Bishops should marry
Allen, Rodger Van
THE LAST WORD BISHOPS SHOULD MARRY Rodger Van Allen It is now clear that the unfolding Catholic clergy sex-abuse scandal is not some transitory blip on the screen of history, but a tragic event...
...These bishops didn't have a clue when Patriarch Maximos, in a famous speech on contraception at Vatican II, warned that the bishops were "strangers to this sector of life [marriage...
...Far from seeing sex as negative, we now read that "the actions within marriage by which the couple are united intimately and chastely are noble and worthy ones...
...There are many immediate steps the American Catholic bishops and Catholicism must take to meet the present crisis, some already discussed here and elsewhere...
...In the sixteenth century, the Council of Trent urged the faithful to abstain from rendering the "marriage debt" (sexual intercourse) for at least three days before receiving Communion, and to abstain often during Lent, so as to give themselves to prayer and meditation...
...And they should lead Catholicism back to its ancient heritage of married and celibate clergy and bishops...
...It still reads as a deft way of dealing with lingering elements of monarchicalism in the episcopal office...
...There have been strong elements of negativity toward sexuality in the history of Christianity, but much of this is historical and the documents of Vatican II contain inspiring passages about the meaning of love and sex in marriage...
...Saint Peter was married, for we read in the Mark 1:30 that Jesus cured Peter's mother-in-law...
...This was dramatically evident in 1968 when bishops easily fell in line with Humanae vitae's rejection of the responsible use of contraception in marriage, a position they continue to maintain while acknowledging that 80 percent of Catholics in child-bearing years disagree with them in practice...
...By clarifying that significant numbers of married clergy could be bishops, Catholicism would help put to rest its historical negativity about sexuality and the second-class status of marriage...
...Rodger Van Allen is professor of theology and religious studies at Villanova University...
...A church served and led by dedicated married and celibate clergy, sharing and learning from the Catholic laity and one another, can help renew Catholicism...
...Because to change the church's teaching, as the Papal Advisory Commission itself had recommended, would have meant admitting to a mistake...
...This would be not a twenty-first-century innovation but the restoration of an apostolic practice...
...An earlier medieval document admonished Christian married couples to abstain from sex on Thursday to honor the Lord's Supper, on Friday to commemorate the crucifixion, on Saturday in honor of the Blessed Virgin, on Sunday for the Resurrection, and on Monday for the Poor Souls...
...My sense of this was confirmed when I read the remarks of Jason Berry, who has reported on the issue since the 1980s: "I have always said that if there were parents in the ranks of bishops-people who have raised children, who have walked the floor with a colicky baby at 3 A.m., who worry about them and fear for them-we would never have seen such callousness from Catholic bishops in how they have handled abuse...
...The problem with having exclusively celibate bishops is not so much their celibacy as such, but the demonstrated inability of many bishops to understand or appreciate a marital and familial situation...
...They should help produce the message of wisdom in sexuality that our times desperately need...
...Having some married bishops would help...
...Theologian Joan Tim-merman, whose work reviews these matters, comments that "one can imagine a 'Thank God it's Tuesday' celebration to rival any of our contemporary Friday-night rituals of relaxation...
...And the Letter to Timothy (3:2-5) records that a bishop (episkopos), among other positive qualities, should be "faithful to his one wife" and be "one who manages his household well and wins obedience from his children...
...If we use the frame of reference of the last fifty years, we would have to add it to two other major markers: Vatican II (1962-65) and Humanae vitae (1968...
...Now, in the present scandal, the lack of a marital and parental perspective is evident again...
...And in marriage, that couples are "co-operators with the love of God...
...Second, the Canon Law Society of America's "Procedure for the Selection of Bishops" (Origins, May 25,1972), ensuring participation in every diocese by representatives of the full Catholic community, should be reviewed...
...Having married bishops would require adjusting the discipline of mandatory celibacy: it would continue for those in the vowed religious life but would be optional for diocesan clergy...
...First, it may be useful to give renewed attention to the position favoring eight-year term limits for the office of bishop...
...This idea was advanced by Joseph Ratzinger and eleven other professors of Catholic theology at Tubingen in 1969...
...THE LAST WORD BISHOPS SHOULD MARRY Rodger Van Allen It is now clear that the unfolding Catholic clergy sex-abuse scandal is not some transitory blip on the screen of history, but a tragic event of major and enduring significance...
...At the same time, a life of dedicated celibacy would be properly respected and maintained in religious life and among those diocesan clergy who freely choose it...
...These historic, transitional statements finally clarify, at least in principle, the goodness of marital love...
...When I reflect on the sex scandal in light of the broader historical perspective, however, what emerges is an argument for restoration of the early tradition of married bishops...
...But I want to suggest longer-term developments, particularly concerning bishops...
Vol. 129 • July 2002 • No. 13
