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Friday, October 19, 2012, 5:33 PM
John Haldane 2

The article is behind a paywall, but a short news item from the Tablet (where Haldane’s piece is published) gives the gist:

A leading academic has said the Catholic Church urgently needs to overturn its centuries-old ban on ordaining married men to ease the shortage of priests and better relate to the faithful.

Writing in The Tablet this week John Haldane, Professor of philosophy at the University of St Andrews, states: “The time is overdue to admit married men to (shortened) formation and ordination.”

Professor Haldane, who is also an adviser to the Pontifical Council for Culture, likens the Church to “a vessel battered by rising waves, leaking along its length and undermanned”. He calls for greater involvement of the laity, “not in the guise of para-clerics but because of its education, expertise and experience” because “it is worse than foolish not to call able bodies to the bridge”.

However he said that men already ordained to the priesthood should not be able to marry or remarry, and added that “for reasons of exclusive commitment, only the celibate should be bishops”.

Professor Haldane has a gift for winning, persuasive argument, which is why I hope that the paywall on this piece will soon be lifted. I can’t say that I expect my friend to convince me on this matter, though.

Update: A friend sends the text of the article. Haldane attributes rising antipathy toward the Catholic faith to “the association of perversion and corruption” arising from the priestly abuse scandals:

It is self-destructive to protest that that the incidence of abuse by priests is statistically not much different to that of other groups who have contact with children. If priestly formation, sacramental service and prayer do not bear finer fruits then this only encourages the sense of gracelessness, and the possibility of Godlessness.

Thus he comes to his call for married clergy:

The time is overdue to admit married men to (shortened) formation and ordination. The faithful laity face the prospect of fewer churches and yet fewer priests. The priests themselves are service-weary and themselves often confused, anxious, and unwilling to address matters that are problematic for them personally. Whatever the challenges of securing a change, and then of implementing it, laity and clergy have a common interest in making the case not for allowing clergy to marry but for admitting the married to the clerical state. This implies two routes: celibates and married, with no opportunity for marriage or re-marriage once ordained, and, for reasons of exclusive commitment, only the celibates should be bishops.

This is not a case of simply increasing the number of clergy and nor is it an easy solution to the challenge of halting the decline,. Rather a married contingent can better resemble and reassemble the faithful and speak to it of what they know of its needs and difficulties, and speak also to the celibates now not from without but within the brotherhood of the ordained.

Even if were only for the sake of providing a compelling argument against this proposal the matter should now be addressed as the Synod of Bishops reflects on the challenge of the New Evangelisation. The crisis deepens andstill we are waiting. Let it not be said of the Synod “We hear men speaking for us of new laws strong and sweet, Yet is there no man speaketh as we speak in the street”.

The gospel will always be held up to scorn: Its enemies will rightly disdain the imperfections of its bearers and—because they too are imperfect—resent its manifest goodness. While the Church’s recent problems are intolerable, such dramatic action risks worsening the situation. We are still hardly a generation from the gale unleashed by the Second Vatican Council: Orders that once toyed with heresy are only now returning to a vigorous faith; formation is only now being anchored in the text of the Council documents rather than being carried along by its spirit.

Far from consideration of married priests being “over-due,” we have yet even to return to a state stable enough that such a possibility can be helpfully aired.

33 Comments

    Joe Carter
    October 19th, 2012 | 5:51 pm

    I’m sure this is a question that has been asked and answered numerous times before, but I’ve never seen it so I’ll ask here: Since St. Peter was a married man, wouldn’t the current standard prevent him from becoming a priest (much less the pope)?

    Mike Melendez
    October 19th, 2012 | 8:01 pm

    Given Peter entered the Latin rite after about 1000 AD, the answer would be yes. But he didn’t live now but rather 2000 years ago when married priests were accepted. And had he already been married as an Episcopal priest, today, he might have been accepted into the Catholic Church as a priest and assigned to an appropriate parish.

