Why Pope Benedict Must ResignBy Daniel C. Maguire
March 28, 2010
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2010/032810e.htmlNothing matches what happened in my city of Milwaukee, with over 200 deaf boys repeatedly molested and raped by Rev. Lawrence Murphy, a priest who was never punished and who was buried, after a lifetime of child rape, with full priestly honors.
...The reason offered by bishops for not reporting these horrors publicly was that it would have caused “scandal.” However, scandal in that case is a fraudulent misnomer. It is code for “public relations disaster.” Hierarchical efforts to claim the priest criminals were only a few bad apples – and the failure to report the crimes to law enforcement –
is the scandal.
...The pope and the bishops are also the ones who insist that all who serve as priests must be celibate. All these stories of sexual abuse prove that enforced celibacy is a failed discipline.
A priesthood based on a requirement never to fall in love or have the enriching experience of parenthood is unrealistic and an invitation to pathology...
Daniel C. Maguire is a Professor of Moral Theology at Marquette University, a Catholic, Jesuit institution in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He can be reached at daniel.maguire@marquette.edu
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