CathNews
March 09, 2010
http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=19913
Swiss theologian Father Hans Kung says clerical sex abuse across the globe is linked to priestly celibacy and the Church's "uptight" views on sex.
Fr Kung, President of the Global Ethic Foundation and professor emeritus at the University of Tübingen in Germany, said the Church's attitude was also revealed in its opposition to birth control, Times Online reports.
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| Father Hans Kung |
Writing in The Tablet, Father Kung, who in 1979 was stripped of his licence to teach Catholic theology after he rejected the doctrine of Papal infallibility, welcomed an apology from the head of Germany's bishops on the latest reports of abuse.
But Fr Kung described the denials of any link between abuse, celibacy and other teaching as "erroneous".
He said that it was the case that abuse was found also in families, schools and other churches. But he asked: "Why is it so prevalent in the Catholic Church under celibate leadership?" He said that celibacy was not the only cause of the misconduct but described it as "the most important and structurally the most decisive" expression of the Church's uptight attitude to sex.
Citing the New Testament, he says that Jesus and St Paul practised celibacy but "allowed full freedom in this matter to each individual".
Father Kung said: "Compulsory celibacy is the principal reason for today's catastrophic shortage of priests, for the fatal neglect of eucharistic celebration, and for the tragic breakdown of personal pastoral ministry in many places."
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