The Catholic Church is in a dangerous muddle about issues of sex and sexual morality. While preaching firm moral doctrine on personal relations and insisting on clerical celibacy, the Church is now assaulted on all sides. Above all there is the paedophile crisis and shocking revelations about child abuse - often ending up in court with huge financial settlements. Because of the chronic shortage of priests, the rule of clerical celibacy seems increasingly illogical and leads to loneliness and personal problems as the world ...
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The Catholic Church is in a dangerous muddle about issues of sex and sexual morality. While preaching firm moral doctrine on personal relations and insisting on clerical celibacy, the Church is now assaulted on all sides. Above all there is the paedophile crisis and shocking revelations about child abuse - often ending up in court with huge financial settlements. Because of the chronic shortage of priests, the rule of clerical celibacy seems increasingly illogical and leads to loneliness and personal problems as the world marches on. As the Catechism of The Catholic Church prescribes homosexuality as 'intrinsically disordered' and a 'moral depravity' the disjunction between the Catholic Church and the modern world has become an absurdity which is leading to a great deal of misery. So called 'artificial methods of contraception' are also banned. Benjamin Brenkert was for twelve years in Jesuit formation and the absurdities and hardships described above made him realize that he could not continue with his training in conscience. But the overall message of this book is entirely positive. The theology in the book is deeply considered. As he extricated himself from priestly training, he decided to devote time and energy to trying to bring sense to the Church and help those who suffer at its hands.
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