"The Church continues to protest “that its celibacy requirement for priests was [not] the root cause of the clerical sex abuse scandal convulsing the church in Europe.”

Not true. In combination with the other factors that comprise the clerical culture, required celibacy does predispose, promote retain, hide, and defend clergy who are sexually active in their ranks.

Sexual deprivation can be instrumental in predisposing a person to sex with a minor. RC clergy often find adult sexual partners unavailable due to their deficient psychosexual development and the social constraints on intimate adult interaction. The availability of admiring and vulnerable youngsters to ill educated ministers with unconscious childhood strivings coupled with unsublimated sexual drives can lead to sexual contact of a priest with minors.

A significant number of RC clergy are psychosexually immature. This has been studied and well documented.The church prefers men and women on this level of development for church service because they are easier to control—they tend to be idealistic, dependent, obedient to authority, in need of causes and devoted to people they feel are strong; underdeveloped people are responsive to well defined boundaries that make them feel special (superior) and secure.

Men who say or think that they want to be completely free of any and all sexual activity are frequently troubled by their desires and instincts. Many are in denial about their basic drives and hope that the system will protect them from sin and perversion. Once within the clerical system—from seminary onward—they progressively discover that the system is full of sexual activity and opportunities for sexual expression. Frequently confessors and superiors indicate (and act on) their spiritual and physical attraction to their students or young priests. As a student in Rome we observed and talked about the system of preference for “beautiful” boys that was open and starkly visible among the monsignori who served as Vatican secretaries to various bishops and cardinals. “Afternoon tea” was the entrée to ever more intimate introductions and invitations. Parallel patterns are prevalent in seminaries, abbeys, and chancery offices all over the United States. Sexual activity, not celibacy, is the underground mood and energy of religious institutions.

 Secrecy is the key element that drives the clerical engine and preserves its power. Sacramental Confession is and has been used as a cover for crime for centuries. Clerical sexual activity of all strips—including abuse of children—is considered sin and therefore first and foremost under the jurisdiction of clergy. All is forgivable.
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