This is in response to “Cardinal ousts 11 priests; 2 sex abuse cases pending” (Page 1, Sept. 27). It is time that the church give serious consideration to abolishing the requirement that priests be celibate. After all, celibacy has nothing to do with the divinity of Christ and everything to do with economics.
Priestly celibacy was unknown until the 12th Century. It was instituted not because of any belief that Jesus was celibate but solely because the church wanted to assure that a priest’s property was bequeathed to the church and not to the priest’s heirs.
Perhaps at the time the rule made sense; today, of course, modern laws allow even priests to bequeath their property to anyone they want. Further, despite the celibacy rule, for centuries many priests and even some popes had mistresses.
So despite the celibacy rules, the priesthood, in the early centuries, probably did attract dedicated and pious men who sincerely believed their calling was to God but who also knew they could remain sexually active.
Times have changed, apparently. With technology and mass communications, it’s pretty impossible for a priest or bishop or even a pope to successfully hide a mistress. So the church, for whatever reason, has attracted too many men with severe mental disturbances.
One can argue that the number of priests who sexually abuse parishioners is a tiny percentage of the whole priesthood. And that is probably true. But what difference does that make? Having only one priest being sexually abusive is one priest too many. And one would think that knowing that sexual abuse among religions that allow their clergymen to marry is almost non-existent would set the Catholic Church to seriously rethinking its celibacy laws.
It’s time to abolish priestly celibacy. The requirement has no spiritual ties, is unnecessary and attracts deviants far too often to a calling that should be open to only the most honorable of men. The church can do no less to ensure the safety of its followers.
