Thursday, September 16, 2010

What Else Would You Expect?

Pope Benedict XVI visits Britain and apologizes for sexual abuse of children by priests, story here in The Washington Post. People are shocked, shocked that this abuse happens.

What else would you expect? Set up a selection criteria for priests that says you will not marry. Further, arrange society so priests cannot have mistresses as many once did. In other words, eliminate from selection most heterosexual men.

Now, who will be attracted to the priesthood, who remains? Men who do not desire to marry or have sex with adult women generally. This includes homosexuals, auto-erotics, pedophiles, and some few for whom sex isn't important.

I once worked with two former priests who had believed they were in that last category, but discovered they were not. One married a nun and the other married a United Airlines stewardess.

No harm done, I guess, except the Church invested large sums in training them to be priests only to have them leave. Is this an argument for the Church changing it rule about priestly celibacy? I suppose it is a very practical argument, one not grounded in dogma. The heterosexuals leave and it is obvious what remains.