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THE ELEPHANT IN THE SACRISTY: THE SACRED SILENCE AROUND CELIBACY (PART I)

by Ted Schmidt

The forms of the apostolate should be properly adapted to current needs…Religious and social surveys made through offices of pastoral sociology, contribute greatly to the effective and fruitful attainment of the goal, and they are cordially recommended.
Decree on the Bishops' Pastoral Office in the Church, #17, Vatican ll

Si non caste, tamen caute
If not chastely, then carefully
Albert, Archbishop of Hamburg 1040 CE

Beginning in the mid-1980s Catholics were again and again scandalized by the growing phenomenon of priest pedophilia. This tsunami of abuse reached epic proportions in the first years of the new millennium. Much of the revelations crystallized in the Boston area around three notorious abuser priests James Porter, John Geoghan and Paul Shanley. The thorough reporting of these heinous crimes in a largely Catholic area resulted in a Pulitzer prize for The Boston Globe and the disgrace and fall of the powerful Boston Cardinal Bernard Law.

     Similarly and in like manner, the Philadelphia diocese imploded in September 2005 with the long-awaited release of a grand jury's exhaustive report. Like its Boston analogue, the staggering results have permanently impaired the reputation of another papal loyalist, Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua. The latter resigned two years ago and the results of the investigation show how, "dozens of priests sexually abused hundreds of children" and "were excused and enabled" by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and its leaders, Anthony Bevilacqua and his predecessor John Krol.

     As this catastrophe was unfolding, probably the worst ecclesial disaster since the Reformation, the faithful were jolted wide awake as well by the phenomenal abrogation of duty by a new breed of bishop whose primary loyalty was seen to be the protection of the institution, rather than the well being of the defenseless children and the heartbreak of families. Priest Donald Cozzens in his book Sacred Silence reckons that the scandal has directly touched one hundred thousand victims and with family factored in --about one million people. Add to this, the disgust and dismay of parishioners and you have a full-blown crisis. The fiscal implications while pale in comparison to the pastoral, nevertheless, are considerable. In the U.S. alone it is estimated that about $1 billion has been drained from Church coffers. The only positive side of this has been the increased demands of lay people in dismantling archaic clerical structures which have isolated the ordained from those in the pews.

     The somnolent laity, too long codependent and enablers of patriarchal and clerical control of the people of God, quickly organized themselves in the U.S. and demanded serious change in the way the Church operates. The pedophilia/bishop leadership crisis had inevitably led to some serious analysis of deep structural problems, namely that because of the depleted ranks of male celibate priests (one half of the world's parishes do not have a resident priest), many misfits were kept on the job who should have been fired. To alleviate the crisis, the American bishops weakened by obsessive loyalty to Roman policies and cowed by an authoritarian pope, were loathe to raise the obvious conclusion that celibacy was not working. Long ago, the laity had recognized the "elephant in the sacristy" and were not afraid to name it. Except for the courageous few, why did the majority of the episcopate fall silent? Why had they forgotten that a bishop is not a servant but a brother? Why had they become mere stenographers for the Bishop of Rome? Tragically, as a whole they embodied the wishes of Pius XI who famously said, "Io non voglio collaboratori ma esecutori. ("I do not want collaborators but those who will execute my orders").

     It seems the bishops were terrified of even addressing the issue as it would look like disloyalty to the pope, and it would call into question the fact that 80 percent of those who were abused were male adolescents. This admission would highlight the fact that large numbers of Catholic clergy are homosexual. Though gays are no more predisposed to molest than straights and homosexuality is not the cause of the abuse, there are simply a very high number of gays in the priesthood. While one should not prescind from this that homosexuality is the cause of pedophilia (the abuse of young male adolescents), to even question the cornerstone of Church organization would lead God knows where. Possibly a change in the celibacy requirements for priesthood? Possibly a recognition that the Holy Spirit of God might be signaling (gasp) that it is time for the radical equality of leadership roles at every level of the Church. Might this not be the inclusion which the Gospel demands today?

     Raising this thorny issue despite its obvious cogency would be an Episcopal career ender. Only the secure bishops had done so in the past. In 1985 the great cardinal of Brazil, Paulo Evaristo Arns had earnestly delivered a letter from the Brazilian episcopacy imploring the pope to relax the celibacy requirements. The pope rudely tore the letter up in front of the embarrassed cardinal. Similarly, John Paul ll pounded the table when Canadian Bishop Remi De Roo said that he thought the Church was sacrificing the Eucharist on the altar of celibacy. Many also recall the pope sitting in cold fury in 1979 as Sr. Theresa Kane suggested ministry should also be open to women. Now of course, such common sense requests are seen by papal sycophants as "disloyalty."

