Catholic laity should work to tear down celibacy rule that causes so much pain

The AUD$1 million (£572,000) payout to a victim of clerical sexual abuse in Australia is a powerful reminder that the psychological damage inflicted on such victims can ruin their whole lives – hence the heavy compensation awarded by the courts (“Man can ‘die happy’ after payout from Catholic Church over abuse”, 17 August).

With many more Australian victims to be heard, the Catholic Church expects to be liable for AUD$1 billion in compensation in that country alone.

Predatory priests have raped and abused children all over the world. We have heard the appalling stories of the victims in documentary films like Silence in the House of God, which tells of the abuse in a home for deaf children in the USA. Other fact-based films like Spotlight have shown us how the church hierarchy reacted to accusations of abuse by moving paedophile priests from parish to parish and obstructing any enquiries into their crimes. The policy of cover-up was decided at the highest levels of the church.

Compensation for victims should not be the end of the story. It is surely time to end the celibacy rule. Priests are not superhuman. They are ordinary human beings who naturally have sexual desires.

The imposition of the celibacy rule turns priests into frustrated, sexually repressed men liable to seek sexual relief wherever they can find it, including with children, despite all the legal and moral strictures against that crime.

Other forms of Christianity, the Orthodox and Protestant churches, do not have a celibacy rule and encourage their priests to marry. The rule was invented by Pope Gregory in the 11th century and is one reason for those other churches separating themselves from the Catholic Church.

Catholics should not wait for the hierarchy to rescind this dangerous, unnecessary rule. The hierarchy have already shown they are in denial and are reluctant to do what is needed. The laity should form grassroots organisations and force change from below. An end to celibacy would be an act of kindness to all priests oppressed by that unnecessary rule. More importantly, ending celibacy could prevent countless cases of clerical abuse ever happening again.

LES REID Morton Street, Edinburgh