Normally, when seeing author James Carroll write things like, “Celibacy cuts to the heart of what is wrong in the Catholic Church today,” I would roll my eyes and move on. But over at America Magazine, Father Jim Martin isn’t taking the insult lying down. Father Martin first quotes from Carroll’s article:
No, celibacy does not “cause’’ the sex abuse of minors, and yes, abusers of children come from many walks of life. . . . But the Catholic scandal has laid bare an essential pathology that is unique to the culture of clericalism, and mandatory celibacy is essential to it. Immaturity, narcissism, misogyny, incapacity for intimacy, illusions about sexual morality — such all-too-common characteristics of today’s Catholic clergy are directly tied to the inhuman asexuality that is put before them as an ideal.
Father Martin’s response:
Orthodox. Faithful. Free.
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Immature, narcissistic, misogynistic, incapable of intimacy, and having illusions about sexual morality? This is what is “all too common” of today’s clergy? Thanks, Mr. Carroll, for stereotyping me, and all the other good celibates I know, with those terrible terms. . . .
Frankly, I’m sick of this crap. It’s one thing to address the clerical culture that has given rise to the sex abuse crisis. . . . But it’s quite another thing to malign an entire group of people who live their promises of celibacy with integrity and their vows of chastity with love. And why, pray, has Carroll left out celibate women? Where are the evil Catholic sisters in his opinion piece? Are they immature, narcissistic, misogynistic (misanthropic?) incapable of intimacy and deluded about sexual morality, too? They live celibately, in case he hadn’t noticed. Oh, but wait, Carroll likes nuns. “The nuns acted as if the reforms of Vatican II were real,” he wrote approvingly, a few weeks ago. But how could they do that if they were celibate, and therefore immature, narcissistic, incapable of intimacy and deluded about sexual morality?
I think this round goes to the celibate priest. Go read the rest of Father Martin’s response here.
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