Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Another Fight For Married Priests


We have another round of news stories hoping to change the fact that priests cannot marry. This time, it was all started by the story of Father Alberto CutiĆ©, who was caught with a woman. No real big story here—there was just some priest who got had a weakness for the ladies (I would say most do—it's just that he let it get the better of him).

Anyway, reporters are trying to find some scandal in this incident. But to criticize men for being with women seems a little below them. Instead, they're attacking the celibacy rule. I can't count how many headlines I've seen on the subject. For example, US News & World Report ran a poll to see if Catholics thought their priests should be allowed to marry.

http://www.usnews.com/blogs/god-and-country/2009/05/11/poll-should-the-catholic-church-lift-celibacy-requirements-for-priests.html

Dan Gilgoff had the good sense to get some Catholic expertise to weigh in on the subject. Ha ha—a Notre Dame professor of theology. That's good. Especially right before their scandal hits (Obama is speaking there this Sunday).

What I really want to figure out, is what their objective is. Normally, I'd say they just want to show everyone how the Church is wrong, and they're right. But I'm really starting to wonder… could they have the audacity to think they're going to rock the Church? I mean after all the wining they did over the condoms comment from Pope Benedict, I realized that they actually thought some doctrine was going to change. Maybe now, they're trying to settle for some of the less concrete traditions of the Church.

These people—when they gonna' learn?