Weekly Takes Off Veil Of Secrecy and Denial: Vow Of Celibacy In Question!

Disclaimer:Sexual abuse happens to all religious leaders from Jimmy Swaggart, Reverend Lyons of the Southern Baptist Conference and leaders of the Catholic Church. At the same time, you will find men of God who don't participate in any sexual stuff and live by their vows. These servants know themselves and the church knows them too!

Priests and ministers are like the rest of us. They are saved by grace only. Since they are made of flesh, they go through the same carnal tribulations and temptations we are all subject to. As men of God, they are also like any ordinary men. They are voyeuristic beings. They are attracted to the beauty of the opposite sex. Since most of them took a vow of celibacy, they are bound to live away from any intimate contact with women. Such is how things should have been. But after reading, the National Catholic Register's reports on the sins of the Catholic Church in the persons of her priests, you will understand that most of these chosen men fall short of the life they claim or appear to lead. They are all aspiring to live in purity and in accordance to the promises of the Bible.

Why can't the head of the Church allow its servants, priests and nuns to get married to eliminate these human temptations?

These men and women of the robe are at war in their own flesh

I have been reading this great newspaper since my college days. I have found it to be a cutting-edge periodical in the modern evangelization. I read every copy I happen to lay my hands on cover to cover. Its writers are not afraid to investigate and get to the truth whether it may turn out hurtful to the Church. They are not scared to report on the news of Vatican, a few priests that have done wrong to their own flock. NCR also reports on arts and cultural news, education, international news etc. I like its approach and treatment of events about politics, church and people. You can also read profiles of distinguished servants, stewards of the church.

It is my opinion that any readers, irrelevant of their religious affiliations, will find NCR's articles worthwhile. They may feel attracted to the courage, candor, frank and expansive coverage of important news. For example, In March, it broke the story of sexual abuse of Catholic nuns by their own priests in an attempt at staying away from AIDS suffering prostitutes who cater to their sexual needs and fantasies.

The story reported by NCR took a deep look at the reports from senior members of numerous women's religious orders worldwide. There have been allegations that some Catholic clergy have exploited their financial and spiritual authority to gain sexual favors from religious women. In third world countries where women are raised to be submissive to men in authority, it's even worse. Now you may be asking what happens to the babies that may result from these illicit unions.

Well, if a nun gets pregnant from a priest's exploitation, she is forced to leave her order and go live in poverty. Oftentimes, the priests will press her to have an abortion. They will even take that nun to the doctor to erase all traces of their actions. In the past, they used to frequent bordels and sleep with some easy women, prostitutes. With the advent of the AIDS epidemic, they seek sexual liaisons from nuns who are considered "safe" sexual partners. Can you imagine how many fatherless children who go through life without being claimed by their true fathers, the priests of their parish? The newspaper reports that this lifestyle is common in poor continents and countries such as Africa, South America, and even rich countries such as the United States. Basically, this can happen anywhere there are men and women, priests and their Catholic faithful.

Is Archbishop Milingo giving some food for thought to Vatican?

Milingo married Maria Sung in a ceremony officiated by Rev. Moones. When the Vatican was informed of this breaking news, it called the archbishop for a conference. Ultimately, his wife was under pressure to accept the cancellation of her marriage. So it is not news that Vatican is not aware of priests who want to live their lives with their spouses. As for those who are gay, they have to stay in the closet. Exploitation of altar boys and nuns by priests would greatly decrease if they were allowed to have open relationships with their women. This does not mean that they would not cheat with other women, but the exploitation would go down.

I would highly recommend this newspaper to anybody who wants to read critical articles about the church, Vatican and the rest of the world.