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21/04/02

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Sunday Herald - 21 April 2002    
The end of celibacy?  

As the Pope prepares to meet American cardinals to discuss the paedophile priest crisis, Home Affairs Editor Neil Mackay looks at the outcry that could transform the Catholic church   'PAEDOPHILE priest jailed for sex with under-age boy' is a headline which has almost become a clichZ. But the trial of Father John Geoghan in January this year in Boston for child sex abuse wasn't just another disposable story about child abuse and the clergy; it has set in train the biggest shake-up within the Catholic Church since the 1960s. The aftermath of the Geoghan case will be the crucible in which the Roman Catholic Church is forged in the 21st century.  On Tuesday 13 American cardinals will sit down with the Pope in the Vatican and discuss just how the Church is supposed to deal with the seemingly endless series of accusations and arrests for paedophilia which are dogging Catholicism across the world. America, Ireland, Germany, Poland, England and Scotland have all had a taste of scandal.  The Geoghan case, with its claims that some of the highest-ranking clergymen in the US moved the priest from parish to parish as his crimes were discovered and then covered up by the hierarchy, has forced the Church to take a cold, stark look at itself and its priests.  Cardinal Francis Stafford, an American who heads the Vatican's Pontifical Council for the Laity, said the meeting would cover celibacy, gay priests and the ordination of women. Everything, it seems, is open to debate. This scandal isn't just rocking America, though. The clergy in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales is also tearing itself apart over the question: Where now for the Church? In Scotland, leading Catholic clergymen and theologians are preparing to tear up the rule book.  One of the bravest comments given to the Sunday Herald in an exhaustive round of interviews with senior clergy scholars and prominent Catholic lay people came from Keith O'Brien, Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh . 'I have no problems with celibacy withering away,' he said. 'There is no theological problem with it ending. The loss of celi bacy would give liberty to priests to exercise their God-given gift of love and sex rather than feeling they must be celibate all their lives.'  As president of the Scottish Bishops' Conference, O'Brien is seen as first among equals in the Scottish Catholic hierarchy. His words carry considerable weight, though on the reactionary wing of the church his views could be seen as tantamount to heresy. Lining up beside him is the renowned Dominican scholar Fr Fergus Kerr. As regent of Blackfriars Hall at Oxford University and an honorary senior lecturer in philosophy and theology at Edinburgh University, Kerr is perhaps the most eminent Catholic thinker in the country.  He believes it is inevitable that priests will one day be allowed to marry. 'Celibacy will become an optional extra for the Catholic clergy,' he said. 'I would assume that priests will be marrying in under 20 years.'  Kerr said priestly celibacy was introduced to stop the children of priests inheriting church property. 'The big problem in terms of ending celibacy is money -- not theology,' he said. 'It's always been about money. Historically, it was about property; now it's about salary. It's easy to support a celibate priest, but supporting a married priest with children would be a big drain on resources. Accepting married Anglican priests into the Church when they broke away over women in the priesthood was the beginning of the end of celibacy.'  Kerr went further by championing women in the clergy. 'There are theological arguments against having women in the priesthood, but I don't think they are very impressive,' he said. 'One argument is that Jesus didn't ordain women. The answer to that is that He didn't ordain any non-Jews either.  'Others say the Eucharist is a rerun of the Last Supper, and the celebrant was Jesus so the priest must be a man. The counter-argument is that those who believe this are just taking symbolism to the extreme, and symbols aren't inviolable. I'm not opposed to celibacy falling away or women in the clergy -- we have to start looking at the arguments.'  It's little wonder Scotland's most powerful Catholics are now wrestling with such hard questions as the tremors from the US abuse scandal are felt around the world. Some even predict it could cause the US church to split from Rome. More than 450 people in the Boston area alone claim they've been sexually abused by priests. Across the country at least 62 clergymen have been suspended for alleged sexual abuse since January, but in total some 3000 priests face allegations of paedophilia.  The public is clamouring for the resignation of Boston's Cardinal Bernard Law, who has admitted allowing Fr John Geoghan, a man he knew to be a paedophile, to continue as a priest. Geoghan, who was jailed for 10 years, has been accused of molesting up to 200 children. In 1994 Fr John McCormack, then secretary for ministerial personnel under Cardinal Law, offered to find Geoghan a 'safe house'. McCormack is now bishop of Manchester in New Hampshire. Cardinal Law also allowed another child abuser, Fr Paul Shanley, to continue to have access to children, despite having full know ledge of his crimes through a church-ordered psychiatric evaluation.  Law also moved Shanley from diocese to diocese without informing officials of his history. There had been 15 complaints against Shanley, dating back 30 years. The Church also had information about a speech Shanley gave at a meeting in the 1970s in which he defended paedophilia. The meeting led to the formation of the North American Man-Boy Love Association. Some dioceses have already paid millions of dollars to settle lawsuits brought by victims, with Boston footing a bill of around $30 million. The total cost to the church in the US is somewhere in the region of £1 billion. A number of dioceses are facing bankruptcy .  From Boston the allegations spread across the US. In Los Angeles a special unit of detectives has been set up to investigate 70 allegations involving 50 priests. Cardinal Roger Mahony of the Los Angeles Archdiocese has admitted responsibility for transferring Fr Michael Wempe, who was accused of child molestation, to a hospital with a paediatric unit without telling medical staff.  