The Perils of Celibacy: Clerical Celibacy and Marriage in Early Protestant Perspective

Social Science Research Network ^ | John Witte Jr

[Heliand]

The 6th century has plenty of documtation, as long as you are not trying to document the history of England. In the 6th century, it was the time of the Emperor Justinian, who ruled over what is now modern day Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia, Italy, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, and Southern Spain. This was the time of Pope Gregory the Great in Rome, St. Isidore of Seville, St. Gregory of Tours, St. Fulgentius of Ruspe in Africa, St. Sophronius in Jerusalem. The 6th Century saw the famous and well-documented Roman military campaigns of Narses and Belisarius in the west and Persia. The Second Council of Constantinople was held. Certainly there was the ruinous plague of the early mid-century, but it is not as though the history of this period is not well known.

and then the very bad time of the 9th Century

Actually, the 9th century wasn't so bad. That was the time of Charlemagne. I think you are really thinking of the 900's, or the 10th century. This was a true nadir in civilization across Europe, even in the East Roman Empire until the time of Emperor Basil II in AD 975. There are almost no written records of the period, Europe was under continual raids by Vikings, Slavs and Arabs, there was constant civil war the papacy completely degenerated into a plaything of the remaining powerful Roman families and their feuds, and the East Roman Empire was under continuous attack from outside and reduced to just a small rump. But even at this darkest hour is when the Cluniac Monastic revivial started.

As for celibacy, the rule became universal in the rite as as result of the Investiture scandal.

Pope St. Siricius, Pope St. Leo the Great, and Pope St. Gregory the Great all already thought it was a universal rule hundreds of years earlier. Were they that mistaken?

[Heliand]

What are things uncreated?

Almighty God in His Essence and Energies, and the High Heaven wherein He lives forever. Amen!

[Notwithstanding]

And it is wrong on what “sola scriptura” basis?

[NYer]

Are you going to give an argument or just make an assertion?

Sexual Abuse of Children by Protestant Ministers - none of whom are practicing celibacy.

[wmfights]

My grandfather was the only maritally chaste minister his Southern Baptist Church had during the 20 years from 1980 to 2000. All the rest of them had to be run out of town...

Welcome to FR Heliand.

It seems to me that the sexual problem in the RCC is one of same sex activity between adult priests and post pubescent boys. The issue you note with heterosexual sex among adults is not really a moral equivalent. Both are wrong, both are sinful but in the latter it is activity between two consenting adults. The former is abuse of a minor by an adult.

[wmfights]

The article looks to agree with my husband who believes that the Roman Catholic priestcraft is at the root of the papacy’s corruption.

If you mean an elevated clergy superior and unaccountable to the congregation when saying "priestcraft" I think you are right.

[wmfights]

As for celibacy, the rule became universal in the rite as as result of the Investiture scandal. Pope Gregory was reaching back for a way of fighting imperial control over the clergy.

If this is the case then why continue the practice?

[Notwithstanding]

Welcome to a collection of news reports on ministers who have sexually abused children:

ALL Protestant denominations - 838 Ministers

147 Baptist Ministers

251 "Bible" Church Ministers (fundamentalist/evangelical)

140 Anglican/Episcopalian Ministers

38 Lutheran Ministers

46 Methodist Ministers

19 Presbyterian Ministers

197 various Church Ministers

[Heliand]

It seems to me that the sexual problem in the RCC is one of same sex activity between adult priests and post pubescent boys.

It "seems" that way, because that is what is reported in the MSM. In reality, there are a small minority of priests who had sex with grown and teenage women, and a seperate small minority of priests who had sex with grown and teenage boys. In other words, just like the general male population they are drawn from, some men who are priests have illict sex (adultery, fornication, sodomy, buggery, etc.). The same of course, goes for Protestant ministers as well. Unfortunately, there is no lack of examples of all kinds of deviance from all the Churches.

[BlueDragon]

The distinction you obviously miss with your document dump is that these are still held as sins by the Catholic Church.

...that was exactly the sort of reply that I expected. Yes, such are doctrinally held to be "sin", not only by Catholic teachings, but by a great many others, too.

I absolutely do weep at the sins of those in my Church or any other

Yes. We can agree on this. The appalling condition of the fallen creature can be quite grievous.

But you were and still are attempting to lay at the feet of the reformers, the depravity of certain people, and even groups present depravity.

