Ethics & Religion
Column #1,927
Advance for July 26, 2018
Catholic Celibacy Should Be Optional
By Mike McManus
Last year Pope Francis told a major German newspaper, Die Zeit, that
the Roman Catholic Church should consider ordaining married men in make
up for serious shortages of priests in some countries.
He considered the possibility of ordaining of so-called "Viri Probati,"
religious married men of proven character. "We have to give a thought to
whether Viri Probati are a possibility. We then also need to determine
which tasks they could take on." He said that priest shortages are "an
enormous problem," which has to be tackled "fearlessly."
There is such a shortage of priests in metro New York that the
Archdiocese is merging 112 parishes into only 55 churches. More than
half - 57 churches - would no longer exist.
The same pattern can be seen nationally. In 1988 there were 19,705
parishes - which shrank to only 17,483 in 2014. Yet the number of U.S.
Catholics has grown in the past half-century from 48.5 million in 1965
to 76.7 million in 2014.
However, the percentage of Catholics who attend Mass at least weekly
fell by nearly half, from 47% to 24% between 1974 and 2012. In New York,
only 12% of its members attend weekly.
Why has there been such a plunge in attendance?
Let me offer two reasons. The first is personal.
I was raised Catholic, and attended Mass weekly through college. But
when I was assigned as a young TIME correspondent to Argentina I was
turned off by the church there. The Mass was totally in Latin and the
priest did not even preach a sermon in Spanish.
A friend at work invited me to attend his Anglican Church - which was
invigorating. The liturgy was in English, not Latin. And the sermon was
moving. I never went to another Catholic Mass, and am an Anglican today.
Certainly, one reason for the plunging church attendance in America - is
the continuing scandal of pedophile priests and bishops.
A month after the Vatican suspended Cardinal Theodore McCarrick from
ministry, charging that he had been credibly accused of sexually abusing
a teenager decades ago, four additional men have charged him with sexual
misconduct.
James, for example, said that his abuse started when he was only 11 and
lasted for 20 years.
"What he did to me was ruin my entire life. I couldn't break the hold. I
couldn't live up to my ability - to stay employed, married, have
children. I lost all those opportunities because of him." He was driven
to alcoholism as a teen.
Robert Clolek, now a lawyer in his 50s, told The Washington Post that McCarrick would invite small groups of men to a beach house, and then
ask some of them to sleep in his bed - and more. Clolek decided to come
forward for the first time in the early 2000s. In 2004 he was paid
$80,000, with "no discussion or questioning or disbelief or awe."
Another victim who became a priest, was paid $100,000 for McCarrick's
sexual abuse.
These incidents happened decades ago, and additional generations of
young men were molested by this Catholic bishop who became a cardinal.
Incredibly, McCarrick was supposedly "one of the architects of the
church's policy on sexual abuse."
Perhaps these problems could have been avoided if the Roman Catholic
Church had allowed priests to marry. The priesthood would be filled with
normal, healthy married men with families.
My question is why does the Catholic Church demand celibacy? That is an
unnatural requirement. St. Peter was married. (Jesus healed his
mother-in-law.)
Catholic priests were allowed to marry for hundreds of years, until
1100, when celibacy was made mandatory.
The result was the priesthood attracted many homosexuals and child
molesters, some of whom became predatory like Cardinal McCarrick.
I interviewed Father Tom Knoebel, a professor at Sacred Heart Seminary
in Detroit. He said, "A large number of churches can no longer afford
two celibate clergy. If we had to pay a married clergy a living wage,
the church could not afford it."
I disagreed, noting that there are about 330,000 Protestant churches in
America, all of whom have a married pastor.
More important, Pope Francis himself is considering making celibacy
optional.
Catholics should encourage him to do so.
American Catholic churches have 15,000 "permanent deacons," 93% of whom
are married. Deacons can baptize, witness marriages, perform funeral and
burial services outside of Mass, distribute Holy Communion, and even
preach.
Probably all of them would become priests if the rules changed. Not only
would the priest shortage disappear, but the Catholic Church would have
a new burst of life.
___________________________________
Copyright (c) 2018 Michael J. McManus, President of Marriage Savers and
a syndicated columnist. To read past columns, go to
www.ethicsandreligion.com. Hit
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