www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News The Celibacy Question Again

Only Half of Catholic Priests are Celibate
by Michael J. McManus

"Obligatory celibacy and the church's official teaching on human sexuality
are at the root of the worst crisis the Catholic Church has faced since the
time of the Reformation," writes Father Richard McBrien, professor of
theology at Notre Dame in the Foreword of a new landmark book "Celibacy in
Crisis," by A.W. Richard Sipe.

In an interview, Father McBrien explained, "The Eastern Orthodox do not have
celibate clergy, and they have no sexual abuse crisis. When you require
celibacy as a life-long commitment from any control group, you are
inevitably, automatically and infallibly limiting your pool of potential
recruits to one of the thinnest slices of the population.

"There are some healthy people who practice celibacy. But that requirement
of the priesthood will attract a disproportionately high percentage of men
who are sexually dysfunctional, sexually immature, or whose orientation will
raise the question - are they attracted to the priesthood because of the
ministry, or because it is a profession that forbids one to be married?"

The issue goes far beyond the sexual molestation of minors. Sipe writes in
his new book, "I estimate that at any one time 50 percent of priests are
practicing celibacy". He makes these shocking estimates: "Thirty percent of
priests are involved in heterosexual relationships, associations,
experimentation or patterns of behavior. Fifteen percent of priests are
involved with homosexual relationships...Six percent of priests involve
themselves with minors."

(In a new study commissioned by Catholic bishops, the John Jay College of
Criminal Justice calculated that 4,392 priests - 4 percent of those serving
over the last 50 years - sexually abused minors. In Boston where the court
forced the archdiocese to disclose internal records, 7 percent of priests
were molesters.)

Sipe's numbers are not casual estimates, made in the wake of the current
crisis, but were actual counts of the sexual practices of 1,500 priests and
were originally published in Sipe's 1990 book, "A Secret World."

Sipe himself was a monk for 18 years and a priest for 11 of them. He left
the priesthood, married and became a therapist who interviewed hundreds of
priests. He taught in seminaries from 1967 through 1996, and even wrote a
book on how to be celibate: "Celibacy: A Way of Living, Loving and Serving."

However, he gathered 1,500 case studies: 497 involving priests who were in
therapy, 512 who were priests not in therapy and another 504 from sexual
partners of priests.

As a social scientist, Sipe takes no position on whether the celibacy rule
should be changed. Others are not so silent.

Last August 166 Catholic priests in the Diocese of Milwaukee signed a letter
to Bishop Wilton Gregory, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishops, asking that the priesthood "be open to married men as well as to
celibate men...The primary motive for our urging this change is our pastoral
concern that the Catholic Church needs more candidates for the priesthood,
so that the Church's sacramental life might continue to flourish."

In 1960 there were 53,796 priests to serve 42 million Catholics. Today there
are only 43,000 to serve 66 million. Only 479 new priests were ordained in
2002. The average priest has ten times as many parishioners as the average
Protestant pastor.

The Milwaukee letter was the first time in 25 years that a group of priests
has spoken out on celibacy, according to Dean Hoge, a prominent Catholic
University sociologist. He said, "I do think it's impressive because it's a
risky thing, and any priest would think twice before signing his name."

Bishop Gregory did not respond to them directly, but wrote to Milwaukee
Archbishop Timothy Dolan, who had a cordial meeting with the three
organizing priests, though he disagreed with them. With half of Milwaukee's
active priests signing the letter, they have taken a second step to organize
an independent Milwaukee Archdiocesan Priests Alliance.

Their major concerns are being overworked and having low morale over the
fact that the number of parishes has shrunk from 265 to 219 and the diocese
wants to shrink further to 175 due to declining numbers of priests, although
the Catholic population is growing. "We should be moving to 275 churches,
and expanding the pool of people allowed to be priests," said Father Dave
Cooper.

Hundreds of priests from Chicago, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New York and other
dioceses have written letters to Gregory supporting optional celibacy. The
bishops are opposed, but a national organization of priests pressing for
reform will be organized next month.

The demand for change has only begun.

JoeS

The UGCC Eparchy of 'Toronto & Eastern Canada' has always had both married and celibate priests. Being married did not make priests better, it may however have provided them with a different perspective on life - not better or worse - just different. We did not like the married priests any more or less than those who were celibate. We were blessed to have both.

Hritzko

Best argument against celibacy I ever read was made by an Irish poet who felt that married priests should be permitted so as to preserve their obviously superior genetic stock. Better argument than anything I've heard from Fr. McBrien, who is rather hard to listen to even when he mght be right.

I would like to know how Sipe got his numbers. How did he gather those 512 priests who weren't his patients? And do priests in therapy, a full half of his sample of priests, really represent the larger population? Are 50% of all priests in therapy?

