The child abuse scandals in the Catholic Church just keep piling up. They are all pretty much depressingly the same: Priests and monks molest children and, if there are complaints, the molesters are moved to another parish, to a different diocese or even a different country and they continue to abuse children. The Church hierarchy does what it can to sweep it under the rug, even to the point of the victims that if they complain to the civil authorities, the victims will be excommunicated. When the scandal does come out, eventually, there are expressions of repentance and calls for prayer and contemplation, but never any hint that there is something rotten in the structure of the Church.
I have to wonder this: How much of this is due to the requirement for celibacy? The sexual drive is a powerful one, as probably every adult knows. The drive to couple sexually causes people to make a lot of stupid choices in their lives. Sometimes those choices are far over the line into criminal acts.
The drive for sex is maybe a little less than the need to eat.
So I have to wonder if the Catholic Church will ever face up to this reality and admit that the command that its priests, monks and nuns be celibate forever is a bad idea.
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5 comments:
If only we didn't force teachers to be celibate, they wouldn't molest their students.
And if only Protestant ministers weren't forced to remain celibate they would not bang their spiritual charges.
And if only camp counselors weren't forced to remain celibate, they wouldn't diddle campers.
If only coaches weren't forced to remain celibate, they wouldn't fondle their athletes.
If only politicians weren't forced to remain celibate, they wouldn't rape their pages and interns...
I think it's more the case of, "molesters will gravitate towards a career that will place them in a position of power over their intended victims.
Sex drive in the male is like a flowing river. You can dam it up, which may work for a while, but try to stop the flow entirely, and it will just flow out in a new, unexpected direction, with a force commensurate with the force invested in stopping it.
Some guys want to have sex with women's shoes.
Cranky, yes, but when/if most other clergy do something like that, they are accountable directly to the congregation, as there is no hierarchy to step in to protect/cover up.
All large organizations are prone to covering up shit.
But still, I suspect that the celibacy thing is key, here. Are these sorts of scandals roiling the Anglican Church?
The argument that RC clergy are no worse than any others doesn't seem terribly wise to me, since there is then no reason to think the same might not true of embezzlement, drug trafficking, murder, &c., &c. One would hope that those dealing in moral authority would be more conscientious than the rest of us, or at least subject to stricter moral sanction if not.
I think crankylitprof has it pegged: people who're inclined to abuse others--in any way--are also inclined toward social positions in which they'll have opportunity to abuse.
That said, I'm not shocked by the Catholic Church's decades of covering up the crimes of clergy, it's just another manifestation of the Church's hypocrisy, callousness, & contempt for the laity.
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