Other dioceses accused of covering up for serial child molesters include New York and Milwaukee, and Church authorities are also dealing with allegations in St Louis, Florida, California, Philadelphia and Detroit. In Cleveland, Ohio, Fr Don Rooney killed himself this month after been accused of sexual misconduct from 1980. Two men have taken legal action against the Vatican itself -- an unheard of and historic move. The lawsuits allege that the Church protected priests accused of molesting children in Florida and Oregon by transferring them to other states to avoid prosecution.  Although 70% of America's 64 million Catholics believe revolutionary changes such as ending celibacy will end child abuse, few of Scotland's Catholic thinkers believe scrapping the chastity vow will magically remove paedophilia from the priesthood. There are just as many paedophiles in the Church of Scotland or the Free Church or among Jews or Muslims, they say, as among Catholics. However, most admit that celibacy feels like an odd, even medieval, hangover. And it raises eyebrows. Celibacy seems to predicate a twisted or stunted sexuality -- at least to the public mind, which appears to equate a celibate priest with a potential paedophile.  For Philip Esler, professor of biblical studies at St Andrews University, abandoning celi bacy won't just do the Church the world of good in terms of public relations -- it will also help tackle another crisis facing Catholicism, the massive fall in the numbers of men choosing a life in the priesthood. Esler, a practising Catholic, says: ' People aren't entering the priesthood. Abuse is deterring potential priests and members of the congregation. In some places it is getting hard for the public to get to Mass as there are too few priests.  'The church needs a radical solution. To suggest that celibacy is central to the ministry is nonsense. Once one Anglican priest who was married joined the Catholic Church, that became the exception that destroyed the rule. We need suitable people to conduct Mass whether they are married or not.  'What is wrong with taking a good, married Catholic and ordaining him? The days of celibacy are numbered. The Church is resisting because those who run the Church have been socialised by celibacy. It is all they know. They wanted to marry and have children, so to say to them 'celibacy is unnecessary' would by like saying, 'You made a huge mistake -- that harsh, lonely existence you opted for was pointless.' Celibacy is central to their identity, but they have their heads in the sand.'  Esler is equally frustrated by the establishment's refusal to budge on women priests. 'The Church has set its face against this, and I'm really sorry for that,' he says.  Professor John Haldane, a devout Catholic who teaches divinity, philosophy and humanities at Cambridge, St Andrews and Georgetown University in Washington DC, says: 'The world is so heavily sexualised that you could see it, symbolically, scantily-clad and clutching a bottle in its hand. Anyone who tries to choose a life of restraint or celibacy today is in for a tough if not impossible time.'  Haldane says he knows of many priests who have been 'privately and secretly' married, who wish celibacy would end so they could reclaim a 'real life'. He suggests a middle ground for the Church. 'Maybe we need to get to a situation like the Eastern Church, where you can't marry when you are a priest, but you can become a priest if you are married.'  Not all Scotland's Catholic thinkers are of the liberal variety, and there are signs of a split emerging. Dr Francesca Murphy, who teaches at Aberdeen University's School of Divinity, wants celibacy retained. 'Celibacy,' she says, 'is a beautiful thing. A man without a woman is a person who has totally abandoned the world -- and that is what religion is all about.'  She does, however, have some suspicion that celibacy may play a part in paedophilia. 'Celibacy is about loneliness,' Mur phy says. 'Perhaps we need to see priests and bishops living together in a community to get rid of paedophilia. Someone on his own has more opportunity to fixate on his sexuality.'  Dr Mario Aguilar, a Chilean former priest and senior lecturer in divinity at St Andrews, says there is 'no dogmatic reason why we need celibacy'. He suggests leading clergymen who favour an end to the rule call a Vatican Council to debate it. The most recent Vatican Council, the liberalising Vatican II, was in 1962; the only other one took place in 1870.  'Many people say we need a new Vatican Council for the 21st century, a few like-minded bishops should get together and convince the Pope the issue needs to be debated,' says Aguilar, who supports women in the priesthood. 'Only a Vatican Council could change this. If a Vatican Council backed change, then so would I. Many Catholics wouldn't care if their parish priest was married or not.'  Patrick Reilly, emeritus professor of English at Glasgow University and a philosophy lecturer at Scotus College seminary in Bearsden, is concerned that some men may be attracted to the priesthood because 'the vocation allows access and opportunity to exploit children'. He wants celibacy to remain, however, and he believes the problem of gays or women in the priesthood is insuperable.  He stands for the old guard. 'In the eyes of Christianity, being gay is a disorder. The Christian view is that men and women should be together in a faithful marriage, which is best for children, the family and the state. On the issue of women, only a man can be a representation of Christ in his role as a priest. To think of a woman as a priest is as illogical as thinking a woman could be a bridegroom. Christ didn't commission any women to act as his apostles.'  For Reilly, new-fangled ideas like ending celibacy are no panacea for collapsing numbers in Catholic congregations or the woes of Mother Church. He has his own rather innovative solution to the crisis in Catholicism. 'In Asia, Africa and Latin America, the number of priests is rising and their congregations are rising too,' he says. 'Perhaps we need priests from those countries to become missionaries in Europe. They can do for us what we did for them -- minister to the masses and make converts. That's what's important.'  

