Catholic Church's Guidelines on Sexuality Pose Problems for Its Past and Future

           In 1962, Thomas McGloin, a Catholic priest, was visiting a convent when something – no, someone – caught his eye.“That’s a very fine looking nun,” he remembers thinking.

Now, 47 years later,when Tom peers under the dust of decades of memories, he sees years filled with the laughter of little children, the gurgling of the brook on the property of his country home, and the penetrating love of one woman. If it were not for that one moment at the convent, very little of the life Tom McGloin has known for nearly half a century would be.

Tom and Patty McGloin’s meet-cute story seems fit for a quirky romantic comedy.  Tom chuckles as he remembers the second moment that day, which opened the doors to some conflicted thought for him. “After the mass, we had breakfast and there was a very large bowl of oatmeal which I thought was mine, so I started to eat it and Patty told me, ‘that’s for everyone.’”

So began a relationship that led both Father Tom and Sister Patty to leave the Catholic Church. Their story illustrates some of the challenges the Catholic Church faces in remaining relevant to those who would like to answer its calls to service. According to Reuters, in the past 30 years, up to 30,000 Priests in the U.S. and over 150,000worldwide have left the clergy to marry.

At the time that his friendship with Patty was deepening back in 1962, McGloin took comfort in the thought that he might not need to choose between his two loves. The 1960s were a time of change, and there was a shared feeling among young Catholics that the Church was going in a new direction.

However the Vatican remained as unwavering on its marriage stance as it did when it maintained that the world was flat. When Pope John Paul II was chosen in the seventies, he made it clear there would be no option of non-celibacy under his reign.

Tom loved being a priest, and was at first willing to make the necessary sacrifices. â€œThere were many priests, including myself, who had no inclination towards celibacy, but were willing accept a life without marriage in order to serve the lord as priests, it was sort of a package deal.”

However, he is certain that if the Church were to make celibacy optional tomorrow, he would immediately rejoin. In fact, falling habit over heels under God’s roof and rejecting celibacy for love was never an uncommon practice.

Many men like Tom went into the clergy with pure intentions and a desire to serve the Lord and help his people, but later realized some sacrifices were just too difficult to stay true to. They found that becoming a priest does not make these sexual impulses or interest go away. It just forbids them. Half of the class Tom was ordained with left their professions at the church to marry.

Many men and women in the Church have found that to be true for themselves. After the possibility of marriage had entered Tom McGloin’s head in the 1960s, it was difficult for him to dismiss it. Soon after Patty left the Church, he followed. “Some of the men I know that left, they felt that they were doing God’s will byleaving.”

Other priests found a much less healthy outlet for their sexual impulses, by abusing children. The sex abuse scandal that followed tarnished the reputation of the Roman Catholic clergy. It also cost the Church a great deal of money to settle cases with victims. According to Reuters, the Catholic diocese (an extension of the Vatican) of Los Angeles “settled with 508 victims of priest abuse in 2007, paying out $660 million.”

The harsh guidelines of the Vatican have garnered criticism as a contributing factor of the sex scandal. Psychologist Dr.Robyn Flaton offers a tempered analysis of  this accusation. “Some people are predisposed to have psychological issues,” she said, but “I don’t think being celibate is healthy.”

            Last year,the Vatican refined its guidelines and psychological screening for those interested in entering the clergy. The process now evaluates whether the candidate is aware of his or her own sexuality. Dr. Flaton believes that this could be very effective if the information is used properly. The sexual preference of the man will not indicate anything by itself, but it may flag any sexual confusion that could cause trouble later.

There remains some concern about how the church is using this information; some people suspect they are using it to weed out homosexuals. Dr. Flaton believes that the fact that a man is heterosexual will not make him much less likely to molest a little boy. If a person molests any child, he or she is psychologically unstable, regardless of sexual orientation, says Flaton. Mentally unhinged men with unresolved sexual turmoil may be tempted to manifest their misguided desire on any person available. Priests have young vulnerable altar boys at their disposal.

Tom McGloin, the former Father and current dad, reflected on how the Church could have avoided some of its current problems. “There was a great opportunity in the sixties, and had the Church made celibacy optional rather than compulsory, there would be a different situation than today.”