Vatican City, Oct 29, 2024 / 15:45 pm (CNA).
Cardinal Seán O’Malley, archbishop of Boston and president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, stressed that “celibacy is not the cause of pedophilia” but highlighted the need for more reforms within the Church to adopt a victim-centered approach to better safeguard children.
Following the presentation of the first annual report on safeguarding released by the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors on Tuesday, O’Malley stated that he has “never seen any serious studies that have indicated that celibacy and sexual abuse is related.”
“Yes, we are aware of the incredible damage that [pedophilia] has done to the credibility of the Church and our ability to have a prophetic voice in society,” the cardinal said in response to a journalist’s question on a potential “link between celibacy and sex abuse” at the Oct. 29 press briefing.
“And that only underscores the urgency of the Church to reform itself so that we can carry on Christ’s mission and be a sign of his love. And the kingdom of God is about justice and truth, and these are the core values that we’re talking about here,” he added.
Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, a jurist and international advocate for children’s rights who was appointed by Pope Francis as a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors in 2022, also stated that she did not see any relationship between celibacy and criminal sexual abuse against children.
“I don’t see any relationship,” she said. “Sexual relationships with children is a crime and the ones who commit this have a problem, which is related to their psychological state of mind.”
“There is no exception for this, no excuse for this crime. Children should be respected in their integrity — physical and moral. So whether celibate or not, it doesn’t matter. The children should be protected,” she said.
O’Malley stated that the goal of the pontifical commission, which he has headed since its establishment in 2014, is “to do everything possible” to address the lack of justice and recognition from people in the Church.
“Your suffering and wounds have opened our eyes to the fact that — as a Church — we have failed to care for victims, and that we didn’t defend you, and that we resisted understanding you when you needed us most,” he said at the Tuesday press briefing.
“We hope that this report — and those that will come — compiled with the help of victims and survivors at the center, will help to ensure the firm commitment that these events never happen again in the Church.”
According to O’Malley the annual safeguarding report — which outlines the Vatican’s policies and procedures for the protection of minors — is intended to complement the commission’s advocacy role as well as support the work of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF).
“The work of the DDF is so central in the administration of justice in the area of sexual abuse, and our task is to try and bring a pastoral dimension to that and the voice of the victims,” the cardinal said.
The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors marks its 10th anniversary this year. It is now a permanent institution within the Vatican tasked with accompanying and assisting local Churches’ safeguarding ministries through formation and training.
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“celibacy is not the cause”
No, Cardinal, but homosexuality IS the cause. Say it loud and proud.
Quote: “O’Malley stated that he has “never seen any serious studies that have indicated that celibacy and sexual abuse is related.”
This is truly sad. It appears that those people responsible for doing something re: abuse have never even GOOGLED the subject. The first google “studies of connection between celibacy and sexual abuse” gives:
2023 – ‘In Defense of Married Priesthood: A Sociotheological Investigation of Catholic Clerical Celibacy’, Chapter 6 Celibacy, Sexual Abuse, and Married Priesthood: Exploring the Sociological Connections (by Vivencio O. Ballano, Associate Professor V of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology).
And more, more and more, of papers and books. Of course, since Cardinal O’Malley does not define what “a serious study” entails he can claim that those works are not serious.
Sexual abuse in the Church is not just an abuse of children; it is also an abuse of nuns, lay women and even men (especially young) – an abuse of those who is an easy target – so I propose to treat it as “sexual abuse within the Church”. From what I have studied a pattern emerges, among those who become priests:
– Those with a vocation of both priesthood and celibacy (their (either) sexual orientation is sublimated)
– Those with a vocation of priesthood but without a true vocation of celibacy
– Those who become priest to cover their emotional deficiency and/or sexual orientation
The first group, obviously, is the happiest in their vocation. They are extremely unlikely to abuse.
The second will suffer and most will “slip off” having affairs, harming themselves and their lovers. They desperately want an emotional connection and intimacy. Some of those priests would leave priesthood and marry.
The third group is the most troublesome. Being undeveloped emotionally, they treat others as mere tools for their satisfaction. They crave power and sex and not intimacy; they are immature so they cannot understand that love is not only about sex so they practice sex without an attachment. This is why abusing children is OK for some of that group. This is also why:
Quote: “I don’t see any relationship, [between celibacy and criminal sexual abuse]” she said. “Sexual relationships with children is a crime and the ones who commit this have a problem, which is related to their psychological state of mind.”
is very strange, to put it mildly.
