Sex and The Single Priest

(2 of 3)

Two weeks ago, the National Office of Black Catholics, a Washington-based advocacy group that grew out of the civil rights movement, issued a plea to the Pope to make celibacy optional, to allow more Catholics to serve as priests and to help prevent further scandals. "We suspect that these publicized stories are only the tip of the iceberg," said the document. Some experts insist that celibacy is already a mirage. On the basis of work with numerous priestly patients, A.W. Richard Sipe, a former Benedictine monk and psychotherapist, estimates that only half the clergy obey the rule. Priest- sociologist Andrew Greeley believes the number of obedient priests is far greater than that, though he once conducted a poll that showed a majority of American priests favoring optional celibacy.

Reforming celibacy, however, may not be enough to weed out pedophiles among the clerical ranks. The church's role as the dispenser of forgiveness has hampered and may continue to intrude on its ability to deal with the problem. Says a church official in Rome: "When a man comes in either admitting to or accused of inappropriate behavior, what can you do? You can listen to what he has to say and try to make a determination about what happened, why it happened and if it's likely to happen again. Often he is contrite, bewildered and offers all the requisite assurances that it won't ever happen again. What do you do at that point? You forgive, and you hope that it won't happen again. Unfortunately, what we're learning from scientific research is that pedophilia is a recidivist activity, so it probably will happen again."

Would-be seminarians now undergo extensive psychological testing, but, says O'Brien, "like alcoholics, pedophiles can hide their behavior from almost anyone and even convince themselves that they've overcome it. But unless they're counseled adequately, at some time they'll slip, they'll find a way to indulge their behavior."

The Pope's pronouncements emphasized to the bishops that Article 1395 of the Code of Canon Law permits pedophile priests to be defrocked. But that legal instrument has always been available -- and at times its implementation has been hindered by the conflict between a desire to take action against suspected offenders and the need to protect their rights. In March, for example, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette revealed that the Vatican's highest court, the Apostolic Segnatura, had overridden Bishop Donald Wuerl's disciplinary actions in the case of Father Anthony Cipolla, who faced child- molesting charges in civil court. Wuerl had suspended the priest pending a verdict.