Does the Catholic church need another Luther?
Martin Luther criticized the Catholic Church in the 1500’s for it’s corrupt practices. More specifically he targeted Pope Leo X, pontiff at that time, who was known for his completely non-Pope like behaviors – greed, corruption, and assorted sins of the flesh. Pope Leo is reported to have said when he became Pope, “Since God has given us the papacy, let us enjoy it.”
Martin Luther called Pope Leo X, the Antichrist.
In 1520 Pope Leo X sent Martin Luther a bull threatening to excommunicate Luther, he also ordered anyone having writings of Luther's to not keep, or read them, and encouraged the writings be burned publicly. Pope Leo X gave Martin Luther 60 days to toe the line, of course Luther refused - he burned the first bull and reiterated his point of view that Leo was the Antichrist, leading Leo X to publish his second bull to excommunicate Martin Luther.
You can read about Pope Leo X in Wikipedia, or if you don’t trust that source – the Catholic Encyclopedia Article on Pope Leo X.
Martin Luther was a brave reformer. I think the Catholic Church may need a new brave reformer.
I don’t know what’s really going on with the reports of sexual abuse by priests. In my younger years I spent a lot of time with and around priests and never heard stories of, or had any direct knowledge, of any such thing. Not sure what’s going on – mass hysteria of some sort? A desire to make a buck? Or maybe there is something systemic wrong – something that needs a reformer - to sweep out the corrupt and make some major revisions to the church.
I think the first thing that reformer could do would be to end the vow of celibacy. If a priest chooses to be celibate that’s a personal decision, but it should not be a requirement. I have no proof, but I believe a man who is married and has children of his own is much less likely to be a sexual predator – it seems that way from the newspaper reports anyway. It seems to make sense intuitively as well.
The second thing that reformer could do would be to end the requirement that priests be men. A healthy mix of male and female pastors would be good for everyone – and I believe provide an internal monitor of the health of the priesthood. There is something too secret about the current state of affairs when we find out by reading scandalous reports in the newspapers that a particular priest is, and has been for years, sexual abusing young people. Allowing married men and women to be priests opens the window, would create chances for dialogue – and quite simply provide new sets of eyes and ears to know what’s really going on.
I’m sorry that the Catholic Church, or some particular clergymen specifically, have become so mired in allegations of sexual abuse. But being sorry isn’t going to make things change. I’m not sure without some major house-cleaning and fundamental changes in the pool of people who are brought into the priesthood - that things will change all that much. It’s sad because there are so many wonderful priests in the Catholic faith, that are tainted in some way by the sins of their brethren - unless they stand up to provide solutions to this unfortunate situation.
The new Pope Benedict has a beautifully written, and very clear, statement on the fundamental Christian precept of “love” in his first Encyclical Letter "Deus Caritas Est" – there is nothing in what he writes to preclude love between a man and a woman in the life of someone most holy – in this case those who are called to the priesthood.