Such statements as;

The fact that so much of the Lutheran Church has fallen into defining the abominations of sodomy and even abortion as good behavior is most certainly the rancid fruit of a wicked tree.

only work when one (willfully?) ignore all those other children of the Reformation, who vehemently oppose such.

Since we can agree, I assume, that it is most certainly not the Catholic's church's fault that humans are indeed sinners, even as one can easily enough point at gross sins within portions of historical Catholic hierarchy, up to the very highest levels; then to blame Luther for present sinning, is comparably preposterous.
He himself never recommended such sinning, nor sought to COVER IT UP, either! That last part, is very important. The cover-ups, have continued unto nearly this present time, at very high levels.

Teaching, and leading, is not only by what one says but by what one does

I realize that the thesis you offer here (it's all Luther's fault!) sounds good to your own ears, and is popular rhetoric amongst some Catholics, but once dragged into the light of day, it miserably fails. Luther did indeed bring needed correction, some of which is obliquely, rather quietly acknowledged [by the Catholic Church].

As far as *some* of the Lutherans now, presently being openly seen to continence sins, I can agree with you that they are. For them to do so is grievous, damaging to the body & cause of Christ. We can find wide agreement on this forum, of that...

But again, to stress the point, is that what you yourself seem to be ignoring, (willfully, to make your argument work?) is at the same that a GREAT MANY "children of the reformation" churches, are raising a standard against such sins, in very much the same way as factions within the Catholic church fought (ideologically) for centuries, for purity.

What I mean by this, is that in the history of the Catholic church, there were groups and clergymen, many times of very high rank, who not only winked at certain sins amongst themselves, but had gone so far as to formalize how such could be justified. Clerical concubinage comes to mind, among others. ...Medieval scholars attest that clerical concubinage was commonplace.

Further, as was previously noted; Adultery, casual sex with unmarried women and homosexual relationships were rampant...
rotten, wicked "fruit". Quit putrid.

Yes, there were those at the time, and along throughout history, within the church, who were aghast at such things. Luther was even one of them!

But the corruption was so widespread, so deeply embedded, he got a wee bit 'torqued off'.

You are blaming the wrong guy...

[RobbyS]

I said the pope was reaching back. As the example of John the Baptist and Our Lord himself tell us, indeed the lives of the prophets such as Jeremiah, the single life allows a life of total dedication that for a married person. As example, John Wesley was a poor husband and father simply because he was always away. not because of any personal moral failings. Even Luther suffered
a lost of reputation after he got married, and not only among his enemies.The lean prophet of the earliest portraits was replaced by the well-fleshed Burger. For him personally, he benefitted. because he had a great wife. Obviously he was not cut out to be a monk, so he should have followed his father’s advise and become a lawyer. ( The irony is that he might have become a German Thomas More who discerned he had no vocation to the clerical life.)

[wmfights]

I said the pope was reaching back.

Okay, so why doesn't the current pope reach back and change it? If married priests was no big deal at one time why not reach back to that time.

It's your church not mine, I don't have as dog in this fight. My life experience tells me that married pastors with children have a perspective that single pastors don't. As you have pointed out being celibate has not always been required by your church and I've never seen anything in Scripture that requires it.

[Notwithstanding]

Catholic sacramental ordination to the priesthood is apparently something you don’t favor or appreciate.

It has served the Church well in its current basic form for 2000 years.

The groups who have fashioned their own variant of priesthood have not done too well despite the constant reformulation of the role in order to fit contemporary fashions.

In an age when sexual activity is the false god responsible for so much physical, emotional, and spiritual damage, it is quite wonderful to have leaders who are de facto witnesses to the folly of that falsity. The clergy will never be without sin - and the sin of clergy will often be scandalous - but that is no reason to upend the tradition of a priesthood that imitates the chastity of Christ and so many of his disciples.

[Gamecock]

Thanks for that most enlightening post.

Naturally I clicked on 19 Presbyterian Ministers and here is what it said:

Not Found

The requested URL /CSA/presbyterianabuse.html was not found on this server.

---

Apache/2.2.3 (Red Hat) Server at reformation.com Port 80

_________________________________

Thanks so much for clarifying that for all of us.

[Notwithstanding]

Oh, you can find the presbyterians among those listed here:

ALL Protestant denominations - 838 Ministers

[Petronski]

With a bit of effort--probably less effort than needed to create post 174--you could have gone to the home page and clicked "Presbyterian ministries" in the lefthand margin (the blue field).

