The Liberal Media Attacking the Church
Posted by Tom Pringle on Mar 31, 2010 in Clergy Abuse Scandal News, Special | 10 commentsThis afternoon, I turned on the television to a story on CNN regarding the recent news of the sexual abuse scandals and the concept of priestly celibacy. The person being interviewed said that the requirement for celibacy should be lifted because it would end the issue of sexual abuse by clergy and the number of homosexual priests that are in active ministry. The last claim is totally unfounded–there were no sources for the numbers they were reporting. So I decided that I would go on to Rick Sanchez’s blog (CNN anchor at the time) and leave a comment describing what celibacy is, in the view of someone discerning the priesthood of Jesus Christ.
Here is the full extent of my comments:
As someone discerning the priesthood of Jesus Christ, I view celibacy not as a sacrifice; rather, I view celibacy as a gift. Celibacy is a way to make the Kingdom of God present here on earth. If you read Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body, you will see that those who choose celibacy for the kingdom share the same vocations to love as those who marry, but manifest this same vocation in a different manner. Furthermore, celibacy is not a rejection of sexuality, but a living out of the deepest meaning of sexuality–union with Christ and his Church (Ephesians 5:31-32).
Celibacy is not the reason for the abuse scandals that have occurred in the Catholic Church over the years. If it was, why do cases of pedophilia and other sexual acts of misconduct occur in churches where celibacy is not a requirement for pastoral ministry?
Over the last few decades, major changes have been made to the application process of becoming a seminarian to discern the priesthood of Jesus Christ. Now, ALL candidates must take an intense psychological evaluation. After an extensive interview process, then members of the diocesan vocations committee decide on either accepting or denying the candidate.
In order for a young man to first discern a call to the priesthood, he must first discern a call to celibacy. If celibacy is something that the Lord is OFFERING as a GIFT and the young man is WILLING to ACCEPT, (notice my words here) then the priesthood may be for him. That is the bottom line.
After I made the comment, my remarks appeared on the CNN blog in question with a message that read: “Awaiting moderation.” When I returned to the blog, comments made after mine had been added while mine was no where in sight. This only reveals to me the length the liberal news media will go to keep the story regarding the sexual abuse scandals in the Catholic Church one-sided. I am becoming more and more aware that the purpose of the attacks on the Catholic Church is to solely “discredit the public moral witness of the Church, that “inconvenient voice” of truth in our time.”
I also made this same comment (as anonymous) on another blog that attempted to raise the question of repealing the requirement for celibacy. Only that time, my comment was accepted and the conversation abruptly ceased. Hmmm…interesting isn’t it??
PHOTO SOURCE: The Florida Catholic
WOW!! That was very interesting Tom! Good for you for telling it the way it is. Unfortunately,the liberal media wants nothing to do with the Truth! SAD! I just consider it above their intellectual ability!!
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Well said. I’ve heard of this happening before, it just shows you how afraid of the truth or even an opinion other than their own people are these days. And what happened to freedom of speech?
You gave someone something to think about, even if for only a moment. Thanks for getting this out there.
KJ
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It’s unheard of!! Nothing I wrote in that post was offensive. Why then did they decide not to post it?? In regards to the freedom of speech, they would claim they have the freedom to post free speech or not. All we can do is get our message out there by other means. Thanks for reading!!
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Thanks for sharing, I found this story, while searching for some downloads and ran across this website, thoughtful comments and great points made.
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Great words to defend the Church’s views on clerical celibacy. Although I agree with you and with the Church I do have my reservations. I was a seminarian as you are now but left after a semester. I saw in the seminary a large proportion of unfit men who had no interest in celibacy. The number of active homosexual men greatly astounded me and even to this day I wonder if I should speak to my bishop about this problem. The sex abuse scandal in the church has much to do with the number of actively homosexual men in our priesthood. Seminary is almost like an escape for a lot of sexually immature Catholic young men and the reason is the church’s law on celibacy. We do not see a similar homosexual subculture in Calvinist Seminaries or Baptist Bible Schools. Catholic seminaries however have nicknames like the “Pink palace” and the “Theological closet”. The Church has also left out a lot of its pious traditions and has watered-down the Faith since Vatican II. I am no sedevacantist but an honest analysis of the before and after seems to indicate that the Church lost its way for a while after the council and we are just now finding our way back. If the Church wants to keep celibacy in place then she’ll have to seriously look within her walls and purge the “filth”, starting with the seminaries.
