Monsignor Kevin Wallin pled not guilty to whole range of charges dealing with methamphetamines and money laundering. Jury selection begins 21 March 2013. I’ll pray for Monsignor Wallin, regardless of guilt or innocence. I hope you will too. Without grace and given the circumstances, none of us are better than anyone else. Anyone who says differently is a liar and has given himself a license to kill.
The purpose of this post isn’t to pontificate about the pickle in which Monsignor Wallin finds himself. Instead, I’d like to make a few observations on the statement of Voice of the Faithful (VOTF), a group always showing leadership in grave error as they recommend the stupidest ways to provide solutions. From FoxNews:
“Catholics have to ask whether the mandatory obligation of celibacy imposes a harmful burden on priests and whether women ought to be admitted to the priesthood,” the group [VOTF] said in a statement. “The steady decline in the number of priests, the aging of priests, the terrible sin of pedophilia among priests, and the downfall of Monsignor Wallin are all signs of a sickness in the priesthood. It is time to seek a remedy for this awful malady that threatens the Eucharist, the center of Catholic life.”
Let’s take these assertions one by one:
- “Catholics have to ask whether the mandatory obligation of celibacy imposes a harmful burden on priests” [Priestly celibacy is freely chosen. The priest is wedded to the Church by way of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass which he offers in Persona Christi, in the Person of Christ. If celibacy, truly a wonderful gift of God to the priest and to the Church, is lived out faithfully, the priest will be on fire for the good of the Church, ready to provide for her and lay down his life for her at any time. Since he chooses this freely, it is not a burden, certainly not a harmful burden. Read articles 1-5 of the HSH series on priestly celibacy: HERE]
- “Catholics have to ask whether [...] women ought to be admitted to the priesthood” [VOTF certainly are not Catholic, as any push for women priests takes one right out of the Church. Moreover, they must be militant homosexualists, for in the Mass Christ Jesus offers His wedding vows to His Bride, the Church -- This is my Body given for you in sacrifice, and the Chalice of my Blood poured out for you in sacrifice -- and it would be truly obscene to have a woman pronounce the vows of the Bridegroom. Read articles 6-7 of the HSH series on priestly celibacy: HERE]
- “The steady decline in the number of priests” [This is a comment on vocations. There are always vocations, in abundance, everywhere. But they only flourish in faithful dioceses or religious congregations. Those who are not faithful, who are as liberal as VOTF, have no vocations join them. Guaranteed: any diocese which presents celibacy as a positive gift will have plenty of vocations. Any diocese which presents it as a burden, and that we need a married priesthood, will have little or no vocations.]
- “the aging of priests” [Yes, well, the biological solution works on us all, doesn't it? VOTF would never mention the great young priests we have, as that goes against their idea of the priesthood. Even married priests get older, right?]
- “the terrible sin of pedophilia among priests” [That is, a few priests. Moreover, incest in families in incomparably more common, even among VOTF families, if they have families, right? And here is where VOTF shows itself to be evil. They want to have a married priesthood to cut down on pedophilia. In other words, they want to superstitiously throw one sacrament, Matrimony, at another sacrament, Holy Orders, in order to solve psychological problems regarding pedophilia? Really? That's an insult to both Matrimony and Holy Orders and also to psychology. VOTF is just plain evil. Their solution would just bring -- what? -- more incest? Yep.]
- “and the downfall of Monsignor Wallin are all signs of a sickness in the priesthood.” [One person is indicted and the entire priesthood is sick? That's the wishful thinking of hatred, is it not?]
- “It is time to seek a remedy for this awful malady that threatens the Eucharist, the center of Catholic life.” [And that solution is not to follow VOTF into the anti-Catholic, anti-priesthood abyss, but rather to encourage everyone to be faithful, and to encourage vocations, and to encourage priestly celibacy.]
Accompany me, Father George David Byers, S.S.L., S.T.D., as I begin life as a Catholic Priest-Hermit by choice. Holy Souls Hermitage is dedicated to the sanctification of my fellow priests, bishops, deacons & seminarians going through the purgatory of this life or the next. Prayer and sacrifice go up, of course, for both Benedict XVI and the next Successor of Saint Peter. 
I will pray for that poor priest. We don’t know what the whole story is, anyway. It may just be a money grab or a set up.
Also, chastity is wonderful, if you dedicate your life to Christ, even for those of us who are not priests.
Good words and true. Thank you
I don’t get how marriage is supposed to solve the problem of being attracted to children or adolescent boys. Marriage may be a remedy for concupiscence, but not THAT kind of concupiscence. Unless they’re talking now about “marriage” as society purports to redefine it, which still won’t do the trick. The fact is, when it comes to preventing abuse, celibacy works every single time it’s tried. 100% of priests who stay faithful to their calling to celibacy refrain from committing abuse.
But I can’t help wondering how many priests there are who don’t have an authentic call to celibacy, even among those who have not been abusers. It seems to me that there is a generation of priests who were told in seminary that any minute now, the Church is going to abolish priestly celibacy, so go ahead and take Orders, and you’ll be able to get married later! And, of course, this did not happen, and some men were ordained who should have gotten married instead. Or perhaps, if they were not told that, then they heard a lot of trash talked about the evils of celibacy, leading to confusion and discontent among men who really were called to that state. Both of these contingencies are forms of abuse in themselves, and to the extent VOTF is participating in them, they too are guilty.
P.S. The sex abuse scandal among public schoolteachers dwarfs the priest abuse scandal…all we hear in response to that is crickets.
Anita: I think we priests and everyone for that matter receive the graces necessary to fulfill faithfully our state in life, and that every opportunity was given to know the truth of the matter every step of the way. It does take a willingness to be persecuted, to be thrown out of the seminary. Many were, and were still ordained and are great priests. It is the willingness to be faithful which I think is key. There was a time of great unfaithfulness, but all the more graces were given. We all need to be martyrs in every way in everything. It’s a matter of love of our Lord. That’s the key. Prayer, penance. And those who had deep homosexual attractions should have been removed. But, you’re right, the idiocy of the times didn’t help. And those like the members of VOTF don’t help to this day.