November 24, 2010--Condomania

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops recently elected Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York to be its president. This was considered to be a surprise since traditionally (and bishops tend to act act very traditionally) the outgoing vice president of the Conference is elected to fill the presidency.

Observers say that Dolan's election suggests that the Catholic Church wants to assure that orthodox thinking and doctrine are reemphasized within Catholicism in the wake of the scandals that have rocked members and been the reason most cited to explain the mass exodus of baptized Catholics from the Church.

They are undoubtedly right about that but the election of the ultraconservative Dolan and the recent behavior of the Pope are unlikely to encourage the return of the faithful.

The New York Times quoted Archbishop Dolan earlier this week regarding his concerns about the decline in his flock. He said that he was upset when he saw a long line of people last Sunday near St. Patrick's:

I'm talking two blocks, a line of people waiting to get into Abercrombie and Fitch. And I thought, wow, there's no line to get into St, Patrick's Cathedral and the treasure in there is of eternal value. What can I do to help our great people appreciate that tradition? (Article linked below.)

I am tempted to say put things on sale for the holidays, but will restrain myself.

What he says he will do is spend three weeks in Ireland this winter (in the wake of the sex scandals there he is the Vatican's chief investigator of the seminaries of Ireland) visiting the seminaries that train priests. When there he will focus on investigating whether priests are being trained for a "happy, healthy celibacy."

Though the Pope has asked for his report on Ireland by Esther, if he is serious about reattracting lapsed Catholics he should better report to the Pope that as long as the Church is obsessed with celibacy and other sexual matters (especially those that affect the health and daily lives of people) young people especially will leave the Church.

He should remind the Pope that requiring priests to be celibate is not biblical but rather was not imposed on priests until the 4th Century. Even Saint Peter was married! (See Mark 1:30.)

So this practice of celibacy may be traditional but it is not required by God. It imposes an impossible standard on average men who are priests and is lagely responsible for the decades (undoubtedly centuries) of sexual abuse that has fractured the Church.

Since the Pope is a scholarly man, Dolan might pass this along:

The earliest known instances of penalties for members of the clergy who did not observe continence are those from the Council of Elvira in 306.

"Bishops, presbyters, deacons, and others with a position in the ministry are to abstain completely from sexual intercourse with their wives and from the procreation of children. If anyone disobeys, he shall be removed from the clerical office."

By 400, a Council of Carthage decreed that bishops, priests, and deacons must abstain from conjugal relations:

"It is fitting that the holy bishops and priests of God as well as the Levites, i.e. those who are in the service of the divine sacraments, observe perfect continence, so that they may obtain in all simplicity what they are asking from God; what the Apostles taught and what antiquity itself observed, let us also endeavour to keep... It pleases us all that bishop, priest and deacon, guardians of purity, abstain from conjugal intercourse with their wives, so that those who serve at the altar may keep a perfect chastity."

Archbishop Dolan should also consider talking with the Pope about condoms. This is a fair subject since the Pope himself, also earlier this week, brought up their potential use in certain, very limited circumstances. Until now their use has been forbidden in every conceivable circumstance. But with the continuing spread of AIDS the Pope said that maybe, just maybe there was justification for using them. This was mentioned in an extended interview about to be published in book form. When pressed for examples the Pope came up with one--they might be used by male prostitutes.

Putting aside for the moment why this came to the Pope's mind as the one exceptional example his off-the-cuff comment has created a storm of concern within the Church. The Pope appears to have gone AWOL. Archbishop Dolan, clearly caught off guard, or having failed to get his talking points, also to the Times said that the Church could not simply change its doctrines:

"You get the impression that the Holy See or the Pope is like Congress and every once in a while says, 'Oh, let's change this law. We can't."

Well, though it is true that the Church is not like Congress, for centuries it has changed many of its laws and doctrines. Just to name two--in the face of scientific evidence it retreated from its heliocentric view of the cosmos and eventually conceded that the earth circles the son, not the other way around; and evolution, not creationism, the Church acknowledged, is a better explanation for the origin of species.

Speaking of Congress, clearly it is much on Dolan's mind since he told the Times reporter that he and the Conference of Bishops may join Republicans in Congress in calling for the repeal of the new health care law. Like John Boehner, Sarah Palin, and Michele Bachmann, Dolan is convinced it allows for federal financing of abortion.

Forgetting church-state issues, if the archbishop is worried about the lines at Abercrombie and Fitch, in addition to stocking T-shirts in St. Pat's gift shop, he should maybe be worried about all the poor who would lose hope of healthcare if he and his Conference and GOP colleagues manage to repeal Obamacare. I have a feeling, as we approach the season of his birth, that Jesus would have cared more about that. And, I offer, if Dolan were to spend a little more time reflecting on the life of Jesus he would not have to worry so much about the competition from A&F.