THE NORTHERN KENTUCKY SEARCHER
"Search the scriptures: for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. " (John 5:39)

VOLUME 3, NUMBER 34, SEPT. 21, 2003

THE CURRENT CRISIS – PART TWO

            I think there a few significant contributing factors that have led to the abuse itself and to the cover-up in the Catholic Church, but let me say this.  As incredible as it may seem, there are those who are making jokes about the sexual misconduct of Roman Catholic priests and who seem to delight in the current revelations.  It is not funny, and a true child of God does not delight in the iniquity of anyone.

            There is a view that is being widely expressed now in the wake of the revelations of priestly sexual misconduct that forced celibacy among the Roman Catholic clergy is to blame.  I do believe that it may be a contributing factor, but that forced celibacy is within itself a result of an even deeper problem.  The Roman Catholic Church has traditionally held an unhealthy and decidedly unbiblical view of sex.

            Early in the development of Mariology that is so peculiarly Catholic, a less than healthy and certainly unbiblical view of physical relations between a man and woman began to surface.  Instead of just accepting the fact that Jesus was born of a virgin in fulfillment of prophecy, uninspired men felt compelled to offer their own explanation.  As early as 390 A.D., we find the synod at Milan condemning the proposition that “a virgin conceived, but a virgin did not bring forth.”  What the council condemned was simply the idea that during the natural course of the birth, Mary’s hymen was broken and the passage opened.  In his famous work, “Sermons”, Augustine wrote, “For as a virgin she conceived, as a virgin she gave birth, a virgin she remained.”  In DeTrinitate, he wrote, “For neither do we know the countenance of the Virgin Mary, from whom, untouched by a husband, nor tainted in the birth itself, He was wonderfully born.”

            The idea that normal physical relations between a husband and wife somehow “taint” the woman is found as early as the 4^th century.  Siricius, who was born in 334 A.D. and died in 399, called a “saint” by the Catholic Church, and claimed as one of their Popes, wrote the following in a letter, “We surely cannot deny that you were right in correcting the doctrines about children of Mary, and Your Holiness was right in rejecting the idea that another offspring should come from the same virginal womb from which Christ was born according to the flesh.  For the Lord Jesus would not have chosen to be born of a virgin if He had judged that she would be incontinent as to taint the birthplace of the body of the Lord, with the seed of human intercourse.”  This was in answer to an individual who was rightfully maintaining that Mary did not always remain a virgin.

            Bible students know that the relationship between a husband and wife is so holy and good that Paul compared it to the relationship sustained between Christ and His church in Ephesians 5.  Bible students also recognize that the Hebrew letter tells us in Heb. 13:4, “Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled.”  There is nothing incontinent, unholy, or tainted in any way in the normal physical relations between a husband and wife.

            I bring this up because I believe it shows the early seeds of an unbiblical view of the gift of sex, and begins to lay the foundation of the attitude that has given rise to the sexual abuse that is rampant in the Catholic Church today.

            What about celibacy?  The forced celibacy of the Catholic clergy is receiving a lot of attention now in view of the recent revelations of sexual misconduct.  But why has celibacy been enjoined upon the Roman Catholic clergy in the first place?  The Roman Catholic Church has traditionally held that celibacy is inherently better, that it is a holier state.  In the Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. III, p. 481, we read, “Although we do not find in the New Testament any indication of celibacy being made compulsory either upon the Apostles or those whom they ordained, we have ample warrant in the language of Our Savior, and of St. Paul for looking upon virginity as the higher call, and by inference, as the condition befitting those who are set apart for the work of the ministry.”  The encyclopedia makes reference to Paul’s words in 1 Cor. 7:7, “Yet I wish that all men were even as I myself am,” and makes no mention of how the “present distress” of v. 26 colors the words of the Holy Spirit.

            One paragraph later the encyclopedia states, “From the earliest period the Church was personified and conceived of by here disciples as the Virgin Bride and as the pure Body of Christ, or again as the Virgin Mother, and it was plainly fitting that this virgin Church should be served by a virgin priesthood.”  (I never cease to be amazed at how frequently entire doctrines are founded in the Roman Catholic Church on no more solid foundation than, “it was plainly fitting.”)  Further on we find, “The conviction that virginity possesses a higher sanctity and clearer spiritual intuitions, seems to be an instinct planted deep in the heart of man.” 

            This concept of no sexual activity being a state that is somehow purer, holier, and more righteous gave rise to the unnatural and unbiblical practice of forced celibacy.  It is unnatural, for God said, “It is not good for man to be alone,” and “But because of immoralities, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband.”  To demand celibacy is unbiblical because the Holy Spirit declared through Paul in 1 Tim. 4:1-3 that to do such was to pay “attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons.”  Voluntary celibacy is not wrong.  It is wrong and sinful, as well as unnatural, to demand it.

                                                To be continued…..

                                                                                                Greg Litmer