    Understand that this is a discipline not part of the faith proper. To think of it another way, it is an administrative matter, unlike women “priests” which we Catholics believe Jesus did not provide for.

    Tito Edwards
    October 19th, 2012 | 8:56 pm

    Never going to happen.

    He’s peddling dissent a la wolf in sheep’s clothing.

    Brooks Lansdale
    October 20th, 2012 | 4:22 am

    The Catholic Church in John Haldane’s part of the world is going through some terrible (but ultimately temporary) ‘personnel’ issues at the moment, and has been panned for horribly inadequate screening and formation of its priests. So I can cut him some slack for writing such an agitated piece, looking for a magic bullet solution to the problems he lists.

    But for a man as smart as Haldane, I’m taken aback at how naively and idealistically he writes about marriage. Like all worthwhile things in life, marriage is a pain in the neck, and only transforms you into a better person if you are radically willing to work hard at it and receive that transformation, dying to yourself. Celibate priests who die to themselves in this way–surrendering their will for the service of Christians–are some of the best Christians out there, and don’t suffer the problems Haldane worries about. The culprit behind most problematic priests isn’t their marital status, it’s their lack of a prayer life and the proper disposition toward their calling (for instance, by living as bachelors instead of men wed to the Church).

    I fear Prof. Haldane is speaking quite outside his ordinary area of expertise, in addition. That he advocates for shortened formation is particularly alarming, and suggests a great lack of familiarity with seminary formation. If anything, the trend is to lengthen formation these days, as it compels those who seek to fly under the radar into the priesthood to be discovered before it’s too late (ordination).

    I also think it’s beneath Haldane to talk like a postmodernist: “…the time is overdue.” Since when do people like Haldane think like Hegel?

    All this aside, it’s of paramount importance to recall that the primary reason for celibacy is a spiritual one: to more closely imitate the life of Christ, to follow the model he (and St. Paul) recommended for holiness, and to love people freely, with an undivided heart. All of the practical issues with celibacy are contingent, and could be worked out if they had to be. It’s a question of personal faith whether or not Haldane trusts Jesus’ own words on celibacy to hold true even in these difficult times, when the meaning and value of celibacy are certainly harder to understand.

    Michael PS
    October 20th, 2012 | 5:46 am

    What Professor Haldane is precisely the immemorial custom of the Eastern Churches, both the Orthodox, Lesser Eastern Churches and those in communion with Rome.

    Bret Lythgoe
    October 20th, 2012 | 8:07 am

    Tito Edwards: John Haldane is one of the most talented and respected of Thomistic philosophers. And, I might add, an orthodox Catholic. He’s certainly no wolf; he accepts the validity of the Catholic Church. Although i’m not Catholic, I’ve been reading Prof. Haldane over the years, and have developed great respect for him. Perhaps his assessment of this issue has some merit? As Mike Melendez pointed out above, the issue of whether priests should be unmarried, is not doctrinal. It could be changed.

    Joe DeVet
    October 20th, 2012 | 8:19 am

    Wrong diagnosis, wrong cure.

    The plethora of vocations of both priests and sisters to orders, and in dioceses, which are overtly orthodox in their beliefs and practices gives a clue. The problem is not celibacy, but lukewarmness.

    Our Catholic community, it seems, always gets the priests it deserves. It is the family’s breakdown, and within that a breakdown of marriage, which is arguably the root problem. ALERT: outrageous-sounding statement coming! Over the past two generations, myriad priestly vocations were simply contracepted away.

    It’s both math and attitude. Fewer baby boy Catholics–the math. And the contraceptive mentality, which places temporal values over God’s will–an attitude which the children absorb, and then what’s the point of becoming a priest?

    Mike Melendez
    October 20th, 2012 | 10:47 am

    One of the reasons it is not likely to happen soon is economic. With wives and children, more space would be needed in rectories, higher costs in health cost would need to be undertaken, and the priests would need to be paid a wage that would support their families. That would be, to say the least, disruptive.