[Notwithstanding]

YOu can also find it here:

http://reformation.com//CSA/Presbyterianabuse.html

[Notwithstanding]

Presbyterian Clergy Sexual Abuse

[ back to home page ]

MOUNT KISCO, NY. Parishioners at the Presbyterian Church of Mount Kisco yesterday were coming to grips with revelations that their former pastor was charged by the presbytery with sexually abusing eight boys. The eight charges, unveiled at the presbytery's regional meeting at Webb Horton Memorial Presbyterian Church in Middletown, outline abuse of boys under 18. Among the allegations are that Miller invited a child into the shower with him, that he had oral sex with a minor on numerous occasions over two years and that he made inappropriate sexual remarks and propositions. (THE JOURNAL NEWS, December 5, 2002)
Mount Kisco parishioners react to abuse charges

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HALN Reverend Young Key, 47 Gold Coast Presbyterian minister. Receives 8 year jail sentence after being found guilty in Brisbane District Court of rape, digital rape and indecent dealing with girl, aged 14, in 2000 at Nerang, south of Brisbane. Court hears Haln, who ran farm where visiting Korean Christians could work, seduced girl after offering to teach her English. (Queensland, Australia, 2002).

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TRENTON, NJ. - Two adult males who alleged they were sexually abused as teenagers by a former Presbyterian youth minister have no right to sue the local church and its hierarchy because of the state's charitable immunity law, an appeals court has ruled.

The men sued the national Presbyterian Church, the church'sSynod of the Northeast, the Presbytery of Elizabeth and the Presbyterian Church at Pluckemin claiming they had been repeatedly sexually abused by their Presbyterian youth minister, Jeffrey Cheseboro. A lower court dismissed the case against the church defendants saying that they were afforded charitable immunity under state law. The appellate panel concurred.

"People don't realize this but if you send your child to a church-affiliated nursery school and they are abused by the teacher the only cause of action you have is against the abuser itself. The church is immune," said John Thatcher, who represented the plaintiffs in the case.

The way the law works, Thatcher said, if you are a member of a church and slip and fall on the stairs, you have no right to sue the church because you are a beneficiary of the church's "charitable purposes." A stranger,or nonmember, however, can bring a case, the courts have found.

In 1995, lawmakers did amend the charitable liabilities law. They said that trustees, directors, officers, employees, agents, servants or volunteers of charitable organizations were not granted immunity if they committed an act of sexual assault and other crimes of a sexual nature, but the charitable institutions themselves were.

The appeals court also upheld a dismissal of the case against Cheseboro. The court found that the two-year statute of limitations, which in most sexual abuse cases begins once a child reaches adulthood, had expired. AP 4/5/99Youth Paster arrested
News Report

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DALLAS - Six women have accused a retired missionary of molesting them 30 years ago in Africa, shortly before Highland Park Presbyterian Church hired him as an associate pastor.

Similar allegations by others forced Rev. Bill Pruitt, 87, to quit his mission job in 1970, say two of the women and a former mission official. All the accusers are daughters of people who worked with Pruitt in Congo, then called the Belgian Congo.

An inquiry stemmed from a 1998 complaint filed by several women against Pruitt, who was then retired in Dallas. Pruitt, who died in 1999, denied the allegations. No criminal charges were ever filed. Church officials received credible information that the missionary molested children, but took no disciplinary action.

Another accuser said she hopes publicity will lead other victims to get help. She said she felt powerless to complain when abused in the late 1960s in Congo's capital of Kinshasa, at a boarding school for missionaries' children where Pruitt worked as a dormitory supervisor.

Her parents, she said, "were 500 miles away" at a rural mission post. "There was no telephone or radio connection."

Pritchard said she was aware of at least 6 victims beyond the women who have spoken to investigators. Some were abused at the school, as she and the second accuser were, she said, and others were targeted when Pruitt visited mission posts. Because children were separated from their parents, Pruitt was like a father or an uncle, who charmed them with everything from toys to tricks to hypnosis, she said.

Her father, John Pritchard, said two girls from other families accused Pruitt in the late 1960s. Mr. Pritchard, then chief administrator for US Presbyterians' mission work in Congo, said he ordered Pruitt never to be alone with girls again and to quit his mission work. Pruitt, he said, did not respond to the allegations, "but his wife did. She was very strong in denying that such a thing could happen."

Mr. Pritchard said his daughter told him only recently that she, too, had been molested. Mr. Pruitt enjoyed a reputation as "a very gentle and compassionate man... one of the most loved and admired missionaries we have," he said.

