1st Edition

Celibacy in Crisis A Secret World Revisited

By A.W. Richard Sipe Copyright 2004
    368 Pages
    by Routledge

    368 Pages
    by Routledge

    In the midst of the worst crisis the Catholic Church has seen in almost 500 years, this book challenges Catholic authorities to renew, rethink, or reform the long-standing institution of celibacy.

    Foreword by Reverend Richard P. McBrien
    PART I. BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT
    1. WHY STUDY CELIBACY?
    Sex/Celibacy: Breaking the taboo · The broader context · The study: what it is and what it is not · Reasons for this study
    2. WHAT IS IT?
    Factors of the Crisis · The meanings of celibacy · Abstinence · Law and ideal · Christ the ideal · Love · Definition of Celibacy
    3. HOW DO THOSE WHO PROFESS CELIBACY PRACTICE IT?
    Levels of Observation · Numerical Summary · Estimates of Sexual Behavior · Narratives

    PART II. PRACTICE VERSUS PROFESSION
    4. THE MASTURBATIONS
    Nature · Pathology · Maturity and immaturity · Nocturnal emissions · Fasting · Spontaneous emissions · Vice and virtue · Guilt
    5. PRIESTS AND WOMEN
    The heterosexual presumption · Splitting and secrecy · Heterosexual relationships · Heterosexual behaviors · Patterns of association
    6. WHEN PRIESTS BECOME FATHERS
    Births · Abortion
    7. THE HOMOSEXUALITIES
    Homosexualities and the clergy · Denial of the homosocial structure · The male matrix · The system of secrecy · Developmental questions and variations · Alcoholism · Acquired immune deficiency syndrome · Homosexuality and mental health
    8. SEXUAL COMPROMISES
    What is normal? · The place of women · Fear of women · What is pornography? · Exhibitionistic behavior · Transvestism · Priests and animals · Suffering and sexual violence

    PART III. THE HEART OF THE CRISIS
    9. PRIESTS AND MINORS
    What is pedophilia? · Frequency of Occurrence · Social ramifications of abuse · Causes · Avenues of access · Behaviors · Victims-the aftermath · Treatment · Awareness of the problem · The future
    10. WHO ABUSES?
    Psychological profile · Categories of vulnerability · Four case studies
    11. CAN CLERGY SEXUAL ABUSE BE PREVENTED?
    Screening · Denial · Ecclesiogenic factors · Systemic elements · Mandatory celibacy · Ethical code · Impediments to ethical definitions · Elements of a code of sexual ethics

    PART IV. PROCESS AND ATTAINMENT
    12. LIVING WITH CELIBACY
    What is the process of celibacy? · Developmental relationships · Internalization · Temporal stages
    13. THE ACHIEVEMENT OF CELIBACY
    Essential elements of celibate achievement · Who will follow? · The crisis of abuse
    EPILOGUE: DIMENSIONS OF THE CRISIS The seven pillars of the crisis

    References
    Index
    Acknowledgments
    About the Author

    Biography

    A.W. Richard Sipe

    "Now that the celibate cat is out of the bag, so to speak, there is a deep and pressing need for the kind of professional expertise and wisdom that Richard Sipe can provide--expertise and wisdom born not only of study and reflection, but also of years of experience as a priest and psychotherapist. Because of the efforts of persons like himself, there is hope that the 'secret world' of clerical celibacy and sexuality will eventually be transformed into what he calls a 'better world'." -- from the foreword by Richard P. McBrien