Here’s another psychotherapist former priest who claims that the desire to rape young boys and teens is because of celbiacy. Specifically he claims that “the puritanical atmosphere that denied our human sexuality” in seminary left priests so clueless that they thought coercing and raping children was okay. Hey, how were we to know?
From this guy’s description of what he though the priesthood and celibacy were about, I will agree that his seminary formation was deficient, just not in the way he thinks. Obviously, there was true education in the theology of the sacraments, of the priesthood, and of human sexuality. Perhaps if they’d had the real thing then, not the “I’m okay, you’re okay, let’s experiment” junk this guy thinks it should have been, then we wouldn’t be in this mess. (And by “this mess” I’m thinking of the whole culture of dissent in the Church in the US, not just the Scandal.)
Todd, you miss the point. Yes, he was right that his seminary experience was bad, but it’s the cause he finds that he’s wrong about. It’s not the “puritanical atmosphere of repressed sexuality” that led to guys raping children. It was that these perverts weren’t weeded out in the first place. It’s that they weren’t taught the proper place of celibacy in a pursuit of holiness.
It’s the fact that this guy who was ordained a priest is so evidently clueless about the Church theology on so many things that makes the article laughable.
“Glosses over sex crimes against children”? He comes right out and says he won’t condemn a guy for brutalizing a child. I will criticize anyone who doesn’t have the moral courage to stand up and declare that raping a child is an abomination.
Actually we expect all 12 year olds to be celibate, just as we expect all single people to be celibate. That’s basic Catholic teaching. As “theqoc” says above, she’s a celibate woman and isn’t “sexually immature.”
And if you’re a normal guy, being in an all-male environment should not be an impediment to celibacy, it should be an aid to it.
Also McMahon’s point isn’t about young men being preyed on in seminaries, he’s claiming that celibacy itself and the denial of sex causes one to become a sexual pervert. That’s simply wrong.