Yes, it is a crime; yes, a person who does it has a problem related to their psyche BUT their psyche is attracted to priesthood because it perfectly matches the needs of their psyche. A compulsory celibacy will cover their psychological immaturity and (in some cases) even perversions; furthermore, it will give them an air of a superiority, angelic-like state; it will give them a power over everyone and so on. All that is perfect for their psychological needs.
From my experience, the third group tends to constitute about a half of priests. Hence, while I would never say “celibacy breeds abusers”, I must say that compulsory celibacy of priests coupled with position of superiority breeds an air charged with suppressed (not sublimated) libido in which something bad will inevitably happen.
Finally, the most mature and balances priests I have met came to priesthood late in life, after thirty-five-forty. They had professions which demanded close dealing with various people so they knew how to connect.
NB: I do not claim to know the correct proportion of three groups. I am from a diocese with a very rich history of abuse so it is probably why I have seen stunningly many priests along a narcissistic spectrum. Neither I am saying that all priests in the second group would engage in affairs. Finally, the majority of the third group tend to act out their sexual urges in a covert/cerebral way which, in my opinion, is spiritually very damaging, very much along the line of Cardinal Fernandez treaties (forgot the name of the book, a perversion of Catholic mysticism).
If celibacy is not a relevant variable in the study of clergy sexual abuse, then why is there so much disparity between the incidence of abuse by deacons vs those of the presbytery? And, again, if celibacy is not an issue, why is there such a disparity between the incidence of abuse between clergy of the Eastern Rite Catholic Churches and those of the Roman Catholic Church?
Celibacy is not the cause of the heinous sexual abuse crisis , the failure to Love, to respect, protect, and defend the inherent Dignity of every beloved son and daughter is.
It is not The Faithful who are responsible for the heinous abuse crisis, The Faithful hold fast to The Deposit Of Faith and thus to Christ’s teaching on sexual morality.
It’s unrealistic to base an assessment of priests’ celibacy from the perspective of a diocesan onlooker or two experiences. A wider scope of experience, living with priests here and abroad would provide a fuller data based resource to compare with our own experience as priest.
Celibacy was never intended to be easy, or necessarily a form of sublimation of sexual desire buried somewhere in the subconscious [not all are John of the Cross]. It’s pure and simply said a sacrifice. One in which our real, existential desires of Man for women. It’s a life of temptation, prayer, negation, and emotional physical suffering. The way of the cross.
Best measure of this is Paul the Apostle who suffered a thorn in the flesh sent by Satan. Paul suffered physically throughout his priesthood and bore it with great courage. A thorn in the flesh indicates sensual suffering. Likely sexual desire and human weakness. Physical pain would strengthen his faith, sexual weakness discourages. Aquinas thought the same regarding the great Apostle. As do I. Christ’s grace suffices. His power more manifest in our weakness.
JimmyM identified the root of sexual abuse in our Church. One which Cdl O’Malley I’m confident is aware must realistically come to grips with. The significant presence of homosexuals in the priesthood.
And then, in the United States, there’s the Report John Jay College of Criminal Justice which found that 85 percent of the sexual abuse cases victimized older boys and were homosexual in origin—not pedophiliac.
LOOKING BACK, as we approach the 50th anniversary of the “Declaration on Certain Questions Concerning Sexual Ethics” (December 19, 1975), we might recall moments in another Dark Age. Consider the peasant wife whose dirt-farmer husband has finally despaired and committed suicide. Before the insights of abnormal psychology involving impaired free will, the suffering wife was told by the local padre that “God has sent him straight to hell for all eternity.”
FAST FORWARD to today’s Dark Age. Instead of “listening” to the findings of relevant gnome research, and the role of early sexual abuse, of abusive or absentee fathers, and of the slippery slope of even pre-teen sexual experimentation within a porn culture, and altered brain chemistry…instead of such considerations, another cleric misinforms the homosexual that “God who made you that way.”
It’s almost as if some successor of the Apostles should write something or other to counsel respect and compassion, but to not omit something like this, “Although the particular inclination of the homosexual person is not a sin, it is a more or less strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil; and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective evil.”
Wait, what? Building on the 1975 Declaration, Ratzinger already said exactly this in his 1986 “Letter to Bishops of the Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons” (n. 3). At least the Synod expunged the term “LGBTQ” from its Final Report.
SUMMARY: as a corrective to pastoral and institutional amnesia and worse, maybe court-jester Jiminy Cricket James Martin can be sent forth to find himself a hobby other than as photo-op/activist consultor to the Vatican Secretariat on Communications. Yes?