Assalamualaikum,
Artikel dari The Economist edisi minggu ini.
Para Pastur mungkin dibolehkan menikah dari pada berzina dan jadi homo.
Semoga bermanfaat.
Wassalam,
Delil
Sex and the Catholic church
Wolves in the flock
From The Economist print edition
Time both to come clean and to think again about celibacy
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THE Roman Catholic church, which sees itself as the rock of Peter, is almost as hard to budge. It deals in eternal verities, not the petty excitements and obsessions of the secular world. The pope's reaction to the sexual scandal now besetting the church was to say that some priests had fallen foul of mysterium iniquitatis, the pervasive evil that stalks the world. Enough of theological jargon. The church needs, first, to face this scandal squarely and, second, to take action.
In the United States, the heart of the present revelations, at least 55 priests in 17 dioceses have been suspended, put on leave or forced to leave for abusing “children”—usually, in fact, teenage boys. The American church has had to agree to pay out millions of dollars to the victims of one such priest; hundreds more lawsuits are expected. In Ireland, the church has agreed to pay euro125m ($110m) to children who were sexually abused by priests over decades. In Poland, an archbishop is under investigation for abusing seminarians.
Proportionately, the numbers are still small. But it takes very few rotten priests to damage the church, both financially and, much more important, morally. The church depends on its priests. Though lay ministry is increasingly important, only priests can perform the central act of the faith, the consecration by which, Catholics believe, bread and wine are changed into the body and blood of Christ. If the hands that do this are now revealed to have fondled boys, that faith is shaken.
Of course, erring priests are not new. For centuries, some (including bishops, cardinals and even popes) have been found to be keeping mistresses or pursuing seminarians. The difference now is not just that sex is news, and that child abuse ends up in court. It is that, in an age where religion no longer commands automatic respect or adherence, the secular authorities are not prepared to put priests on a pedestal apart. They are required to answer for their offences, like anyone else: and quite rightly.
The other vital difference is that priests have become scarce. Since vocations are in free fall in almost all parts of the world, dodgy candidates are not turned down and those who offend are not dismissed. Instead, superiors look away or even cover up for them. In the diocese of Boston, one priest was simply moved from parish to parish after each new offence.
Human nature being what it is, sexual adventuring among the clergy will never be rooted out entirely. But one change, simply done, could make a difference. At present, priests are required to be celibate; they may not marry, and married men may not be priests. The result of this, over the years, is a priesthood that is now heavily homosexual (though this is still not admitted), in which priests appear to believe that they are celibate merely because they have not married. This hypocrisy must end. If celibacy were made optional for parish priests, the secretive priestly caste would be broken open. The priesthood would also become more attractive, less lonely and more attuned to the problems of parishioners. Not least, there would be more priests, as the church so desperately needs.
Celibacy is not laid down in doctrine. It is merely a rule, hallowed over centuries. It has already been breached in the case of converted Anglican and eastern-rite Catholic priests. It could be changed tomorrow. Those who care for the future of the church should pray, and campaign, that it will be.
Delil Khairat
London Guildhall University
84 Moorgate
London
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