Perth Archbishop Barry Hickey has dismissed a survey of Australian Catholic priests, which reveals many are deeply unhappy with the Church, suggesting they need to "get over it" and accept the Church as it is.
The survey of 542 priests from across Australia by NSW academics Chris McGillion and John O'Carroll found many priests felt bishops were inadequate managers and they held serious concerns for the Church's future.
The survey, plus in-depth interviews with 50 Australian priests, has been compiled into a book, Our Fathers, which claims the priesthood is a "world rich in commitment but also in complaint, disillusionment and dissent".
Our Fathers reveals a deep distrust of Australian priests towards the Vatican, with 65 per cent of those surveyed saying they do not believe Rome understands the challenges they face.
One WA priest said he had "no time" for the Catholic Church except as a means to an end.
Archbishop Hickey said he had not come across the attitudes reflected in the survey in his diocese, but he was aware many priests throughout Australia felt "unhappy and disaffected".
Archbishop Hickey is very likely not the first person to pop into the mind of an unhappy priest as a confidant, but, even so, if he didn't know about the attitudes, then he was quite seriously out of touch. He wasn't really though, becuase he knew that priests were "unhappy and disaffected". Did he ever wonder what made them unhappy? Of course, and he has the answer. The problem was their unrealistic expectations. The problem cannot ever be with the church, therefore it's the fault of the unhappy priests.
More than 70 per cent of priests surveyed thought clerical celibacy should be optional and several revealed they were in long-term relationships with women.
And nothing at all about the reality of priests who may be relationships with men.
Emphases mine.
Thanks to Ann V. for the link.
More than 70 per cent of priests surveyed thought clerical celibacy should be optional and several revealed they were in long-term relationships with women.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how common it is for Catholic priests to be in secret relationships (with women or men)? It would be interesting to know.
"Get over it" does strike me as a characteristically Australian response.
Cathy, I know of two RC priests in my neighborhood who have had long-term relationships with women, one of them fairly openly. They did what they felt they had to do, so good for them.
ReplyDeleteThe "Priest's Housekeeper": I understand it used to be ridiculously common. (In the Age of the Internet, I imagine that short-term hook-ups---probably for pay, for the straight priests---is more the norm)
ReplyDeleteJCF, yes, I'm sure you're right about the "housekeepers". But I'll bet parishioners must have been involved with their priests quite a lot of the time too.
ReplyDeleteTo be fair, some people do manage celibacy without too much trouble. I'm not sure how common that is but I'm sure even in our sex-obsessed age it is possible. Some people just do have low sex drives and don't think about it all that much. No idea how many of them are priests of course :-)
Mimi, did the priests you knew not get in trouble?
Cathy, I believe that some handle celibacy well. As I see it, certain people have a true call to celibacy, which is a whole different matter to celibacy imposed by an outside authority. Some men (and women!) feel a call to the priesthood but no call to celibacy, but in the RCC, the two must go together, which I believe is not right.
ReplyDeleteThe two priests I mentioned may have got private tongue-lashings, but they continued in ministry. One is now retired, and the other is pastor of a parish. The severe shortage of RC priests may have something to do with them not getting removed from ministry. Perhaps the powers simply pretended not to know.
Well, it certainly wouldn't be the first time the powers that be simply pretended not to know, eh.
ReplyDeleteIndeed not! The convenient blindness is all around us.
ReplyDeleteBut celibacy for RC priests isn't all about sex, just like not being allowed to get married isn't really about sex for lgbt people.
ReplyDeleteIt's that you put priests in a high pressure job and then expect them to do it living alone without that special person in their lives who shares their highs and lows, their pressure, who comforts them, laughs with them, pulls them out of low periods etc... you know, all this stuff that marriage is really about.
I could imagine that many of them would be a lot happier if they were allowed normal human relationships.