Posted on 03/15/2002 11:59:33 AM PST by anniegetyourgun
BOSTON- In an extraordinary editorial on the city's child-molestation scandal, the official newspaper of the Boston Archdiocese says the Roman Catholic Church must face the question of whether to drop its requirement that priests be celibate.
The editorial, published Thursday in a special issue of The Pilot, asks whether there would be fewer scandals if celibacy were optional for priests and whether the priesthood attracts an unusually high number of homosexual men.
It offers no answers, but says: "These scandals have raised serious questions in the minds of the laity that simply will not disappear."
The editorial was written by Monsignor Peter V. Conley, the paper's executive editor, who is said to be a close confidant of Cardinal Bernard Law, Boston's archbishop. Law is listed as the paper's publisher.
Archdiocese spokeswoman Donna Morrissey had no immediate comment.
Philip Lawler, who was editor of The Pilot from 1986 to 1988 and is now editor of Catholic World Report, called the editorial "very unusual" for raising questions about church doctrine instead of administrative issues.
In Rome, a Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Ciro Benedettini, said: "The pope has spoken to this. He has said celibacy remains, it is a great gift to the church. He has spoken clearly in favor of celibacy."
The archdiocese is the nation's fourth-largest, with more than 2 million Catholics, and is the center of the biggest child-molestation scandal to rock the U.S. church.
It has been under fire recently after it was disclosed that officials knew about child sex-abuse allegations against the Rev. John Geoghan and did little more than move him from parish to parish. The now-defrocked priest has been accused of molesting more than 130 children over 30 years. He is serving a nine-to-10 year prison sentence for groping a boy, and the archdiocese has agreed to pay up to $45 million to scores of his alleged victims.
As part of a new "zero tolerance" policy of sex abuse, the archdiocese has turned over to prosecutors the names of more than 80 current and former priests suspected of child molestation over the past 50 years.
The archdiocese said it printed the special issue of The Pilot to try to improve communication with parishioners about the latest developments. More than 100,000 copies of the 28-page supplement to the weekly paper were printed and will be distributed after Mass in parishes Sunday.
"Would abandoning celibacy be the proper answer to new data from the contemporary sciences or would it be surrendering to popular American culture?" it says.
The editorial says that the New Testament "clearly prizes" priestly celibacy, but that most Americans don't understand it. It also says that letting priests marry would not be a "panacea," noting the divorce rate.
The editorial poses such questions as: "Should celibacy continue to be a normative condition for the diocesan priesthood in the Western (Latin) Church? If celibacy were optional, would there be fewer scandals of this nature in the priesthood? Does priesthood, in fact, attract a disproportionate number of men with a homosexual orientation?"
It also encourages greater attention to homosexual orientation and the priesthood, and asks if there are valid ways to screen priests for sexual orientation. The editorial also says that "evidence now seems to indicate that (homosexuality) is a genetically inherited condition."
Conley did not immediately return a call for comment Friday.
The Rev. Stephen Rossetti, a psychologist and consultant on sex abuse to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, cautioned against linking celibacy and homosexuality among priests to child molestation.
"Any clinician can tell you the diagnosis of pedophilia has nothing to do with homosexuality," said Rossetti, who has written extensively on the issue. "I think people are jumping on simplistic solutions."
The newspaper also includes a defense of Law by Raymond Flynn, a former Boston mayor and one-time U.S. ambassador to the Vatican.
"I think it's a very enlightened editorial in terms of the door being opened, and the church is inviting people to come back," Flynn said Friday. "In a sad way, this is a very exciting and wonderful new era, a dawn for the Catholic Church. I really believe that."
"....evidence now seems to indicate that (homosexuality) is a genetically inherited condition."
Where is the evidence and the new data - that is, scientific evidence and data not created by homosexual researchers and paid for by their advocacy groups?
As a matter of personal opinion, priests know what they are getting into before they are ordained.
In what way is celibacy a "great gift"? To this Protestant, celibacy seems as unnatural as homosexualism.
I believe the celibacy requirement was tool implemented by the Church in the 12th century as a way to avoid the
willing of Church property to the heirs of its then priests.
In this era of "returning to one's roots", it may not be a bad idea.
Everybody else has agreed that resigning is the best thing, and hopefully repent over such obvious bad judgement.
Are you listening, Bernie? Or sticking your head in the sand, yet again?
I don't know WHO wrote the editorial, but there is no such evidence that homosexuality is inherited. And there is a way to screen for sexual orientation. It is called being watchful and aware while the men are in the Seminary. These men are in community for several years while preparing for the priesthood, and it becomes common knowledge who's doing what during that time. There have been complaints about homosexual activity on the part of seminarians, but the liberal committees disregard the complaints, or worse, run off the person doing the complaining.