    A second reason is pastoral. The laity is used to celibate priests. Even so, they have great difficulty, these days, with confession. Some fear the priests use the knowledge gained in the confessional. Imagine the paranoid edge that the intimacy of a marriage would add: “Did he tell his wife about me?”

    There are many other reasons the change (return if you prefer), if it is ever made, must be very carefully and slowly done. All that said, it could happen.

    However, I have no belief whatever that it would lead to massive and quick increase in priestly vocations. I much prefer the permanent deaconate as a way to involve married men.

    Jonathan
    October 20th, 2012 | 11:01 am

    I also doubt it would happen, but in all other ways, Dr. Haldane is a defender of the Faith. He is also a brilliant scholar and devotee of St. Thomas Aquinas.

    Maggie McT
    October 20th, 2012 | 1:23 pm

    So large numbers of men will join, even though they and their families will always be poor? Catholics are suddenly going to start contributing 7, 8, 9 times more money to the Church? We won’t have divorced priests? I always find appeals like this a terrible insult to the thousands of good men who have given up a family for the sake of the Kingdom to be able to serve the people of God with their entire lives. If a man wants a family as well as to be a priest, then I don’t want him as my priest.

    Crowhill
    October 20th, 2012 | 1:24 pm

    Any man who wants to be a married Roman Catholic priest has a very simple procedure to follow. Get married, become an Anglican priest, then convert.

    David Nickol
    October 20th, 2012 | 4:50 pm

    Understand that this is a discipline not part of the faith proper.

    Mike Melendez,

    You are of course correct here. But it is interesting (and unfortunate) that some Catholics treat it as a matter of faith. I believe I have mentioned before that in the parish where I grew up, after I moved away, a married Lutheran priest who had converted to Catholicism and become a Catholic priest was assigned to the parish. According to my mother, many of the parishioners were hostile to him and would not attend the masses he said.

    Tito Edwards above says, “He’s peddling dissent a la wolf in sheep’s clothing.” But disagreement on a matter of discipline is not dissent.

    John Hinshaw
    October 20th, 2012 | 10:19 pm

    I do not know where Mr. Haldane attends Mass, but it sounds a mystical place. Where I am, I see half-empty Churches at Mass, the number of those seeking Sacraments (Matrimony, Baptism, Confirmation) halved from just 15 years ago, the 1990′s being half the number of those who had sought them in the 1960s. In those places where the numbers are high the seminaries are starting to fill up. We are being provided with what is needed. As to the more important discussion for celibacy, allow me to begin: 1) Are we ready for divorced priests? 2) What we laity need is for a priest to “relate” to us as Priest, not another married man. I have much, much more so let’s talk.

    Raymond Takashi Swenson
    October 21st, 2012 | 9:14 am

    The Eastern Orthodox churches have roots just as ancient as the Roman Catholic church, and the Orthodox allow priests to be married. Celibacy is not a requirement that grows out of the original First Century church, but a development that came about over time.

    Of course the Protestant priests like Luther and Calvin who led the Rfectivelyeformation decided celibacy was not an essential element of the Christian church. They offer numerous examples of pastors who served effectively, not in spite if being married, but also because they were married and understood the lives of their congregants.

    If you can determine that celibacy is not an essential part of the Gospel, if you can see a church where, as Paul advised Timothy, a bishop should be the husband of one wife, then there is another option that becomes available: making ordination as a priest a normal part of the training and calling of every adult male in the church. That is the path chosen by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (“Mormons”). About half of adult male Mormons have served two years as celibate missionaries before marriage. Some 10% of adult women Mormons have done likewise. All Mormon congregations are led by unpaid volunteers from among the congregation who serve for about five years and then are replaced by other members of the congregation. They support themselves and their families in ordinary careers, from farmers to philosophers, plumbers to physicists, bureaucrats to business owners. They donate from 20 to 30 hours a week in their church service, in addition to donating tithes of their income and other offerings, just like other members of the congregation. There is sacrifice and dedication in this approach to priesthood. Many Mormon couples, when they retire, return to missionary service as a couple, supporting themselves. One of my friends and his wife served in New Jersey for two years, and then they were in Hong Kong where he was assistant legal counsel for Asia. The Mormon model accommodates growth by having experienced leadership in standby in every congregation.

