The latest revelations of the extent of sexual abuse in Catholic schools is a further cause for shame. It is hard just now to estimate the extent of the damage this will do to the Church, and much more significantly, to the faith. As I write, the news and the media generally, are still dominated by reaction to what has emerged, and it largely consists of condemnation of Catholicism and all that it stands for. This is not surprising, in fact it is quite understandable, because what is being revealed is by any standards horrible. How could it possibly be that people (largely men) who had committed their lives to the service of the Gospel message, could do such things as we are reading about now. I know that sexual abuse of minors occurs in all areas of society, and maybe most of all in the home, but that still does not explain what we are hearing and reading presently.
I am convinced that there are aspects of Church teaching and practice that are contributing to this behaviour by some priests and religious, and that urgently needs to be looked at by the relevant Church authorities. Let me explain.
Traditional Catholic sexual teaching that all of my generation grew up with in the Church, and that is still the official teaching, categorises all sexual thoughts, actions and desires as seriously sinful. I can still remember the sensation of lining up at the confession box to confess “bad thoughts and actions”. This a serious obstacle to human growth into maturity. Dealing with our feelings, desires, thoughts, and learning to understand and integrate them into our personality, is an essential element of growing up. But if you are taught that feelings, thoughts and desires are occasions of sin, and that indulging them is a mortal sin, and could lead to your eternal damnation, you learn to suppress/repress them. That becomes a serious impediment to emotional and psychological development, and, as we now know, these aspects of our persona, when suppressed, can emerge in perverse and destructive ways.
In other words, what I am saying is that I believe that the damage done by traditional Catholic sexual teaching is a part explanation for what we are leaning now about clerical sexual abuse in schools.
And then, for young men entering a seminary to prepare for priesthood, a further layer of potential suppression is added with the imposition of compulsory celibacy. This presents another reason why emotional and sexual desires are forbidden. Not only are they occasions of sin, but now they are also a threat to the person’s ‘vocation’, which they were told had come directly from God. And for most of my generation it brings the danger of ‘losing your vocation’, and having to face the shame of leaving the seminary.
Finally, when one is eventually ordained, or as a religious, finally professed, and enters into the world of work and engagement with people, there is always the possibility of strong attraction developing with someone, that brings to the surface the innate needs and longings of the human heart. But because of upbringing and training, any tentative efforts at relationship is almost bound to be furtive, and laden with fear, guilt and secrecy. Relationships are complicated enough at the best of times, but in these circumstances they are laden with pitfalls.
My view is that that the present revelations make it even more apparent than ever that there is an urgent need for the Catholic Church to review its teaching on sexuality, and its practice of compulsory celibacy for priests. In the meantime all the sympathetic statements and heartfelt apologies from the Vatican or Bishops Conference are little more than empty words.
