The War Against the Church: Attacks on the Priesthood

The Catholic Church teaches many precepts which run counter to the flow of current culture. So it should come as no surprise that she is the target of numerous attacks from that culture in attempts to silence her, or at the very least muzzle her, in those areas where her teachings conflict with the views of the culture. As we saw in my first post, attacks against the Church generally follow three traditional avenues of approach, those against the Truth, those against the priesthood, and those against the family. It is the second of the three, the priesthood, on which I wish to focus here.

The Catholic Church was established by Jesus Christ for the salvation of sinners through the use of the Seven Sacraments, of which five, Reconciliation (the forgiveness of sins), the Eucharist (the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass), Confirmation, Holy Orders (ordination to the priesthood), and the Sacrament of the Sick can only be confected or administered by those ordained members of the priesthood acting in persona Christi (that is, as the person of Christ). Furthermore, Our Lord established the Church as a hierarchy, with a chain of authority running from the laity, through the priests acting as pastors, through the bishops in union with the senior bishop, the Pope, who in turn is the successor of St Peter, whom Christ first appointed to head His Church.

It is no mere coincidence that the enemies of the Church have focused on the priesthood since it is the priest who acts, in the words of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, "in the person of Christ the Head..."'...in the name of the whole Church". As a cleric himself, Luther knew it when he set Europe on the course for that shipwreck of Christendom known as the "Reformation". Calvin knew it, as did Cromwell when he goaded Henry VIII into open warfare against the Church. The Cecil's followed suit in the pressure they applied on Elizabeth I. There's a reason that priests figure so prominently among the martyrs of the Reformation in England. There's a reason that an entire block was reserved for priests by the German National Socialist regime at the concentration camp at Dachau.

Today's attack, though less bloody, is every bit as vicious. The first, I suppose, is the notion that women should be ordained to the priesthood. The doctrine that the priesthood is reserved to men is not an issue of fairness; it is an issue revolving around the will of Our Lord, Jesus Christ. It must be remembered that the priest, acting, as I've pointed out already, acts in persona Christi. For whatever reason, Our Lord chose to be incarnated as a male. If the priest fills the role of Christ sacramentally, then, like in a stage presentation, that role must match the gender of the one portrayed. Imagine (although it's probably been done) a staging of Hamlet or King Lear with a woman taking the lead role. Christ Himself, when instituting the priesthood, conferred Holy Orders only on the Apostles, all of whom were men. I'm very sorry, ladies, that it is not otherwise.

Much more dangerous to the notion of the priesthood is the overblown sex scandal. I do not deny that there have been priests who have abused their position by committing hideous acts against children. Nor do I deny that the cases of the abusers were, most of the time, grossly mishandled by the hierarchy. That said, I contend, first of all, that the sex scandal in which the priesthood is embroiled is a "homosex" scandal; it is not a result of of the vow of celibacy, it is the diabolical result of a perverted sexuality. Second, one should know that the number of priests accused, not convicted, just accused of such acts amounts to less than 2% of all men ordained since 1950. In fact, rates of sexual abuse by lay (pardon the pun) teachers in secular school system causes the Catholic sex scandal pale in comparison. Your child is statistically safer in the company of a Catholic priest than in the company of their high school coach.

We are often tempted to forget that our priests are, despite the extraordinary graces bestowed upon them through the Sacrament of Holy Orders, still men. That they are indeed mortal, they are as prone to temptation and to sin as we, the laity are.

We forget that 98% of the men who have taken upon themselves the burden of the priesthood have carried out their duties and fulfilled their vows faithfully, many going so far as to give their lives in the service of the Gospel. To judge a class of men by the acts of the few errants among them is an act of prejudice just as certainly as judging a man by his sexual orientation, or the color of his skin, or his religious beliefs (or lack thereof) is prejudice. Perhaps the best course is to consider our priests as God made them and as we encounter them, that is, one at a time.

Til next time, all the best. Joe