    Recently the Mormons made changes in the age at which youth can be called as.missionaries. It is expected that it will not only increase the number of young men who volunteer, but could double the number of young women who serve. Aside from the direct impact it may have in the number of people who convert to Mormonism, it will be reflected in coming decades as a heightened level of competence in leadership and dedication among the volunteer leaders at all levels of their church. The Mormons have consistently doubled.in numbers every two decades. That has been enabled by ordaining every worthy young man as a priest, and transf

    Daniel Crandall
    October 21st, 2012 | 6:34 pm

    Priestly celibacy was not mandated for about the first 1,000 years of Church history. It wasn’t until “the First Lateran Council (1123), an ecumenical council of the Church, mandated celibacy for the Western clergy.” This doesn’t mean the question wasn’t debated, often hotly, before then, but it was not imposed on priests. Bishops were another matter. So I guess all the priests for the first 1000 years of Catholic history were somehow not good priests because all of them weren’t required to remain celibate? That would be a hard argument to make.

    Furthermore, the one of the two lungs of Christendom, as Blessed John Paul II referred to Eastern Orthodoxy, has always allowed men who are already married to become priests, though not bishops (and single men who become priests cannot marry), and I think one would be hard pressed to argue that married priests have hurt Eastern Orthodox churches. Having come to Catholicism after about 10 years as an Orthodox Christian, I would argue that married Orthodox priests are some of the best priests I’ve met.

    Finally, the fact that it wasn’t until the 16th century that the Church, in response to the Reformation, declared priestly celibacy not divine law, but rather a “discipline” leaves me thinking that this discipline, in light of the numerous married Catholic priests – Eastern Rite priests, married pastors who convert, etc. – can be re-examined and reversed. There are a lot of good married men serving as deacons who would probably make very good priests. They all may not want to become priests, but why deny them the opportunity just because they have partaken in the Sacrament of Marriage?

    Gail Finke
    October 21st, 2012 | 9:58 pm

    I guess the Church has been unable to relate to married people for 2000 years. (And yes, I know there were married priests in the early Western Church — but they were exceptions and nowhere near as common or widespread as proponents would like to believe; in the West celibacy has always been the norm. The fact that it was not mandated until after 1100 does not mean it wasn’t common, it means it didn’t need to be mandated because it was uncommon.) The argument does not hold water. I think Joe DeVet has it right — the problem is not that priests can’t marry, it’s that for so long the Church has been lukewarm, why dedicate your life to that?

    Frankly, I am often amazed that we in the West have as many priests as we do, when so many left the priesthood. I am grateful for even the wacky ones, because they were faithful when so many were not. I think that was their gift to the Church, and it was and is an invaluable one. If it weren’t for them, what would be left now that the tide is turning again?

    Finally, as someone with Episcopal family and friends… you do NOT want to be part of a congregation when the priest divorces. It tears the parish apart, for one thing. And it puts the “priest” in the position of knowing very well that Christ said divorce was not permitted, so having done it himself, how can he hold that anything anyone wants to do is against Scripture (yes, I have heard that one).

    jfm
    October 22nd, 2012 | 10:33 am

    How have the Eastern Christian Catholics and the Orthodox coped with priests who can marry? How problematic has it been for them?

    I do think that allowing married men who are called to be priests serve as priests would be a blessing for the Roman Catholic church, but I recognize that my opinion is a minority one.

    And I love RT Swenson’s insights from how the Mormon church manages the priesthood. It has prompted me to do some serious thinking (not easy on a Monday morning…)

    jason taylor
    October 22nd, 2012 | 11:38 am

    If there are no celibate clergy who is going to call singles, especially involuntary singles, to chastity. If a married priest does this might not his listeners say, to use the military pejorative, “Garrittrooper?”