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Patrick O'Donoghue was born in Mourne Abbey, Co Cork, on 4th May 1934, and is the middle of five children [three girls, two boys] of farmers Daniel and Sheila O'Donoghue. He was educated at the Patrician Academy in Mallow, Co Cork. He came to Britain in 1959 for seminary training, first at Campion House, Osterley, Middlesex, then from 1961-67 at Allen Hall seminary when it was at St Edmund's, Ware, Hertfordshire. He was ordained priest for the Archdiocese of Westminster on 25th May 1967. The Second Vatican Council coincided with his student days as a seminarian, and its spirit and teaching have influenced and directed his ministry through the years.

As a newly ordained priest he worked in the parish of Our Lady of Willesden from 1967-70. He was on the Diocesan Pastoral Mission Team from 1970-73, where he gained experience in 27 parishes in the Archdiocese. From 1973-77 he was Pastoral Director at Allen Hall Seminary in Chelsea. From 1977-78 he was with the team ministry at the parish of St Thomas of Canterbury, Fulham. His varied experience led to the conviction that renewal at every level in the Church was urgently called for, combined with a need to grapple with the new challenges facing the Church, preaching the Gospel in a fast-changing world.

Bishop O'Donoghue was Sub-Administrator of Westminster Cathedral from 1978-85, and Administrator from 1990-93. In between times he was Rector of Allen Hall Seminary from 1985-90. Twenty years spent in the Seminary and at the Cathedral further heightened his desire for change. But there were other challenges too, especially inner-city life with its extraordinary wealth and search for, or absence of, faith, and all too much poverty [street homeless, addicts, dispossessed, young and elderly]. It was necessary for the Church to champion the poor, and to this end he and others established The Cardinal Hume and Passage Centres, which continue to flourish.

He is a former Chair of the Archdiocese of Westminster Senate of Priests. He was ordained as Auxiliary Bishop for the Archdiocese of Westminster by his friend and mentor Cardinal Basil Hume on 29th June 1993, and was appointed to the West London Pastoral Area. During the past eight years he has given himself to the pastoral care of its 41 culturally-mixed parishes. He simultaneously worked among the more disadvantaged of our society, retaining his contact with the Passage Day Centre, where he is Chair of Trustees.

