An article in the Detroit Free Press caught my eye today: 1
YEAR AFTER SECRET SON REVEALED, PRIEST FROM MICHIGAN ASKS TO LOSE HIS STATUS by
Patricia Montemurri.
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The Reverend Thomas Williams grew up in Bloomfield Hills,
went to Brother Rice and UofM and was a national spokesperson for the
conservative order called The Legion of Christ and a Vatican analyst for CBS
National News.
The conservative order of The Legion of Christ is an infamous
order founded in Mexico by Marcial Maciel who turned out to be a serial
pedophile and the father of several children. He was eventually forced out in
2006 but was actually supported and praised by the Vatican for many years; the
Vatican liked the money he brought into its coffers.
Williams had fathered a male child while a priest and
everyone knew it; it was not a secret. But that was OK with the Catholic
hierarchy and he was allowed to continue his teaching position in Rome.
Ironically he was an expert on morality and wrote many books about the subject
including one titled: Knowing Right from Wrong; A Christian Guide to
Conscience.
Hypocrisy is nothing new to the Catholic Church; in fact
hypocrisy dominates the Church at all levels and on many issues. Celibacy is
strongly defended as mandatory for all priests unless the priest is non-celibate
and that is OK too.
It appears that Williams asked the Church to “LAICIZE” him
or in other words, relieve him of his priestly duties and return him to “layperson”
status. He may have had some pangs of conscience in letting the mother of his
child take on the burdens of parenthood all alone or that sex was something he
wanted more of and hated to be so hypocritical about it.
I have heard women call priests that are handsome “forbidden
fruit” which somehow makes seducing him that much more attractive.
To me it points to the absurdity and unsustainability of celibacy
in the Church which obviously the Church recognizes and that is why the Church
looks the other way when priests break their vows as in this case of Rev.
Williams.
You would think the Catholic Church would admit to the
failing of the vow of celibacy and the fact that it keeps good men out of the
priesthood but attracts the males with abnormal proclivities.
You would think
that a pope would have the wisdom to see why the vow of celibacy has to go
(since it is not practiced anyway) and has no basis in scripture as evidenced by all
the other Christianities which allow their leaders to marry.
Pope Fancis sounded the death knell of the Catholic Church when he proclaimed that celibacy would never be changed. Unfortunately he doesn't understand that celibacy is not an attribute you force on individuals. It's a facet that appears normally after lifetimes of growing spiritually until you are in the world but no longer of it. The true celibate returns, not because he must, but because he has chosen to do so in order to lead, guide, instruct. They are rare, but they are among us, usually unrecognized but very influencial.Ciao, JT
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