me give you a little hint: ponder what happens to a male?s mind and body after he goes through puberty. Now consider the consequences of a male repressing, and not having an outlet for, the natural feelings and desires that he will subsequently live with for the rest of his adult life. Perhaps some people don?t need sex. Fair enough. But it needs to be a voluntary decision.

Is it really a surprise that criminals like "Father" Carraher emerge and that they destroy the lives of many innocent human beings? Of course Carraher must accept personal responsibility for what he did. After all, the majority of priests are obviously ethical people who do not hurt young boys - notwithstanding their celibacy. But this does not mean that we should ignore the pathology that is engendered by enforced celibacy.

In recent years, reports of Catholic priests sexually abusing children have come to light in virtually every major U.S. city. Yet the Church continues to refuse to deal with this problem in a serious way. It?s time it did.

The fact is that when women are demonized, pathology always emerges. It is so ingrained in many Catholic priests to believe that it would be dirty and evil for them to have sex with a woman, that some of them end up rationalizing that it is less sinful to molest a little boy -- or to have sex with a man. Yet, for the Catholic Church, the alternative decision to engage in homosexuality is far more sinful, and in the case of the abuse of little boys, far more inhumane, criminal and clearly diabolical.

Abnormal sexual behavior, like pedophilia, is often found among males in situations where the woman -- the ideal sexual object -- is forbidden or unavailable. That?s why a strong case can be made that Islamic terror, for instance, is rooted in the misogyny and sexual repression that is embedded in Muslim cultures.

In light of these realities, it is the obligation, especially of Catholics, to speak out against the Church?s policy of mandatory celibacy for priests. It?s the least that the victims of "Father" Carraher, and of the hundreds of monsters like him, deserve.

Jamie Glazov holds a Ph.D. in History with a specialty in Soviet Studies. He is the author of 15 Tips on How to be a Good Leftist. Born in the U.S.S.R., Jamie is the son of prominent Soviet dissidents, and now resides in Vancouver, Canada. He writes the Dr. Progressive advice column for angst-ridden leftists at EnterStageRight.com. E-mail him at jglazov@home.com.

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[ken5050]

Yep, I know, that's a standard part in many BCP's..what really pissed me off NO end was at Christmas services..during the prayers for the people...not one mention of 9/11...or the victims, or prayers for our troops in harm's way...just the generic pablum

[Mannaggia l'America]

Forced clerical celibacy simply has to go.

Forced? As far as I know, the Catholic Church does not draft men into the priesthood - it is voluntary and everyone knows what is required.

[TEXASPROUD]

I left the seminary after I realized I couldn't remain celibate. There was no way in hell I would bring dishonor on the office of the priesthood. Yet, at the same time, the Roman Catholic church welcomes married Anglican priests into the fold. Go figure.

[SteamshipTime]

Men who ejoy sex with women are not likely to join the priesthood since they cannot even marry. Consequently, the priesthood attracts some men who recognize its potential for gratifying unnatural desires--like gay men who join the military or become scoutmasters, or pedophiles who seek work at daycare centers.

If St. Peter himself was married along with a number of other disciples, I fail to see the theological basis for not allowing priests to marry.

[Dudoight]

Being married to a woman will not stop pedophiles.

[Mr. Thorne]

Apparently, he hasn't quite made it over to the conservative side as regards faith. Oh well…

On a brighter note, my wife and I had the pleasure of entertaining one of our priests and female religious last night for dinner. In the course of table talk, Father Anderson was explaining to Sister that he was being transferred to the Chicago Archdiocese within a week, and that he woule really miss the RCIA class.

Seems there's a couple in RCIA which Father has given to our resident seminarian for sponsorship. They were atheist/agnostic, until she gave birth to their child. Seems the pregnancy was particularly trying, and she coded three times. The doctors, however, pulled her through, and now the family is all hunky-dory. This experience gave them both a kick in the pants. Call it divine inspiration, intervention, or a happy coincidence, but it seems they heard 'the call' to reform, as it were. And they just happened to be in, you guessed it, a Catholic hospital.

So they're getting special treatment, since no one they know is RC, neither of them is, or was, RC and none of their immediate family is RC. But they're gonna be, come Easter...

I look forward to meeting them.

[Mfkmmof4]

If you want to be part of any group you have to play by the rules. So, then don't become a priest. Celibacy is not why SOME priests are child molesters. How many dads who have sex molest their children?

[katana]

I believe the Roman Catholic doctrine of clerical celibacy is a mistake, but it is their church and they have every right to run things as they see fit. Further, I've met a few Protestant ministers and a couple rabbis who I wouldn't trust to be alone with my daughters or my son.

[Mfkmmof4]

According to the Catholic Church one must remain celibate unless married. Not all people marry either by choice or vocation.....so what release do you provide for single people who do not have sex? The implication is that unless one has sex then there are preverts. And in Church history this is not the first time there has been a shortage of priests. So no I do not see the church changing the celibacy rule.

[The Iron Duke]

This author is both obsessed with sex and notorious for playing fast and loose with the facts. In his polemic on female circumsion he handily omitted the fact that the custom predates Islam, is practised by members of all relgious groups in East Africa, including Christians, and is not practised at all by Muslims in most parts of of Asia.

Here he somehow connects the sexual abuse of children with the lack of a marital sex life. Sorry. Any cop can tell you there is no such connection. Heck, the Dallas Cowboys had a player who molested a little girl while he was married to Joey Heatherton - one of the hottest TV babes of the go-go era.