    This is of importance to me because I am a single evangelical and live in a denomination in which, preachers are usually married. I think there should be at least some clergy who should vow celibacy to minister to singles just as military chaplains should experience hardship and danger.

    James Smith
    October 22nd, 2012 | 11:40 am

    It would be such a cultural shock. The Church is accustomed to paying her priests a pittance while supplying them with housing, food, health insurance and stipends for transportation and other things. How much would married priests be paid? Look at how much Protestant Churches pay their ministers.

    Btw, we already have married priests. Converted Lutheran ministers and Anglican priests.

    jason taylor
    October 22nd, 2012 | 11:57 am

    Why not have monastic orders that don’t require celibacy but substitute some other equally rigorous sacrifice if the desire is to have clergy that can understand married folk better. Isn’t that what the Catholic Church has long done, to vary the usages and customs from order to order according to the purpose?

    The problem I see is not with having married monks or priests. It is making sure there are still celibate ones. There needs to be such things, not only for the reason I gave but as a blatant defiance of the world.

    I realize making suggestions as to internal operations of the Roman Church may be thought impertinent. But we are all brothers-in-Christ, and our respective policies affect each other as well as our own congregants.

    Sir Louis
    October 22nd, 2012 | 12:58 pm

    No one is mentioning the elephant that is gradually being pushed out of the room: Homosexuals in the Catholic priesthood. If that is the root of recent abuse problems and falling away of laity, then it is best attacked directly by more rigorous psychological assessment of seminary candidates and rigid exclusion of homosexuals from the priesthood, even if they are convincingly celibate. Is that discriminatory? Certainly. Homosexual inclination unfits a man for the Catholic priesthood.

    Crowhill, let us hope that no one is so dishonest as to become an Anglican priest in order to become a married Catholic priest. Were his intention discovered when it came to getting a rescript from Rome for his ordination, he would certainly be denied.

    Rob Hyde
    October 22nd, 2012 | 1:23 pm

    Monasticism with marriage has been tried under various forms in Protestant denominations and has met with failure (the exceptions prove the rule). The monastic life has only flourished and succeeded with a celibate structure.

    Married parish clergy is another matter, Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Rite Catholic Churches both show that married parish priests can function well. They are the real parallel to Roman rite priests because they have a similar theology of priesthood, unlike the Protestants.

    However, priests do not marry in Roman or Eastern churches. Married men may become priests, but after ordination a married man whose wife dies or leaves him is not allowed to marry and is considered called to celibacy. Married deacons are also called to celibacy if they suffer the death or abandonment of their wives.

    In the Roman rite we do have deacons who are married and offer us a great gift of married ministry. This gift should be used to the full before we abandon the gift of celibacy in our priests.

    As to whether the Roman rite should have married priests (as an open option for all who seek ordination), I do not agree with this option.

    As a parish priest I know that a married man could fulfill my calling as well or better in many areas. Yet functionalism is not what the Gospel is all about. Celibacy is a grace, one that is justly celebrated in the East and West and not really present in the modern secular (or modern Protestant) mentality. If the Roman rite were to make celibacy optional this grace would be in great danger of being lost altogether.

    The great recommitment to the celibate life I see all around me, in religious orders, seminaries and among parish priests, needs to be deepened and encouraged.

    The celibate life is a great grace for me as a priest and a great grace for the church as a whole. We should not let the scandals take that great gift away from us. Let us not forget that the overwhelming majority of priests live their celibacy. Our culture either does not understand or actively despises this great gift, we should not let them set our agenda.

    David Nickol
    October 22nd, 2012 | 4:02 pm

    No one is mentioning the elephant that is gradually being pushed out of the room . . . .

    Sir Louis,

    There’s another elephant that is even less talked about than homosexuality: The estimate that at any given time, only about 50% of priests are actually practicing celibacy. (I suppose some would insist on saying chastity.)