Celibacy is NOT the problem; it is a great gift. It is obvious that these perverts are NOT and never had any intention of being celibate. Their inability to live up to their vows should not besmirch those men who have been able to do so.
In fact, celibacy is administrative and disciplinary.
There's nothing "doctrinal" about the practice of mandatory celibacy.
Why is this any of Bush's business?
In fact, he should keep his nose out of it. As should all the other government buttinskis, especially Attorney General Reilly of Massachusetts.
But biblically, celibacy is not a requirement for pastors. Even Paul admitted that there are those who can handle it, and those who can't. Sexual urge, in many people, is as powerful as hunger.
Questions that must be faced
Before we breathe a sigh of relief now that many of the allegations against John Geoghan have been settled, we must realize two things: there are outstanding allegations against six other archdiocesan priests; and these scandals have raised serious questions in the minds of the laity that simply will not disappear.
· Should celibacy continue to be a normative condition for the diocesan priesthood in the Western (Latin) Church?
· If celibacy were optional, would there be fewer scandals of this nature in the priesthood?
Celibacy is an act of resignation to the Divine Will of God, giving all to Him, not self. It is Scriptural in its roots and in the Tradition of the Church for one very good reason. You cannot serve two masters. The reason that there are questions re celibacy among Catholics is that Catholics don't understand the beauty of celibacy in relation to Holy Orders by sacrificing self for Christ.
· Does priesthood, in fact, attract a disproportionate number of men with a homosexual orientation?
The revelations in Michael Rose's new book, "Goodbye! Good Men" are proof positive that that those inclined to the developmental disorder that homosexuality is were encouraged to attend seminaries because those seminaries encouraged sexually perverse behavior.
· Lastly, why are a substantial number of Catholics not convinced that an all male priesthood was intended by Christ and is unchangeable?
See ibid. on celibacy. The problem is not celibacy. The problem is heresy and apostasy in the chanceries of dioceses throughout the country which encourage dissent from the faith, brainwashing their seminarians into believing that dissent is good for the Church, when it is destroying the Church in America.
These questions are out there in the minds of Catholics — more so in the United States than elsewhere. They have been answered in the past but now these questions have taken on a deeper intensity in more Catholic minds than prior to these sexual scandals.
Even if our present woes in the archdiocese were suddenly to disappear, these questions have taken on an urgency and will not slip quietly away.
Before intelligent answers can be given, we must realize that there is no panacea; that a married clergy presents its own distinctive problems and liabilities, and that more studies with concrete data will be necessary before an intelligent response can be made. Right now emotions are running too high.
For example, if the number of archdiocesan priests accused of pedophilia over the last 50 years is approximately 60, it is essential to know how many priests there were in 1951, how many have been ordained since that date and how many others have been incardinated into Boston’s diocesan priesthood from other dioceses and religious orders.
A fair total estimate would be 3,000 — making a ratio of approximately two percent. What is the percentage of American males afflicted with this psychosexual pathology? Is this devastating sin/crime/illness more common in the priesthood than elsewhere?
This overlooks the result of the research of Rose who documents in detail the encouragement of dissent, and the gay subculture being allowed to flourish in our seminaries. You admit homosexuals to seminaries, you're putting out the welcome mat for clerical pedophilia given the considerable evidence showing the direct correlation between homosexuality and pedophilia per organizations such as NARTH, the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality.
The New Testament clearly prizes an embraced celibacy “for the sake of the kingdom” and by the earliest centuries it became associated with ordination to the episcopacy and, later, to the priesthood. The Council of Nicea, the first ecumenical council, addressed the issue in the year 325.
We Americans live in a popular culture that simply does not understand, let alone prize, celibacy as an expression of love for the Lord and His kingdom. Would abandoning celibacy be the proper answer to new data from the contemporary sciences or would it be surrendering to popular American culture?
The Church is supposed to stand in contradiction to the world, not in accommodation to it. The celibacy of its clerics is a witness to this for the love of Christ in following His example, i.e., acting in persona Christi, in the person of Christ, which is what Catholic priests are supposed to do.
A further question is this: What does the Church do to attract a sufficient number of priests for the service of its people in a culture that does not consider celibacy a Gospel ideal?
Since when does the secular culture dictate to the Catholic Church?
Another question would be: Would a married clergy, in a culture in which there is a 50 percent divorce rate, be the answer? Data from Protestant and Orthodox churches might provide a helpful insight.
Regarding the question of homosexual orientation and the priesthood, the following questions come to mind. Is sexual orientation an either/or? How do we know anyone’s sexual orientation unless they candidly admit it — or their past history confirms it? Is there a valid screening tool that can evaluate such an interior world?
