Madam, - I would like to encourage support for Bishop Willie Walsh in regard to issues in the Catholic Church which he raised in a recent speech at Christ Church Cathedral (The Irish Times, November 7th). He talked about a distorted understanding of sexuality, the rule of mandatory celibacy and the absence of women from decision-making as factors in the unfolding tragedy of child abuse and cover-up in the church.
These issues are not only of massive importance within the church, but also have potential for tremendous repercussions for wider society in so far as they affect personal relationships, marriage, family and community involvement. I think there is massive potential if a billion Catholics worldwide are committed 100 per cent to a positive healthy celebration of sexuality, the worldwide renewal of the democratic project and total equality for women.
I am also proud to say that I am an All Hallows man, having been ordained there in 1970. I was laicised in 1978 and have been a member of Leaven - the Irish Association of former priests, religious and partners - for the past 20 years. More then 100,000 priests left the formal clerical state over the past 40 years. We did not feel comfortable within the clerical system and the outdated structures of our Catholic Church, though we are conscious of the wonderful priests and lay people in parishes everywhere. Together with groups like BASIC and We Are Church, we have spoken out for the implementation of Vatican II and the urgent need to reform ministry and Church structures.
Sadly, there has been little progress and now the presence of a dangerous cancer within the church, as highlighted in the Ferns report, is all too apparent to lay people. There doesn't appear to be any sign of real change or reform on the agenda in Rome as shown by the October meeting of bishops. Accordingly, Bishop Walsh's call for debate provides a small glimmer of hope and deserves support.
Lay Catholics and priests are saddened, shocked and powerless. Our Church is clearly a dysfunctional family where open honest communication, leading to consensus and change, are blocked by the Roman control group. Faced with absolute intransigence, some options for Catholics are non-practice, minimum involvement or conversion to another religion.
Vatican II came 100 years late, was never fully promulgated and has been clawed back by the Roman control group. Lay Catholics and many priests cherish the basic good news of our religion but do not agree with Rome on issues such as birth control, mandatory celibacy, outdated medieval structures, refusal to share power and the ongoing patriarchal discrimination against women. They are deeply worried that the basic good news and values of our religion cannot be passed on to our children while such issues are not discussed and resolved.
The distorted view of sexuality and a negative attitude towards women has been in the church since the first millennium. It provided the theological underpinning for mandatory celibacy in later years. Mandatory celibacy is a cruel injustice and an evil abuse of good men who are called to ministry, but not celibacy. While seminary professors may give idealistic lectures about celibacy it is important to remember that mandatory celibacy is largely about the control and enslavement of good men. Emphasis on the virginity of Mary and a totally negative view of sexuality has led the Catholic Church away from a healthy celebration of sexuality and into occasional perverted ways. The issues of democracy and equality of women are related to this. Vatican II thinking on the Church as the People of God needs to be fleshed out in democratic structures. The ministry needs to be reformed, as in other Christian Churches.
The recent episcopal apologies for abuse are so many crocodile tears if the ongoing abuse of lay people, priests and women, endemic within current structures in the church, is not discussed and confronted urgently. Accordingly, we need to support Bishop Walsh. We also need to support the National Conference of Priests in Ireland which has been advocating for the past few years a representative national assembly of Catholics in Ireland to look at all those issues and lead us on the way to Vatican III. - Yours, etc,
JOE MULVANEY, Sycamore Drive, Dundrum, Dublin 16.