     The attempts of so many committed Church people to drag the Church into the 21st Century and as the opening quote suggested, "adapt the church to its current needs" should be contrasted with the irrational and cruel harshness of the Episcopal class to dissent or even suggestions that celibacy, ministry, and sexual ethics needs to be dramatically rethought. Witness the recent Episcopal pillorying of priest Ed Cachia of the Peterborough Diocese in Ontario. The latter in response to a reporter's question about women being ordained, had the actual gall to welcome them and suggest it might open a dialogue in the broader Church.

The fear of Paul Vl

The modern day aversion to raising the issue can be traced to Pope Paul Vl's intervention in the midst, not only of the Second Vatican Council, but also at the height of the 1960s --that decade of sexual liberation. On June 12, 1965 the French paper Le Monde published a leaked draft of a speech by a Brazilian bishop by the name of Koop. Desperately short of clergy the good bishop asked the council to permit married priests to augment the diminishing number in his diocese. Koop's heartfelt plea would be later repeated by dozens of realistic bishops around the Catholic world. Canada's own Alex Carter, the late bishop of North Bay made a similar plea at the synod of 1971. Ever the realist, Carter was looking for help among the indigenous peoples of his diocese where celibacy simply was not accepted. In conversation with me over a decade ago the affable Carter chuckled at the shock his request evinced from the Italian and Spanish hierarchies," They almost crapped." (Yes, we used to have bishops like that). Similarly, our bishops of the north have repeatedly been turned down by an intransigent Vatican.

     Paul Vl, aware that the request by Koop was about to hit the conciliar floor, pre-empted the world's bishops by refusing to allow even a discussion of the issue. Gary Wills in his book Structures of Deceit: Papal Sin quotes the Vatican peritus Fr. Rene Laurentin who wrote an article in Le Figaro at that time. The scholarly priest, the author of over one hundred books, basically said that the reason that the Vatican would not consider the end of celibacy was that any concession here would force the Church to deal with the thousands of priests who had mistresses all over the Catholic world. The Church at its highest echelons knew then that any serious discussion of this boiling issue would lead most thinking people to second curial Cardinal Seper's honest admission (1971), "I have no confidence that celibacy is working." Two years after the pope's refusal to air the question, he wrote an encyclical on the topic, supposedly to end the discussion.

     This papal letter makes for tortuous reading. Much of Paul's reasoning hinges on the Matthean line (19:12) about "eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven." Many scholars find this line problematic as a saying of Jesus (it is only found in Matthew). Taken in context the passage emphasizes the values of marriage and children. Although it is impossible to flesh this out here, we can safely say that the eunuch metaphor has nothing to do with lifelong celibacy and probably nothing to do with celibacy itself. There simply is no interest in the Gospels about celibacy. As well as several scholars have pointed out, the concept of voluntary renunciation of marriage is virtually unheard of in Judaism. While Pope Paul, a deeply sensitive churchman certainly believed that celibacy was a "jewel," his use of the New Testament to prove his point seems less than forthright.

     Only three places refer to celibacy in the New Testament. Paul cites but does not quote two of them. In 1:Timothy it states, "a bishop must be irreproachable, the husband of only one wife" and virtually the same in Titus. What is shocking is the evangelist Paul's remark, "Do we not have the right to take a Christian wife like the rest of the apostles?" (1 Cor. 9: 5). Though Paul says he has not made use of this right (v.15), the truth is the disciples and apostles were not celibate (eunuchs for the reign), nor in fact were priests for eleven hundred years.

     The proclamation of the Gospel and true discipleship has nothing to do with celibacy and the embarrassing lengths the Church has gone to in insisting on this mandatory discipline has done little for the people of God. In the end it has starved the people of Eucharist, increased the exodus of heterosexual priests who left to marry, left behind a predominantly gay priesthood many of whom serve the Church with zeal and dignity. Yet now it appears they too are becoming the scapegoat for the pedophilia crisis. In my next two articles I will trace the history of celibacy in the Church, a discipline which according to expert Richard Sipe less than 10 percent of priests have successfully negotiated.

Ted Schmidt is Editor of Catholic New Times.