Bishop Patrick has been Chairman of the Westminster Diocesan Pastoral Board since 1996 and Chairman of the English and Welsh Bishops' Committee for Migrants since 1993. He has been constantly to the fore, not least in the media, in advancing the cause of this most vulnerable section of our community. Just two weeks ago he launched a strongly-worded document "Any Room at the Inn? - Reflections on Asylum Seekers". He wrote this to mark the 50th anniversary of the UN Refugee Convention, and specifically in the run-up to the General Election. Earlier this year he was appointed a member of the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue. For him, working with other Christians and people of other faiths is a priority.

Bishop O'Donoghue has a special interest in contemporary religious art, particularly in its value as an aid to prayer and as part of the liturgy. He has been instrumental in staging exhibitions at Westminster Cathedral. He lists his hobbies as theatre, football, and country walking.

On hearing of his appointment to his new challenge as Bishop of Lancaster, a Diocese which stretches from Preston in Central Lancashire to the Scottish Border, and takes in the whole of the Lake District and the West Cumbrian Coast, he had this to say:

"My appointment as Bishop of the Diocese of Lancaster comes as a big surprise: in my wildest dreams I had not really expected this appointment. Of course, it's a huge joy and honour to be chosen by the Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, to serve the Church in Lancaster. The North West is a beautiful part of the country, and I've been there many times as a tourist and hiker. Now I come as a pilgrim and one who desires only one thing, and that is to learn and to serve. I know something of the traditional faith of the people: it will be my privilege to share in this and to confirm it. It will be difficult leaving Westminster, where I have spent 40 years as student, priest and bishop. I will carry with me great memories of the City and Diocese, but most of all the friendships that were mine in this multi-cultural society. My motto as Bishop of Lancaster will be 'Beati pauperes' ['Blessed are the poor'], a quote from Luke's Gospel [Lk 6.20]. I humbly ask your prayers."

Bishop Patrick will be officially Installed as Bishop of Lancaster at a special Mass in Lancaster Cathedral on Wednesday 4th July at 12 noon. Archbishop Patrick Kelly, Archbishop of Liverpool, will lead the ceremony. His Eminence Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, Archbishop of Westminster, will preach at the Mass. His Excellency Archbishop Pablo Puente, Apostolic Nuncio, will be in attendance.

12/05/2001  The Tablet
Sexuality in the seminary
James O'Keefe

A high proportion of homosexuals is found in some local Churches among Catholic priests and Catholic seminarians. Does it matter? How should these Churches react? These questions are considered by the rector of the Ushaw seminary in Durham.

THE questions raised by Mark Dowd in his Tablet article ("Gays in the priesthood", 5 May) and in his television programme Queer and Catholic are very important.

We must be clear, however, for a start, that the Catechism of the Catholic Church does not say that homosexual orientation is "intrinsically disordered". It does say that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered".

Mark Dowd writes in his Tablet article that Archbishop Bertone, secretary to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, declared recently that "men with a homosexual orientation should not be admitted to seminary life". The quotation comes from a Catholic News Service (CNS) report following the publication of the book La Confessione, containing conversations with a homosexual priest, by the Italian journalist Marco Politi. The CNS report went on: "In a written statement provided to CNS, Archbishop Bertone said: ‘It cannot be denied that when homosexuality becomes widespread or acceptable in a certain cultural or geographical region, this can have negative effects even within the priesthood.' Although the homosexual inclination is not sinful in itself, it ‘evokes moral concern' because it is a strong temptation to actions that ‘are always in themselves evil', the archbishop said."

Some believe that the archbishop described the homosexual orientation as "objectively disordered". This is not what the report says. CNS itself, however, is quite inaccurate when it goes on to remark that "the Catechism of the Catholic Church calls the homosexual inclination ‘objectively disordered'". It does not. At the very least, there needs to be consistency of expression, clarity and compassion in approaching this extremely sensitive subject. Many people are hurt and confused not only by the language, but by what can appear to be a different approach when an "official statement" differs from a statement in the catechism.

I know from those of my friends who are gay in orientation that the Church's uncompromising stand does present a real challenge for many. It need not be a particular problem for seminary rectors, however, because of the Church's expectation that priests in the Catholic Church are to be chaste celibates. Men and women who can embrace chastity and celibacy can offer courageous witness in our world to non-possessive love, to an openness to vulnerability, availability and personal integrity.

