Abuse and celibacy

by Editor · May 14, 2003

Almost inevitably, discussions on the sexual abuse crisis in the Church will turn to the question of mandatory celibacy in the consecrated life.

While a candid debate about celibacy is legitimate�it is after all a Church discipline, not an immutable dogma�it would be misleading to tie it to the sad revelations of sexual abuse perpetrated by a small number of priests. There are many rational arguments against mandatory celibacy, as there are many good arguments in favour of retaining the discipline. These should be heard and discussed. However, in this discourse the question of sexual abuse has little place.

Experts who have studied the phenomenon of sexual abuse�in society generally and among the clergy in particular�are virtually unanimous in saying that celibacy does not cause abuse.

In the United States, an epicentre of the scandal, only 3% of priests have been accused of abusing minors. Presuming that most of the other 97% are living their commitment to chastity, celibacy would readily appear to be a negligible factor in explaining the scandal.

Significantly, statistics suggest that churches that permit married ministers record similar statistics.

There is a consensus among the experts that abusive priests already have a predisposition towards illicit sexual behaviour before their ordination.

Writing in the Jesuit journal America in April 2002, priest-psychologist Fr Stephen Rossetti wrote: “Researchers and clinicians have generally accepted the fact that celibacy does not cause sexual abuse. The sexual difficulties and inner psychological problems that give rise to child sexual abuse are largely in place before a person enters into the formation process for a celibate priesthood.”

Fr Rossetti points to a related, more complex proposition: that the celibate priesthood offers a refuge, usually unconsciously so, to men with sexual problems. This, however, cannot be generalised. There is no suggestion that such men invariably betray their celibacy.

Either way, celibacy does not create sexual abusers. Nor, say the experts, does a homosexual orientation, another frequently cited cause of clergy abuse.

Again Fr Rossetti: No mainstream researcher would link homosexuality with true paedophilia. In society, most adults who molest minors are not homosexual, but some adults who molest adolescent males are heterosexual.

Of course, many victims of abuse by priests have been male. Likewise, in many of these cases, the priests were homosexuals, rather than paedophiles or ephebophiles (a sexual attraction to children between 14 and 17 years of age). However, Fr Rossetti says, “theirs is a particular kind of homosexuality, which one might call �regressed� or �stunted��The issue is therefore not so much homosexuality, but rather their stunted emotional development.”

Seminaries around the world now employ recently developed screening techniques designed to identify unsuitable candidates to the priesthood. Ideally, no man who lacks the psycho-sexual maturity required for the celibate priesthood would be allowed to enter the seminary.

There is, however, one area where the question of mandatory celibacy and sexual misconduct merits examination: the situation of priests in cultures where sexual activity is seen as integral to manhood, and where the situation of women is often one of sexual submission.

The Vatican has identified this as an area of concern, and has tried to address this by placing a greater emphasis on the value of celibacy in formation.

It is in this domain that issues of clerical celibacy and abuse warrant further scrutiny.