    There are two facts. First, there are already married priests. The only question is whether celibacy should be mandatory for all priests. The other one is what I have alluded to above. Our celibate priests are not actually celibate.

    Crowhill
    October 22nd, 2012 | 5:22 pm

    Why is everyone assuming that married priests would have to be poor, along with their families?

    “Presbyter,” which is allegedly where “priest” comes from, means “elder.” The original qualifications in Titus 1 and 1 Tim. 3 refer to men who have already raised families.

    The married clergy could be reserved for men who are older and on a second career.

    It seems to me that the danger is not so much that priests and their families would be poor, but that only relatively wealthy, successful men would pursue that option. That would be a problem (to some people, most definitely not to me) because they wouldn’t be as docile towards the bishops.

    Mike Melendez
    October 22nd, 2012 | 10:22 pm

    @Crowhill, There is an economic problem with older married men as priests, as opposed to deacons. The priesthood is a vocation, so the Church would become responsible for the older priests health care much earlier.

    As to “docility” towards the bishops, I have no idea why you think that exists nor why you think it would be good for priests not to be “docile”. Perhaps you could explain?

    Martin Snigg
    October 22nd, 2012 | 10:26 pm

    Far from consideration of married priests being “over-due,” we have yet even to return to a state stable enough that such a possibility can be helpfully aired.

    Exactly.

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-05-27/catholic-sexual-abuse-study-greeted-with-incurious/2734354

    “That being said, only someone who is wilfully naive or intractably bigoted would refuse to acknowledge that the social antinomianism and fetishisation of sexual liberation in the 1960s and 70s, along with the valorisation of the pursuit of individual pleasure and free experimentation with transgressive sexual practices, created the conditions for a dramatic escalation in deviant behaviour – including paedophilia – both within and without the Church.”

    Rieff has shown me how nihilistic therapeutic anti-culture is such a shockingly unprecedented thing. http://www.firstprinciplesjournal.com/articles.aspx?article=1098&loc=r “Far from consideration of married priests being “over-due,” we have yet even to return to a state stable enough that such a possibility can be helpfully aired.” seems spot on.

    In Australia the well resourced Jesuit publications like Eureka Street, and Bishop’s Conference supported CathNews still give platforms for Catholic politicians who support abortion and to the promotion of same-sex ‘marriage’. Priests writing for these places in Australia argue ‘there is nothing to see here’ re: threats to religious liberty.

    It’s sad for me to hear Prof. Haldane mention discipline but bring up celibacy when Catholic nuns invite crazy new agers like Barbara Marx-Hubbard to be keynote speakers at their national conference, Austrian priests have gone off the deep end and Australian bishops can’t even enforce a Catholic line in its news outlet nor even employ a Catholic as its editor!

    Married priests? One Vatican advisor says "sure" - Hot Dogma!
    October 23rd, 2012 | 7:13 am

    [...] But it’s an idea that bears serious consideration, although it’s unlikely to get that, at least from some quarters: the righteous-n-faithful brigade over at the First Things comments sections have already decided Haldane is a heretic ready for the stake. [...]

    Crowhill
    October 23rd, 2012 | 7:51 am

    @Mike, a successful man who comes into the priesthood at an older age — as a second career — will probably be able to afford his own health care.

    About “docility” — a big part of the problem with the priesthood today (as seen in the abuse crisis) is an attitude of clericalism. A “we protect our own” attitude. This idea that the church has a right to keep secrets, and the laity has no right to know what really goes on in the seminaries, or in the rectories.

    Priests ought to be outing bishops. They’re not.

    A successful business man will have a different relationship to the bishops than a man who went to seminary out of college and was conditioned into the church’s way of doing things from a relatively early age. I would expect that the successful business man — on his second career as a priest — will not be as likely to put up with crap from the bishops or to cover-up whatever messes he finds.

