NATIONAL CATHOLIC REPORTER
http://ncronline.org/news/accountability/ratzingers-responsibility
Sex abuse requires rethinking of mandatory celibacy
Hans Kung
"Compulsory celibacy is the principal reason for today’s catastrophic shortage of priests, for the fatal neglect of eucharistic celebration, and for the tragic breakdown of personal pastoral ministry in many places. ..What would be the best solution to the problem of recruiting future priests? Quite simply: abolition of the celibacy rule, the root of all these evils, and the admission of women to ordination. The bishops know this, but they do not have the courage to say it in public. "....
*Nevertheless, one must ask, do not the bishops themselves bear responsibility for the decades-long practice of covering up cases of abuse, often taking no more serious measures than relocating the perpetrator under the veil of secrecy? Have the cover-up specialists of the past suddenly become credible un-coverers? Must not independent commissions be established to deal with such cases? "
"On grounds of discretion, the secretive Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has in the past claimed exclusive jurisdiction for all significant cases of sexual offenses by clerics, and thus, in the years 1981-2005, all of these cases landed on the desk of its prefect, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. As recently as May 18, 2001, Ratzinger sent to all the bishops around the world a solemn epistle concerning serious crimes (Epistula de delictis gravioribus), in which cases of abuse were put under “papal secrecy” (secretum Pontificium), the violation of which entails severe ecclesiastical penalties. "
[Fr. Hans Küng is a theologian and author of many books, including Does God Exist: An Answer for Today and Infallible?:An Inquiry.]
2 comments:
If celibacy were the true cause of the child abuse crisis, how come there aren't any cases of religious Sisters sexually abusing children? Is it just the case that men can't control their genitals?
Progressive Catholics need to stop politicizing this shameful crisis and the suffering of so many children in order to advance their own agenda of promoting women and married priests. It's disturbing that some would do this. What our Church should be doing is weeding out pedophiles in the discernment process so that they are not ordained priests.
Ah, Hans Kung.... now THERE is a credible witness to anything Catholic! Yes, about as credible a witness to anything Catholic as you Bridget Mary!
The sad thing is that at one time, the man used the brilliant intellect God gave him for the service of the church. Now he uses it for the service of modernism.
Dr. K, I could NOT have put it better myself!
God bless you!
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