I would personally be very sad if there was ever a time when there was no witness to celibacy among secular priests. Of course celibacy is a matter of discipline in the Catholic Church, not an intrinsic dimension of ordained priesthood, and the present rule could change at some time in the future.

The current presumption is that there are more gay seminarians and priests today than there were in the past. How can we know? I started in junior seminary in 1959; we simply did not have the language to talk about the affective side of our lives, or about sexuality or orientation. It is true, however, that a significant number of priests gave up active ministry after 1968, and many of them married. It may be that these departures left a higher proportion of homosexuals in the secular priesthood.

Certainly, the proportion of gay men in formation for ministerial priesthood in the Catholic Church is higher than that in the population as a whole. I am very cautious about the percentages suggested by the American seminary rector Donald Cozzens, who appeared on the television programme, and the researcher Richard Sipe. Some of my colleagues in the United States are very critical of the ways they have reached these conclusions. None the less, the proportion of gay men in Catholic seminaries and the Catholic priesthood does raise questions.

One adverse effect of these large proportions of homosexuals may be that heterosexuals who have made the sacrifice involved in accepting celibacy for the sake of the kingdom begin to feel that the sign value of what they have done is being negated. For while they have had to give up the prospect of marrying, becoming a parent and having children, no such choice has been made by gay men. Some (not many) seminarians have given as their reason for leaving the seminary and formation the preponderance of homosexual seminarians in the community. Men whose own human development needs to include relationships with women are at some disadvantage.

Homosexual students and priests have their own difficulties to overcome. There are very few role models for them. As one friend of mine says: "What is missing is the narrative." In other words, the story of gay priests cannot yet be told; many of us might not know how difficult it is for gay clergy to operate in a society which is still so prejudiced.

I do not believe for one moment, however, that Sr Jeannine Gramick is right, as quoted by Mark Dowd, when she says that "homosexuality is a time bomb ticking in the Church". I am certain that seminary rectors are more concerned about the personal, spiritual, academic and pastoral formation of all their students than the sexual orientation of any of them.

Our society is obsessed with sex (not the same as sexuality), but is not well informed about it. We are only approaching the low foothills in our appreciation of the mystery of sexuality and the integration of sexuality into our personality. It is only since the first half of the 1900s, following the work of Freud and Jung and others, that we have been able to talk about these things. It is only 50 years ago that the advice to seminarians before their summer holidays included the phrase: "And beware of women, especially those of the opposite sex."

THE real issue for us is maturity and integrity, not orientation. It is vital that future priests are able to relate at real depth to a wide range of people. If a student is misogynist or homophobic or only comfortable with other gay men, then I believe that he is not called to diocesan priesthood. I do not believe that a seminarian should be asked to leave a seminary just because his orientation is homosexual. It is far more important that he is passionate about being a herald of the Gospel, can preach and preside in the local community.

The work and guidance of the Holy Spirit is what fundamentally attracts us to the Catholic priesthood, but it is always useful for us to reflect at the human level on our motives, which are unconscious as well as conscious. We could benefit from some honest reflection on what it is about the local worshipping community that attracts a preponderance of gay men to enter the priesthood. Various explanations have been advanced: that these men feel safer in a virtually all-male environment; that gay seminarians are relieved at not having to admit that they are not attracted to women; that the priesthood has resemblances to the caring and acting professions, for elements of both are included in the role of the priest. Others wonder if the pull is towards a cultic or conservative priestly profession which can appear to give clarity and security in a complex world.

It seems that we are not yet able to have an informed and honest discussion about such things. We certainly need clarification about judgements such as "intrinsic disorder". I would have serious concerns about a student who seemed only interested in pursuing comfort or status. I am inclined to call these intrinsic disorders, yet we do not use such language about the abuse of power. The effects of original sin are alive and well in all of us. At the same time, our baptismal commitment invites us to make moral choices which are increasingly life-giving and motivated by real love.

So there are questions to be asked about the sexual integration and maturity of all future priests, including those who are gay. We need to look carefully at the basic principles involved in human and personal development, affirming that we are all loved by God and that our sexuality is a gift from God.

Observers and commentators such as Mark Dowd are pushing a political agenda alongside pastoral concern for gay people in general and seminarians in particular. There is nothing wrong with that, but the two need separating out. The political debate needs to be carried on with rigour and consistency. Pastoral attitudes must be compassionate and open to change. But conversion of heart must always be the beginning and end of any truly Christian approach.