“Priests’ lovers endorse letter to Pope calling for end to celibacy rule.”
So read the headline in the GLOBE AND MAIL article published Friday, May 28th, 2010 by a John Hooper.
Great to read that others, in this case, “dozens of Italian women who have had relationships with Roman Catholic priests or lay monks have endorsed an open letter to the Pope that calls for abolition of the celibacy rule.”
As one who has experienced 13 years of a Catholic-run Canadian residential school system, I second that motion. After all, that church is full of hypocrites. Still, the church chooses to hide behind and support a rule that is impossible to humanly uphold. The current Pope Benedict dismissed that notion when he spoke up for “the principle of holy celibacy.”
Given the hundreds of abuse cases by Priests and others against innocent children around the world, the church would do well to abolish the rule and as “ Cardinal Christoph Shondborn, the archbishop of Vienna, said the abolition of the celibacy rule might curb sex abuse by priests…”
It baffles me where the rule of celibacy originated but one would think that any institution including the church could learn from its mistakes. Kudos to the authors of that letter to the Pope to stand up and say the idea of celibacy “ …is not holy but a man-made rule.” I second that also.
The article goes on to imply a number of priests were involved in meaningful but secret relationships and when discovered, they were simply moved and relocated.
Priests and others within the Catholic Church will never be celibate. History has shown that. It’s too bad. With that rule of celibacy, there will be more innocent victims including children who will continue to pay the price.