There most certainly is, given the Pope's latest directive on psychological screening where the psychologists in question are to be Catholic in more than name only, understanding the Church's teachings for the sake of the souls of the faithful. What is happening is that many of these same psychologists are militant pro-homosexual activists who have committed public heresy in regards to scandalizing the faithful by their vociferous support of homosexual lifestyles. Such is the situation in our diocese (Altoona-Johnstown, PA)
Is every male who is sensitive, caring, and even somewhat effeminate a homosexual?
Was Christ effeminate? No! Is being effeminate good for the priesthood, where priests are supposed to be acting in persona Christi? Clearly, the answer is no.
Is every male who is macho, a jock and seemingly overflowing with testosterone a heterosexual?
There are enough natural problems that our priests must overcome in a world that mocks their vocation. Why should we make their crosses more difficult by also asking them to overcome unnatural problems, a sin much greater than the former, which is also Scriptural, and directly addressed as such by the most famous doctors of the Church, Augustine and Aquinas. We see the consequences of admitting those to the priesthood suffering from unnatural problems on an almost daily basis.
We know that our sexual orientation is neither morally good nor evil.
What we know, in fact, is that an orientation to homosexuality is unnatural. It is an "ordering to an intrinsic moral evil". That being the case, how can those being so inclined be considered as candidates for the priesthood? Answer - they can't.
We know the following from the Teaching Magisterium of Holy Mother Church, where the definitive position on homosexuality is presented in a "Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual persons" given at Rome, 1 October 1986 by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The major excerpts from that letter follow.
"Although the particular inclination of the homosexual person is not a sin, it is a more or less strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil; and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder.
"Therefore special concern and pastoral attention should be directed toward those who have this condition, lest they be led to believe that the living out of this orientation in homosexual activity is a morally acceptable option. It is not."
This truth is reinforced in the Universal Catechism which calls inclinations to homosexuality "objectively disordered."
Evidence now seems to indicate that it is a genetically inherited condition.
This is a lie! There is absolutely no evidence, nor has their ever been any credible evidence which would indicate that homosexuality is a genetically inherited condition. All evidence along these lines by "homosexual" researchers has proved fallacious.
Morality comes in to play only when we deliberately choose to act contrary to our conscience, the natural law and the teachings of the Church. True, the Church teaches a very high morality in matters of sexuality, but not higher than its teaching on truth and honesty — our individual behavior to the contrary not withstanding.
What kind of double-talk is this? Yes we must act according to our consciences. But we are OBLIGED as Catholics to inform our consciences with the teachings of Holy Mother Church. That is what truth and honesty demands, especially when God is Perfect Truth.
Space prevents our addressing the questions that circulate around the issue of ordaining women so The Pilot will focus on that next week.
Save your ink on the issue of ordaining women! That issue has been infallibly closed for quite some time thanks to Ordinatio Sacerdatolis, and the subsequent Responsum ad dubiam, two documents from the Magisterium which say that the Church cannot ordain women. Why is this so difficult to understand? How can a priest act "in persona Christi" if the priest isn't a man as Christ was? The ministerial priesthood is inextricably related to the person of Christ.
I think that [celibate] priests are in short supply. I heard that in N. Maine, a known "problem" priest was
allowed to continue ministering, among other things, because there is a shortage of priests, and they could not
get anyone to live there.
I think the goal is to allowed married priests to perform ecclesiastic duties is that you increase the supply
of people willing to do the job.
I believe John McLaughin is a priest. Jesuit maybe. Left to get married, I remember. I think he's still a priest.
Can't perform any duties, though.
Priestly celibacy has its advantages even today. I read an article a few months ago about how various clergy members carried out their duties in Eastern Europe during the Cold War. The article made a very interesting point -- the members of the Eastern Orthodox clergy were able to resist the Communist governments as well as the Catholic clergy was, but once these governments started pressuring their families the Eastern Orthodox clergy abdicated in the face of the pressure.
As a result, the Catholic Church in Europe became the sole pillar of strength against Communism after World War II.
A lot of that has to do with the type of nonsense that is being passed off as Catholicism these days. I do know that the Fraternity of Saint Peter, a traditional order of priests based in Nebraska, recently received 300 applications for 15-20 positions in its seminary.
If celibacy was such a problem for the priesthood, why aren't priests out there raping women? If they can't control themselves because they aren't allowed to marry?
Let's deal with the REAL problem ... that some seminaries are doing a disservice to not only the priesthood but the Catholic Church by discouraging masculine men from becoming priests, while actively encourageing and supporting practicing homosexuals.
God bless.
The Word of the Lord came to me: "You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place." (Jer 16:1-2)
Was God telling Jeremiah to do something unnatural?
I hope this isn't interpreted as validating deviancy and perversion.
Seeing as the news is always about gays.
OK then, not always. 99% of the time.
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