From theology schools to coffee shops, an increasing amount of Catholics are becoming skeptical of the base on which the church is built – the all-male, celibate priesthood.
Parishioners are now demanding open dialogue and debate about a theory that Pope John Paul II has said is closed for discussion. Church leaders don’t expect any changes any time soon. But the practical effects of the scandal are evident. See story on the scandal.
“If they don’t remove the celibacy vow or allow women to join, there is going to be a severe shortage of priests in the future” Peter Delacrez, ’03.
The official Catholic newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston printed an editorial on Friday saying that the Catholic Church must now deal with questions and lead studies about whether the celibate, unmarried, all-male priesthood should be continued.
The editorial pushed for church leaders to study whether the celibacy rules had any connection to the sexual abuse of minors. While dissenting Catholic thinkers have long questioned the Vatican’s observance of celibacy and its refusal to ordain women, the latest call for a discussion of change was coming from the church newspaper published by Cardinal Law.
“The paper wasn’t advocating these changes; it just printed the editorial which reported what went on in the listening sessions with the cardinal,” said Paul E. Carrier, S.J., director of campus ministry.
“I think the printing of the editorial was a major step, it’s about time. I hope they do have studies and do let women into the priesthood. Jesus was sent for everyone not just males,” said Marisa Muzic, ’03.
“I think that women should be allowed into priesthood. A woman should be allowed to be as close to God as priests are,” said Lauren Blanchette.
“These questions have taken on a deeper intensity in more Catholic minds than prior to these sexual scandals,” Msgr. Peter V. Conley, the paper’s executive editor, wrote. “Even if our present woes in the archdiocese were suddenly to disappear, these questions have taken on an urgency and will not slip quietly away.”
Some people point out that sexual abuse in the church is a result of deep-seated imperfections in Catholicism. “The division of body and soul is a mistaken model,” said Eugene Kennedy, a psychologist and former priest, who wrote, “The Unhealed Wound: The Church and Human Sexuality.”
“The church uses sexuality to control people in a punitive atmosphere. If flesh is evil, you cannot teach celibacy in a healthy way,” Kennedy said.
Other people feel that it is best left as is. “As my high school religion teacher always said, the priesthood is a vocation in which your life is devoted to living in the image of Jesus. If celibacy is disbanded, it is making exceptions to our liking and not truly following the vocation,” said Gabrielle Roazzi, ’04, “As for women, there is obviously a reason why Jesus did not take them as apostles and subsequently priests. It is not that they are less equal, but rather play a different role.”
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