A retired pastor, speaking on condition of anonymity, said his daughter was one of the two who complained in the late 1960s and is not part of the six coming forward now.

Pruitt was later hired by the Highland Park church, one of the largest Presbyterian congregations in Texas. Morning News 4/26/99

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ELDRIDGE Reverend Graeme Alfred, 58 VIC Presbyterian minister. Appears in Melbourne Magistrates Court charged with 28 child sex offences, including 17 counts of indecent assault and 9 of committing unlawful sexual intercourse, against 3 boys, aged 9 to 12, in 1981 at Presbyterian church and manse in northern VIC. Court hears assaults involved oral sex, talcum powder and showering with victims. (Victoria, Australia, 1998).

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LOS ANGELES - Ronald Reagan's former pastor returned to active ministry two years after he was disciplined for sexual misconduct with 5 women. Presbyterian minister Rev. Donn Moomaw,66, accepted an interim position in a San Diego church after the presbytery had determined he had fulfilled all the requirements, including signs of full repentence. (7/27/97)

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NAME SUPPRESSED, age 70 VIC Presbyterian training farm superintendent. Appears in Melbourne Magistrates Court on child sex charges, including committing unlawful sexual intercourse and indecent assault, against 3 boys, aged under 16, between 1954 and 1961 while head of Dhurringile Training Farm near Tatura, north of Melbourne. Court hears offences occurred in dining room of Presbyterian Church-run home, in showers, in one boy's bed and in car. (A MacLean; HS 960228; APP 960515) (Victoria, Australia, 1996).

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CHURCH SUED FOR NEGLIGENCE. One of several girls who said Alva minister Rev. Robert Bruce Brigden molested her is suing the First Presbyterian Church for failing to check his background before hiring him. Allegations of sexual crimes were made at his former position in Kansas. Charges allege that he molested Alva church girls, ages 4 to 14. The church posted his bond. (Tulsa Tribune)

Alva, OK. MOLESTING MINISTER STABBED TO DEATH BY INMATES. Robert Bruce Brigden, former pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Alva, was stabbed to death by 2 fellow inmates of the Oklahoma State Reformatory while serving a 40-year prison sentence. He was convicted of rape by instrument, lewd molestation, and fondling of 11 girls, aged 4 to 14. (Dallas Morning News 6/14/94)
Former Minister Fatally Stabbed in Prison Cell

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LOWE Robert Arthur Selby, 57 Melbourne Sunday school teacher and Presbyterian church elder. Receives life jail sentence in Melbourne Supreme Court after being convicted of kidnapping and choking to death girl, aged 6, whose decomposed body was found in 1991 near Rosebud, south of Melbourne. Court hears Lowe, who attended Rowville Presbyterian Church, killed "for sexual purposes". Report says Lowe on two occasions waved Bible at courtroom, swearing he "never saw girl". Earlier, in 1984, Lowe was charged with exposing himself to schoolgirls at Glen Waverley shopping centre, Melbourne; in 1991, he was warned for indecent exposure at Croydon, Melbourne. In 1997, report lists Lowe as one of VIC's top 4 sex fiends. (Victoria, Australia, 1994).

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JURY ACQUITS PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. A Louisville jury of 6 men & 6 women found in favor of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in a $5 million sexual-harassment suit brought by Janet Gellhaus. The employee claimed her superior Nagy Tawfik sexually harassed her, pressuring her into a sexual relationship by threatening to fire her. Church attorney Michael Valenti, apparently conceded the relationship when he said after the acquittal (shades of the U.S. Senate): "The lesson should be you need to immediately tell people about it, you need to immediately investigate your rights, you need to use some common sense & say 'no'." Source: _Presbyterian Outlook_ 9/7/92.

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PRESBYTERIAN REFORM URGED. The Presbyterian General Assembly, meeting in Baltimore in June, voted 446-78 to recommend abolishing the statute of limitations for reporting sexual misconduct by clergy. The church, citing critical proportions, has a 3-year time limit for reporting sexual misconduct by church officials. The vote must be ratified by 2/3 of the church's 171 regional presbyteries. It also voted 491-26 to establish a policy on sexual misconduct, advising local churches to set up "sexual misconduct response teams" & notify secular authorities "when appropriate". The adopted policy said there is evidence that "10-23 percent of clergy nationwide have engaged in sexualized behavior or sexual contact with parishioners, clients, employees, etc., within a professional relationship". Source: AP 6/12/92.