Also, these two statements do not match up: "actual counts of the sexual practices of 1,500 priests" versus "1,500 case studies: 497 involving priests who were in
therapy, 512 who were priests not in therapy and another 504 from sexual
partners of priests."

I guess Fr McBrien forgot about the Orthodox bishops, hieromonks, and hierodeacons who are celibate. As far as the sexual abuse crisis, there is al least one group of Orthodox laity are asking questions about alleged payouts totalling $1.5 million for clergy misconduct:

Greek Orthodox prepare for contentious assembly in New York [christianitytoday.com]

Clearly, the methodology used in any "scientific" study should be subjected to scrutiny.

However, when the sex scandal story was hot, I seem to recall that NPR reported that several unmarried priests that they interviewed, while denying homosexual or abusive behavior, did admit "off the record" to being involved or having been involved in long-term heterosexual relationships.

Interpret the reporting and NPR's poltics how you will, but does it really surprise anyone that the "Thorn Birds" was not a far-fetched piece of fiction? Not me.

Yours,

hal

Being Byzantine, I have no problem with married priests. However, the Latin Church has always held celibate clergy up as some kind of ideal. That's fine, too, if that's what they want. But it seems to me that the real problem is not celibacy, but sin. Celibacy gets blamed for a lot of behaviors that it doesn't cause.

I would want a little more info than just an allegation by the OCL about some payments made by the GOA. Maybe the Orthodox Church does have sexual abuse scandals going on, but so far the only widespread accusations (as in not isolated incidents, which every church has) I've seen are from the OCL and Pokrov.org, both of which have significant agendas and are not known for their investigative precision or solid grasp of traditional Orthodoxy.

Dear Teen:

Very astute observation. However, is not pride a sin?

Could not one legitimately argue that the Latin Church as an institution also not bear a sin of not tending to its flock in the face of declining enrollment in seminaries by being too proud to at least reconsider its position?

Before anyone accuses me of Latin-bashing, I would suggest that the UGCC (of which I am a member) might bear its own institutional sin of laziness of not standing up for our rights and continuing our tradition of ordaining married men.

Yours,

hal

I totally agree with you. BTW, the TN in byanTN stands for Tennessee. I haven't been a teenager for many years.

Dear TN:

...but you LOOK so young!

Seriously - sorry. Had you confused with someone else.

Yours,

hal

There are probably a number of chanceries that now are taking allegations from any source quite seriously. Actually my point was to refute Fr Richard O'Brien's comment as reported by Michael J. McManus. I don't think any sexual abuse/misconduct in other Churches and ecclesial groups will receive the media attention as did/does the Catholic Church. To say that celibate chastity leads to sexual abuse/misconduct is like saying that marital chastity leads to sexual infidelity.

Hal - It's not celibacy that is the problem. It's the utter failure of our seminaries to instill that discipline in seminarians; it's the sex-crazed culture which tells us that celibacy is impossible and guaranteed to drive you insane; it's the families who don't want their only son being wasted on the priesthood. There's a lot, within the Roman Church and without, that needs fixing. There's a lot we need to face and own up to. But getting rid of celibacy, a discipline that frees our priests to give their all to the Church, is not part of the answer. (Though losing all that good Irish genetic stock is surely a loss. )

Dear Non Nomen:

How do you know if you haven't tried?

Your argument seems to be that modern day views of sexuality is the reason many unmarried priests have (for lack of a better word) girlfirends.

Had I not heard several stories from "celibate" priests in the old country having relationships with women before the advent of mass media, then I might be able to buy your argument.

Please accept my representation to you that I have it on EXTREMELY good authority that, during the pro-celibacy movement for Byzantine Rite priests in Ukraine during the early part of the 20th C., many young men that were ordained before marriage wound up having relationships (and sometimes even children) on the side. This was before TV and before anyone ever dreamed of putting Halle Berry in a catwoman costume.

As for the failures of your seminaries, I can't speak to that except to say this - looking back, how many of us were truly ready to make such a serious commitment at the ripe old age of 20 or 21?

If someone was getting married at 21, would you not, in this day and age, question whether they were old or mature enough?

So how can a 21 year old young man make an equally important decision with respect to his marital status - i.e. he's going to stay single and sans partner forever?

Finally, please do not insult the many married priests of our Rite and their family members (myself included) by suggesting that a married priest cannot "give his all" to the Church. Your Latin superiority complex will not fly with us.

hal

Dear brother Hal,

Non-nomen's statement about celibate priests being able to devote more time to the Lord is not his own - St. Paul stated it, so please do not set it up as an "East vs. West" issue.

I think both the celibate and married states have their advantages. I agree with St. Paul that being celibate frees up one's time MORE for God alone. However, being married allows for a better pastoral perspective, in my opinion.

Blessings,
Marduk

Dear Marduk:

I have no intention of setting it up as an East v. West issue. If you read my post, I have outlined the failures of celibacy among the Eastern Catholics as well.

Yours,

hal