The nun in the youtube video I'm embedding above is a public relations success for the Catholic Church at a time when it could badly use one. Have you ever noticed that it's the conservative old men who are digging holes into which the Church falls while Catholic women, who by the rules made by these men can't advance, tend to lift it up? A nun about whom it could not be said she throws like a girl isn't that big a deal, I know, but any port in a storm. Her stereotypical-looking glasses and churchy garb, accessorized with tennis shoes and a jaunty manner, make her a winner. And it's not like she's a rare instance. There are networks like Nuns on the Bus, and other women who are clearly overperforming in the jobs the Church permits them to perform. It was Jennifer Hasselberger, an archdiocesan lawyer, whose disgust with Archbishop John Nienstedt here in the Twin Cities set in motion a sequence of events ending in his tardy resignation. It's shocking that someone like Nienstedt could be promoted through the ranks; when he got his first promotion, he should have been fired instead. To anyone who cares to notice, it's pretty clear that the upper reaches of the Church hierarchy are stained by the very worst traits one associates with "good ol' boy network." When a non-good-ol'-boy gets her foot in the door, the stench is overpowering, and often she swings into action. The Church needs more of that, not less.
Also, though I'm an outsider, the rule about priestly celibacy should be rescinded, because it's at the root of the problem. There is no scriptural authority for it, as Paul himself acknowledged when, in I Corinthians, he recommends celibacy even though "I have no command of the Lord" (7:25). That priests nevertheless can't marry has the practical effect of making the priesthood attractive to men whose sexual predilections must be secret in any event. Meanwhile, a religious vocation is for the psychologically healthy the advertised sacrifice. Clergy misconduct is a problem across denominations, but it seems farfetched to think that the Protestants are successfully covering up an epidemic of the sexual abuse of children by those in ministry.
And, returning to the realm of public relations, if priests could marry the world might no longer be subjected to the spectacle of panels of septuagenarian virgins issuing white papers on topics in human sexuality. It's like they're begging for attention from late-night comedians.
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