Is anybody going to do anything?
Igrew up with Catholic kids, many of whom attended Catholic schools staffed entirely by a priests and nuns. But I never recall even one of them telling of being sexually abused by a member of the clergy.
But they constantly complained of physical abuse such as facial slaps and ear twitching by angry, mean-spirited nuns. But they never reported one incident of sexual abuse. And I think they would have shared this if it had occurred.
In those days kids occasionally told of sexual overtures by counselors in certain gender-oriented organizations which I shall refrain from naming, but never from Catholic priests. However, I’m speaking of the 1930s and ‘40s; it is apparently an entirely different situation today.
While pedophilia seems of almost epidemic proportions among the Catholic priesthood, that hallowed institution has no franchise on it. Over two decades ago I distinctly recall the youth director at a large Chattanooga Protestant church being sentenced to 20 years for sexually abusing young boys trusted to his charge.
But most reported abuse today is by the Roman Catholic clergy. It has been especially rampant in Pennsylvania and 10 percent of the Boston Archdiocese priests have been accused of molestation. But have behavioral scientists ever objectively analyzed this situation and asked why? And would the Church welcome or resist such an effort or deny its findings?
Although the Catholic Church vehemently denies it, many believe the cause of this horrible practice by supposedly holy men called by God to the ministry is the Church’s unnatural requirement of celibacy among the clergy. On similar controversies the papal hierarchy has a tendency to avoid the obvious. It took almost five hundred years to find a way to apologize to Galileo for persecuting him for discovering that the earth revolves around the sun without admitting the Church was ever wrong in any way about the matter.
Although a life-long Protestant, I have a great reverence and respect for the Catholic Church and have enjoyed friendships with several Catholic priests. They, incidentally, never tried to convert me. And had it not been for the efforts of the Catholic Church Christianity and western civilization itself would probably have never survived the Dark Ages of our history.
The requirement of celibacy among the priesthood has been debated almost since its beginnings. It fomented much hostile debate in the Church’s formative years, contributed to the Great Schism of 1054 CE, and the polemic continues today.
In view of Christianity’s origins in Judaism with its high regard for marriage, family life, rituals and observances centered on the home, the requirement of celibacy could hardly be ordained by God or Jesus. And although asceticism and self-denial are essential to a truly spiritual life, should fulfilled sexual desire in the proper context be considered sinful or distracting from the mission of the priesthood?
The key principle here is not the demonization of sexual desire but, rather, its refinement and control. But is the Catholic Church apt to take any meaningful action on this problem anytime soon? Apparently not.
George B. Reed Jr., who lives in Rossville, can be reached by email at reed1600@bellsouth.net.