Archdiocese newspaper says church now must face question of celibacy

? In an extraordinary editorial on the city’s child-molestation scandal, the official newspaper of the Boston Archdiocese says the Roman Catholic Church must face the question of whether to drop its requirement that priests be celibate.

The editorial, published Thursday in a special issue of The Pilot, asks whether there would be fewer scandals if celibacy were optional for priests and whether the priesthood attracts an unusually high number of homosexual men.

It offers no answers, but says: “These scandals have raised serious questions in the minds of the laity that simply will not disappear.”

The editorial was written by Monsignor Peter V. Conley, the paper’s executive editor, who is said to be a close confidant of Cardinal Bernard Law, Boston’s archbishop. Law is listed as the paper’s publisher.

The Rev. Christopher Coyne, a spokesman for the archdiocese, said Friday that Law was unaware the editorial would be published. He said that he did not know if Law agreed with its contents but that the cardinal had not expressed any dissatisfaction.

“The editorial simply restates the questions that have been raised by the laity in the listening sessions and says in light of all this we should respond with appropriate answers,” Coyne said.

Philip Lawler, who was editor of The Pilot from 1986 to 1988 and is now editor of Catholic World Report, called the editorial “very unusual” for raising questions about church doctrine instead of administrative issues.

In Rome, a Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Ciro Benedettini, said: “The pope has spoken to this. He has said celibacy remains, it is a great gift to the church. He has spoken clearly in favor of celibacy.”

Archdiocese under fire

The archdiocese is the nation’s fourth-largest, with more than 2 million Catholics, and is the center of the biggest child-molestation scandal to rock the U.S. church.

It has been under fire recently after it was disclosed that officials knew about child sex-abuse allegations against the Rev. John Geoghan and did little more than move him from parish to parish. The now-defrocked priest has been accused of molesting more than 130 children over 30 years. He is serving a nine-to-10 year prison sentence for groping a boy, and the archdiocese has agreed to pay up to $45 million to scores of his alleged victims.

As part of a new “zero tolerance” policy of sex abuse, the archdiocese has turned over to prosecutors the names of more than 80 current and former priests suspected of child molestation over the past 50 years.

Troubling questions

The archdiocese said it printed the special issue of The Pilot to try to improve communication with parishioners about the latest developments. More than 100,000 copies of the 28-page supplement to the weekly paper were printed and will be distributed after Mass in parishes Sunday.

“Would abandoning celibacy be the proper answer to new data from the contemporary sciences, or would it be surrendering to popular American culture?” it says.

The editorial says that the New Testament “clearly prizes” priestly celibacy, but that most Americans don’t understand it. It also says that letting priests marry would not be a “panacea,” noting the divorce rate.

The editorial poses such questions as: “Should celibacy continue to be a normative condition for the diocesan priesthood in the Western (Latin) Church? If celibacy were optional, would there be fewer scandals of this nature in the priesthood? Does priesthood, in fact, attract a disproportionate number of men with a homosexual orientation?”

Sexual orientation issues

It also encourages greater attention to homosexual orientation and the priesthood, and asks if there are valid ways to screen priests for sexual orientation. The editorial also says that “evidence now seems to indicate that (homosexuality) is a genetically inherited condition.”

Conley did not immediately return a call for comment.

Some theologians said the editorial could signal a new openness.

“I think it’s extraordinary that this call for a conversation among the laity is being promoted by the hierarchy,” said Stephen Pope, chairman of the theology department at Boston College.

But Pope and others said the editorial may anger authorities in Rome, where Law has enjoyed strong support.

Some Catholics who support celibacy among priests said that they welcome the discussion.

Edward Holtam went to midday Mass to get a copy of the editorial. “I think people need to talk about it to understand why,” he said. “I don’t think nowadays most people have much rationale for it.”

The Rev. Stephen Rossetti, a psychologist and consultant on sex abuse to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, cautioned against linking celibacy and homosexuality among priests to child molestation.

“Any clinician can tell you the diagnosis of pedophilia has nothing to do with homosexuality,” said Rossetti, who has written extensively on the issue. “I think people are jumping on simplistic solutions.”

The newspaper also includes a defense of Law by Raymond Flynn, a former Boston mayor and one-time U.S. ambassador to the Vatican.

“I think it’s a very enlightened editorial in terms of the door being opened, and the church is inviting people to come back,” Flynn said Friday.