Catholic Priest Celibacy Is Not the Culprit in Abuse

From the New York Times, two Austrian Catholic Archbishops are suggesting that the Catholic Churches centuries old policy of requiring celibacy among the Priests may be to blame for abuse scandals.

As a Protestant, I don’t believe ministers should be required to be celibate, but blaming celibacy in the Catholic Church seems to be the problem.  For one thing, there have been cases of sexual abuse by protestant ministers where there is no requirement of celibacy, other within the bounds of marriage.  In addition, far more than protestant or Catholic ministers, teachers are often culprits of sexual abuse, with no requirement of celibacy.

The fact of the matter is that sexual abusers will go where children are readily available. They’ll become teachers, they’ll volunteer at church, they’ll become scoutmasters. Anything that is set up for the benefit of children has the potential of attracting sexual predators. And many of these predators have been married.

I think the Catholic Church, and all at-risk institutions would do far better to aggressively psychologically screen potential applicants than addressing a peripheral issue like celibacy. I think many people pushing the Catholic Church to abandon its policy are far more concerned about deconstructing the Catholic Church than they are stopping abuse.