Is Catholic governance fatally crippled by our failure to address/accept human sexuality and/or unhealthy shame over one’s God-given gender or sexual orientation? (National Catholic Reporter)

I suppose Women’s History Month is a good time to weigh in on current discussions and disagreements about women deacons and women priests in the Catholic Church.

“In some ways, it seems a fluffy conversation in light of recent revelations about our grievously wounded clerical system.

“But perhaps that is exactly why we need to have this discussion.

“Is Catholic governance fatally crippled by our failure to address/accept human sexuality and/or unhealthy shame over one’s God-given gender or sexual orientation?

“Yes, I have been reading Frédéric Martel’s ‘In the Closet of the Vatican.’

“Martel writes that a high percentage of priests and bishops are gay, and that they protected predators out of fear that their own homosexuality would be revealed. For Martel, the need to maintain silence about the prevalence of homosexuality within the clerical system allowed sexual abuse to be hidden and predators to act.

“While his book has been both praised and reviled, I found his hypothesis about the systemic effects of shame-based duplicity and homophobia worth considering. …”

By Christine Schenk, National Catholic Reporter — Read more …