Most anti-Catholic rhetoric in the letters section is penned by self-professed anti-theists, and lapsed Catholics. Ken Trainor, however, claims to be a practicing Catholic, so his appalling ignorance of the faith he professes cannot go uncorrected. [It’s critical that Catholics find their voice, Ken Trainor, April 28] First let me say that none of this is intended to excuse immoral priests, or those who covered up their evil deeds, rather to show why the church cannot change its teachings to accommodate Trainor’s liberal wish list.
Catholic teaching is based on the Old and New Testaments, and traditions that have existed since the church’s founding. Women cannot be ordained because Christ did not do so, and because they have never been ordained at any time in any place. Christ did have female disciples, and Catholic women historically wielded influence that far surpassed that in other religions. Catholic women founded the parochial school system, universities, health care systems, orphanages and social service agencies. Catholic women are deemed “Doctors of the Church,” the highest level of teacher. When Blessed Teresa of Calcutta gave a retreat to the papal household, she followed in the shoes of St. Catherine, who convinced the pope to return to Rome from Avignon 600 years ago. In an era when women were often traded like cattle, the church elevated marriage to a sacrament, advising men to love their wives as Christ loved his church.
The pope appointed a commission to study artificial birth control in the 1960s, which recommended relaxing the ban. Pope Paul VI, however, confirmed the teaching, and warned of, “a general lowering of moral standards throughout society, a rise in infidelity, a lessening of respect for women by men, and the coercive use of reproductive technologies by governments.” Over 90 percent of Catholics practice contraception, which Trainor refers to as “mature partnership” with God, and now divorce and abort at virtually the same rate as non-Catholics. Divorce and abortion are almost unheard of in couples who follow church teaching.
Trainor parrots anti-Catholic bigotry saying, the church’s disapproval of condoms is responsible for the massive number of deaths from AIDS in Africa. Actually, the Third World is awash with latex, sent by Western industrial nations that have failed miserably to end the epidemic, and try to deflect blame for their own failure on their favorite whipping boy, the Catholic Church. Can any reasonable person really believe that people who have multiple sex partners don’t use condoms because the pope tells them not to?
Celibacy for priests is not required by either scripture or tradition, and the Catholic Church has always had married priests in its Byzantine churches. Mandatory celibacy in the Latin rite finds its roots in the lives of Jesus Christ and St. Paul, and has been a great blessing, freeing men to devote themselves totally as “servants of the servants of God.” There is no reason to believe that it contributes to the shortage of priests as men in the 1940s and ’50s certainly had libidos, yet nevertheless, entered the seminary in droves. By the way, ordinary Catholics are not leaving the Church, either. There were one million more Catholics in the U.S. in 2009 than the previous year.
Trainor’s assertion that celibacy contributes to the abuse problem has absolutely no basis in fact. Statistically, a child is far more likely to be molested by his public school teacher than his parish priest. The most common incidence of molestation is by a male living in the child’s home, sometimes a blood relative, often the child’s stepfather or the mother’s live-in boyfriend. Virtually every time a pedophile is arrested, police find child pornography leading to the inevitable conclusion that pedophiles engage in autoeroticism. None of these men are celibate. Celibacy does not cause sexual abuse – evil does!
Finally, Trainor calls the church to task for not breaking bread with sinners, specifically gays and lesbians, as Christ did. Jesus said he dined with sinners because, “those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.” He called them to profound conversion, telling the rich young man, “Keep the commandments,” and the woman caught in adultery to, “Go and sin no more.” His followers often demonstrated deep sorrow for their sins, one woman washing the feet of Christ with her tears.
Catholics who habitually engage in forbidden sexual practices, or break any of the Commandments, are sometimes referred to as obstinate sinners. If they have no sorrow for their sins and no intention to “Go and sin no more,” they have removed themselves from the communion line. It is not the role of the church to affirm them in sin, but rather to call them to conversion.
In previous columns, Ken Trainor has spoken about attending Mass in his local parish and going on retreat. His pastor and retreat master should be hanging their heads in shame having allowed him to persist in his obstinate ignorance.
• Virginia Seuffert moved from her native New York to Oak Park in 1988. Mother of 12 and grandmother of 14, she lectures on and writes about conservative issues, including Catholic family life and home schooling.