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For the first time ever, the pope spoke about celibacy and the sex-abuse scandal in a letter to seminarians (students studying for the priesthood).
This is a huge step for a pope because in the past, the subject was verboten!
Some background on the issue of celibacy is needed to be able to discuss the subject adequately. First, celibacy is not a doctrine or dogma; it is a tradition that has become a law / regulation of the church but it can be changed as the church sees fit.
In the history of the Catholic Church there has been a lot of back and forth on the subject with early priests and bishops being married with children. There were popes that had children who later became popes themselves. Hell, even St. Peter was married since the Bible talks about his mother-in-law. No one knows if Jesus was married but at that time in history, most Jewish men were married by a certain age.
Since most men were married in the early stages of the church, some bishops were calling on them to abstain from having sex with their wives to show their commitment to the church. I appears that “sex”, even with your wife was somehow “unclean” and therefore diminished the “purity” required to be close to God. For this reason, the Catholic Church makes a big deal out of the “virginity” of Jesus’ mother even though she had multiple children as stated in the Bible.
Haggling over the issue went on for hundreds of years until the Second Lateran Council (1139) said enough is enough, priests cannot marry and have to remain celibate their entire life. Much of that had to do with church property being left to the children of priests, bishops, etc.
The issue today is, did celibacy contribute to the priestly sex-abuse scandal? Specifically, did the requirement of celibacy draw a certain type of male to the priesthood, specifically, not a normal, heterosexual male but more homosexuals and obviously, pedophiles?
I remember that growing up Catholic, many young boys wanted to become priests. I always felt it was because the priest was in charge, listened to and adored by everyone; I don’t think we thought much of service to God at that early age. As time went on, we were consumed by girls and our hormones and that put an end to any thoughts of priesthood. That is not to say that some of us grew to believe that we had a genuine “calling” to minister to God’s flocks and that has got to be the idealized view of why men become priests.
Not to make this longer than it should be but I remember some men that had a calling but could not accept celibacy and married but joined the priesthood after their wives died; now that is a calling and I think an example of the dual and opposing strengths of both sexuality and a spiritual calling.
The pope, talking to the seminarians, asked whether they question the choice of celibacy as making sense in a truly human way of life. I would have to say that it makes absolutely no sense if one is to live a truly human life.
Pope Benedict described the celibacy requirement as a “gift” from God which makes no sense whatsoever and may be a result of Benedict’s own deprivation of a truly normal life.
The fact that nearly all other “main” religions allow their priests, ministers, etc. to marry has to tell you something and the fact that the Vatican
The Vatican
The celibacy requirement will eventually die a natural death as the supply of priests dwindles to nothing.
The Vatican
Those men would bring a wisdom with them that could be a true benefit when ministering to God’s children. Maybe bringing young men into the priesthood at an age where they have not truly matured as men or citizens of the world is the problem.
Now how do you convince a bunch of old men in the Vatican
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