Get Rid of Celibacy to Stop Abuse: Inquiry
By Melissa Iaria
Former clinical director of the Victorian Institute of Forensic Health, Professor Paul Mullen, says celibacy has no basis in theology and is just a form of discipline in the priesthood. Prof Mullen added the issue is a financial one for the church. "I've have heard a Catholic bishop say that the reason celibacy is maintained is that they could not afford to pay priests, they couldn't afford to pay them pensions, they couldn't afford to pay them enough if they had a wife and children," he told the Victorian parliamentary inquiry on Friday. "This is entirely discipline and its main motivation is money." Prof Mullen said he was not sure what would spark the church to change. But he said the problem of clergy preying on children would remain for as long as they are required to remain celibate. He said for this reason, fewer people were joining the priesthood, leading some to be selected who were not cut out for it. "As long as there are increasing numbers of priests who are not intellectually, culturally, socially of the highest calibre, let alone spiritually, you've just got to prevent them any access to children. Simple as that," he said. "There will come a point where financially, it is cheaper to have married priests than to keep on being sued." Prof Mullen called for a public education campaign on child sex abuse, just like there was for bullying and smoking. Sex education should also include sexual abuse of children, he told the inquiry, which is looking into how religious and other organisations handle child sex abuse allegations. "Maybe education is not the whole solution, but at least we can try a bit of it," he said. "We really do have to make a strong effort with young men, really from an early age, to help them understand how appalling this behaviour is."
|
.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.