Chastity problem for priests, nuns

Press, 11 October 1986, Page 13

Chastity problem for priests, nuns

NZPA-PAA London A growing number of Britain’s priests and nuns have found they can no longer accept their vow of chastity, according to a new book. The inability to cope with that vow is the largest single factor in a priest’s decision to abandon his vocation. The book, “Desire and Denial,” is written by a social historian, Gordon Thomas, who spent three years tape-recording 167 priests, nuns and seminarians to explore their sexual attitudes and behaviour. He concludes that a growing number of nuns and priests are no longer willing, or feel they are unable, to show blind obedience to the Church’s teachings on sexual abstinence. He also says that for every Catholic thinking of entering Holy Orders, another considers leaving or walks out. Thomas’s conclusions have drawn widespread

support not only from within the English hierachy, but from respected non-Catholic theologians and psychiatrists who have found that a growing number of nuns and priests require professional help to overcome the crisis they have with their vows.

Thomas, a respected veteran Vaticanologist, says a growing number of British nuns and priests are included in the 250,000 petitions for dispensation which the Vatican has received since 1980 -— the year Thomas says “the Pope delivered a stark reminder that the priesthood is forever.”

The Rev. Dr John Gosling, adviser on spiritual ministry to the diocese of Salisbury, and a respected Anglican theologian, believes the book shows “clearly the crisis in the Catholic Church and the human tragedy of thinking denial is the only way to cope with human desire.”

Dr John Connolly, a senior clinical psychologist specialising in psy-cho-sexual disorders, says: “The imposition of celibacy has stunted many personalities and lost tens, hundreds of thousands to the Church. The book raises the question: Is celibacy necessary for holiness?”