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NUDE MINISTER CONVICTED. Rev. Bruce Rentz, found guilty of indecent exposure after a state trooper saw him jogging naked and chased him to his home, has resigned as minister from Greenbush Presbyterian Church. He was ordered to perform community service, pay a $50 fine, and get counseling. Source: _Union News_ 5/14/92.

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PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER GETS 40 YEARS. Rev. Robert Bruce Brigden was sentenced to 40 years in prison for molesting young girls in his congregation, convicted on 8 counts of lewd molestation & 1 count of rape by instrumentation involving a girl, 7. Bridgen, 57, was accused of molesting 11 girls, aged 4 to 14, during the 4 years he was at the Alva church. His congregation put the church up as bond, insisting he was innocent. He was placed in protected custody. Brigden blamed his arrest on a girl, 4, whose parents were the first to take the children's allegations seriously. "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned," Brigden wrote his wife about the 4-year-old, whom he described as "4 going on 400 years old", saying she invited him to spend the night in her bed, & was mad that he declined. Source: _Tulsa Tribune_ 8/92, _Tulsa World_ 9/3/92, _Daily Oklahoman_ 6/14/92.

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PRESBYTERY REMOVES PASTOR. The Pittsburgh Presbytery removed the associate pastor of the prominent East Liberty Presbyterian Church on charges of sexual misconduct. Rev. Howard Eybers, 43, is accused by 3 women of making sexual overtures. Source: _Pittsburgh Post- Gazette_ 3/7/92.

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TASKER Donald Gilbert, 61 Melbourne trainee Presbyterian minister and school teacher. Receives 6 year jail sentence in Melbourne County Court after being convicted on 29 child sex charges, including 12 counts of indecent assault, 5 of attempting indecent assault, 7 of gross indecency with aggravating circumstances and 5 of committing unlawful sexual intercourse with aggravating circumstances, against 4 boys, aged 5 to 11, between 1986 and 1991 at Melbourne home and suburban swimming pool. Court hears Tasker, of Croydon, abused his victims after volunteering to become surrogate parent with Melbourne community welfare agency. (Victoria, Australia, 1992).

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A federal sting operation to find child pornographers/molesters yielded 6 arrests in Philadelphia, including Presbyterian minister JOHN MCVAY, 53. He allegedly solicited sex with 2 girls ages 9 and 12. He was charged with criminal solicitation to commit involuntary deviant sexual intercourse. He also sent a 15 year old girl obscene material and a letter soliciting sex. (Intelligencer-Record, 3/10/89)

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Woman sues Presbyterian church for negligence: The Tulsa Tribune reported that one of several girls who said a Presbyterian minister molested her is suing the church for failing to check his background before hiring him. Allegations of sexual crimes were made at his former position in Kansas. Charges allege that he molested the church girls, ages 4 to 14. The church posted his bond.

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[Gamecock]

OK, so 838 ministers. Got it. That’s tragic. I hope they spend life in prison.

But our point has always been the institutional involvement by Rome Inc.

FWIW I recently heard 30,000 Roman Catholic Priests are implicated.

[RobbyS]

For the simple reason there is no need to do so. The only purpose would be to appease the protestant and unbelievers hostility to a celibate priesthood. Furthermore, we do have married priests in other rites, but understand that these priests marry before ordination. Nor may they marry again if they are widowed. This has always been the case. But just think about it: an unmarried cadre of people is an invaluable asset to any organization. Priests, monks and friars and nuns who take vows of poverty and obedience has been the main reason for the spread of the Catholic faith over two thousand years. Beyond that it has freed many talented men and women of lower class from the shackles of drudgery and given them a great mission. Theresa of Avila was very candid about one reason why she chose the religious life. For a woman of her class, the choices were early marriage, many children and probably an early death. She and her father early on realized how great her talents were and what an opportunity
the religious life gave her. But also early on, she felt the need to spread the Gospel, and unlike many other nuns who went into the convent to scape an unsure life, she felt a great calling. So we have a woman of high intelligence and great organizing skills who was able to break out of the restrictions of a patriarchal society and rise in terms of influence and reputation to a level above any bishop in Spain. One one famous occasion, a bishop who greeted her knelt on the ground before her and asked for her blessing. St. Francis of Assisi had the same effect on people, except Teresa, I think, was not as odd as Francis. Read her works and one finds a kind of sanity that is rare among great men/women.