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Thank you for your response. While I am aware of the past of the church and homosexuality in seminaries, things have changed dramatically over the past 10 years. While there may be some cases of homosexuality in seminaries still today, I am a witness to the excellent health of the men discerning the priesthood at the seminary I attend and other seminaries throughout the US. The pastoral visitation that occurred a couple of years ago was an effort of the Vatican to begin looking at the seminaries and other houses of formation within the United States. I am proud to say that for the most part, the report that came back from the Vatican was positive. Many of the changes that were recommended by the visitation teams to combat problems within seminaries were already taken care of when the report was published. There is hope for the future of the Church in the US, especially in Florida. Please don’t let your past experiences cloud the infinite possibilities that exist for the future of the Church. Things have changes tremendously over the past few years–for the better! Peace and blessings to you! Happy Easter!
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I truly hope you are right. The Archdiocese of Miami is quite infamous for its issues with homosexual clergy. I hope St. John Vianney is a place of chastity and true obedience. I know of stories from not too long ago. I just hope that the Church takes celibacy and chastity seriously. You say that there is a liberal attack on the Church, that may be partly true when it comes to pedophilia, but the horrible scandals of sexually active priests and priests that surf for sex on the web and at parks is a scandal waiting to happen. And it can be bigger and worse than this one. You see, celibacy serves as a hideaway for so many. I want to believe that most priests are celibate and true to their vows but studies on the matter always point the other way, here is a link to a paper outlining the issue of homosexuality in the seminaries. This website is by liberal “Catholics” but has a wealth of information and studies which should be seriously analyzed. On the other extreme we have “The Roman Catholic Faithful” which seeks to uncover clergy corruption and immorality, here they “uncover” a recent case from Miami.
http://www.richardsipe.com/Docs_and_Controversy/2002-gay-seminaries.html
http://www.rcf.org/docs/Dowgiert.htm
Sorry for the rambling, I just feel God calling me sometimes but I see so much immorality and corruption in the clergy that it makes me question. I know there will always be sinners in the Church but who can follow a group of men that preaches chastity to everyone yet do not practice it themselves? I am almost convinced that this extreme moral corruption would be almost nonexistent if priests were allowed to marry like normal men. What homosexual would want to join a profession where you are expected to marry? Yet many are more than willing to join one where you spend 90% of your life surrounded by and living with other men, many of which you know share your “orientation”. I dunno, just makes me wonder if those “crazy” traditionalists are right about a few things.
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I will read those articles at some point this week. I can tell you that the guys at St. John Vianney are very healthy and are truly committed to living a life of celibacy because it has been explained to us in a way that is so profound (JPII’s Theology of the Body has an excellent explanation of it). However, the temptations that are out in the world can have a tremendous impact on people at times. As you said, “there will always be sinners in the Church.” But that adds to the beauty of the church because we come to acknowledge mistakes, which directs us to live our lives in the way Christ invites us.
All we can do is pray that the Lord continues to guide the Church throughout all of the difficult situations and through all the joyful times as well. All I can say is that there is tremendous hope for the church, as I said in my last reply. Thanks for your posts and for reading! God Bless!
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T. Pringle:
Good points.
One quibble, though: Your comment of March 31, 2010 at 9:45 pm, “It’s unheard of!!”, may be more of a wish than an observation.
In academia, at least, my observation that in many classes ideas which did not meet with the professor’s preferred version of reality were best left unsaid.
The last time I did time in college was in the eighties. One of my kids was in a few years ago, and met similar intolerance for ideas and attitudes which did not support a politically correct view of the world.
It’s not wonder, in my opinion, that so many PhDs have a wonderful grasp of anti-Catholic trivia (real or imagined).
Sorry for the rant: and thanks for writing this.
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I think a better expression could have been: “It shouldn’t surprise me.” You are mostly correct about the comments in college classes. When I was in community college before entering the seminary, I would sometimes make the comments and start a debate. On some occasions I made the professor see the other side of the argument. However, most of the time, my comments were better left unsaid.
Thanks for reading and for your comments. God Bless and Happy Easter!!
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