    But as a former Protestant the thing that amuses me the most about the way Catholics talk about this issue (and many others) is how completely irrelevant Scripture is. Catholics can say what they want about the authority and infallibility of Scripture, but practically speaking it is a dead letter.

    jfm
    October 23rd, 2012 | 10:41 am

    Have the Eastern Christian Churches and the Eastern Orthodox suffered much with the married priesthood? What if RC religious orders maintained mandatory celibacy, but diocesan priests could be married? And no one who wanted to be a priest would have to give up the discipline of celibacy. That would (as always) remain available to anyone who took up the challenge.

    jason taylor
    October 23rd, 2012 | 11:27 am

    “There’s another elephant that is even less talked about than homosexuality: The estimate that at any given time, only about 50% of priests are actually practicing celibacy. (I suppose some would insist on saying chastity.”

    The estimate is by whom? And how obtained? Does the estimater perhaps bug the bedrooms of a statistically large enough sample to make a meaningful estimate.

    And were it true would it be relevant? Any more then it is relevant that there are many “estimates” that the majority of public officials in the world do in fact engage in graft.

    In fact let us follow that reasoning and point out that what is fitting for those not holding an office is not fitting for those who do. It is fitting for a citizen to receive gifts. It is not fitting for a policeman to do so. But policemen do in fact receive gifts. In fact it is widely believed that most police do. Likewise it is fitting for a layman to be uncelibate under certain terms. It is not fitting for a priest. Even if in fact most do.

    David Nickol
    October 23rd, 2012 | 4:01 pm

    The estimate is by whom? And how obtained? Does the estimater perhaps bug the bedrooms of a statistically large enough sample to make a meaningful estimate.

    jason taylor,

    See Richard Sipe:

    In 1993, Cardinal Jose Sanchez, Secretary of the Dicastery for the Clergy faced an interviewer from BBC television who asked his opinion on studies, recent at that time, that claimed that, at any one time, 45 to 50 percent of Catholic clergy were not practicing celibacy. The cardinal’s response was, “I have no reason to doubt the accuracy of those figures.” Even earlier—in the 1970 synod of Rome—the question about the requirement for celibacy came up for discussion and a vote of the bishops. Pope Paul VI announced that the assembly had voted 55 to 45 percent to preserve the requirement. When the subject of mandatory celibacy came up for discussion again on a Vatican level in 1971, Cardinal Franjo Seper, Archbishop of Zagreb said, “I am not at all optimistic that celibacy is in fact being observed.”

    The fact that 50% of a given group at any one time may not be abiding by the rules is certainly, it seems to me, sufficient cause to question the rules. Different rules require different standards. If the rule is that employees should be punctual, and 50% of employees arrive late two or three times a year, you may not want to abandon the rule. If the rule is priests should be celibate, and 50% are not practicing celibacy at any given time, perhaps the rule needs to be reexamined.

    Martin Snigg
    October 23rd, 2012 | 6:45 pm

    @David Nick’ol^20 years ago “Goodbye Goodmen” was published. Likely there were more 60′s-80′s priests in the data.

    It’s impossible for me to believe that number is accurate today. Maybe 10-15%? today, which is about what we’d expect with the world, flesh and the devil – who particularly hates priests and religious.

    Mike Melendez
    October 23rd, 2012 | 10:06 pm

    Crowhill states: Catholics can say what they want about the authority and infallibility of Scripture, but practically speaking it is a dead letter.

    Ah, Crowhill, your need to try a mirror. That last is almost pure prejudice. Such a sweeping statement about over a billion people could only be such.

    “Outing” bishops? Do you think a great many bishops are secretly gay? Or are you suggesting that some other kind of corruption affects a large number of bishops? “We protect our own”? Do you think being a priest or a bishop should make them saints? Or do you see the corruption as only affecting bishops? I’m afraid I have trouble trying to untangle your mind. I can’t read it and all I read here are sweeping accusations requiring extraordinary support. Yet, you offer none, just your opinion.

    You are, of course, welcome to your opinion. But as presented it carries no weight.

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