[Aquinasfan]

1 Corinthians 7

1 Now for the matters you wrote about: It is good for a man not to marry.
2 But since there is so much immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband.
3 The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband.
4 The wife's body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband's body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife.
5 Do not deprive each other except by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.
6 I say this as a concession, not as a command.
7 I wish that all men were as I am. But each man has his own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.
8 Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I am.

[TankerKC]

I am a Catholic.

One of Dr. Glazov's many lies.

[fdcc]

Back before every bishop had to report to the pope in Rome, a priest was allowed to be married. After Gregory VII, as part of a general effort to consolidate and control the Catholic franchise, the clergy was informed that they were to give up their wives. If you didn't agree, your wife was abducted and sold into slavery.

A source please? Any source?

[Pugsy]

As I heard it, the reason for unmarried priests was for protection of their families. During the era that had various plagues, priests were the only people who would go and care for the sick. However, they then brought the disease home to their own families. In order to prevent spreading diseases, they sacrificed "marital bliss". Therefore, if one is not married, one is supposed to be celebate, as the Bible says. This goes for any unmarried person, lest we forget. Has nothing to do with church doctrine. The ability to be celibate is also a gift from God, as sex is a gift. What we do with our gifts is up to us, use them appropriately or not. Called free will.

[ikanakattara]

Glazov is right about this. He's one of the few conservatives I've read who are willing to come out and address very difficult issues. He was right about the sexual pathology of jihadist Islam; right about the horrors of female genital mutilation in Islamic countries, and he's also right about this.

Celibacy is not a dogmatic *mandate* of Catholicism. It is a *disciplinary practice* which can change. The Orthodox have always had a tradition of married priests, which goes back to the very beginnings of Christianity itself. In many Protestant denominations, a man *must* be married before he is called by the church's board of elders to be a minister.

Regarding pedophilia, there are two major kinds of pedophilia. There is the kind which is committed by married men against little girls. This type of pedophilia is NOT the most common. The other type, MORE common, is committed by *unmarried* men against boys. A subset of this group preys on boys that are older, i.e. teenagers. A largely-married priesthood combined with better screening for homosexual pedophilia would reduce the numbers of these men in the Catholic priesthood.

Western Catholics need to face the fact that the numbers of men going into the priesthood are very, very small, even when you include "conservative" orders like the Legionaries of Christ, Opus Dei, and the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter. In my opinion, not only should the priesthood be opened to men who are married, but married permanent deacons should be considered for ordination as priests if they want it. Also, those men who left the priesthood over marriage should be invited to return and their marriages regularized (as long as they're not married to a divorced person w/o an annulment.) This would provide a large jump in the number of active priests in the West.

[patent]

From Pedophiles and Priests the only scholarly review on the issue I know of:

1. How widespread is pedophilia among priests? Commentators have suggested between 5 and 10 percent. That figure has been presented by various "experts" and widely used by the media. However, true pedophilia--sexual contact between an adult and pre-pubescent child--is extremely rare in the priesthood. The best estimate is "0.3 percent of the whole body of clergy." (p 82) The most extensive study which considered 2,252 priests over a thirty year period found only one case of pedophilia. It involved a priest-uncle with two six-year-old nieces. The number of pederasts or ephebophiles (priests involved, usually homosexually, with an adolescent minor) was much larger, but still less than two percent. Jenkins traces how those figures were blown up and presented without nuance in the media.

3. Does the celibacy requirement increase the likelihood that a priest will be a sex offender? Jenkins details how the media accounts of clergy sex abuse emphasized not only "cover up" but the celibacy factor. The view presented repeatedly was that the type of formation around this unrealistic requirement contributed to the supposed widespread sex abuse among priests. However, the difficulty with the argument is that there is no proof the problem is greater among priests than Protestant ministers—or even other service professionals, like teachers or physicians. It is worth noting that while the case involving former priest James Porter received massive media attention, the equally scandalous case of Protestant minister Tony Leyva got only limited coverage.

The difference in coverage and the emphasis on the celibacy requirement cannot wholly be blamed on anti-Catholic bias in the secular media. In fact, as Jenkins documents, much of the fuel came from division within the Catholic Church. Those advocating married clergy and women priests jumped on this crisis to promote their cause. On the other side conservatives pointed out that most of the cases went back to the 60's, a time when the Church began to absorb the general laxness in sexual morality. Also since most of the cases involved homosexual activity, they questioned the wisdom of ordaining men with a gay orientation. However, as Jenkins shows, the conservatives had little success in promoting their view. The crisis was inevitably seen as a failure of a bankrupt all male hierarchy, repressive seminary formation, moral rigidity, anti-woman bias and other bete noires of liberal Catholics.

This argument is frequently made by liberals ithing the Church who want to turn the Catholic Church in the direction of the most liberally politically active and all inclusive “churches” of today. As with most of their arguments, facts and logic are entirely optional.

[patent]

Back before every bishop had to report to the pope in Rome, a priest was allowed to be married. After Gregory VII, as part of a general effort to consolidate and control the Catholic franchise, the clergy was informed that they were to give up their wives. If you didn't agree, your wife was abducted and sold into slavery.

I heard that Luther liked raping small kids and sacrificing virgins to the “god” Baal on his altar, and that he only left the Catholic Church when the local Bishop found out and stopped him.

patent

[GreatOne]

Your point is well taken, but go to this passage from the Catholic Answer website which deals with priests and celibacy. Explains it much better than I could.