Benny made the comment to me in the course of a discussion after the meeting about Fr Kevin Lee, who we had prayed for as a group during our meeting. As some of you may have heard (unfortunately it's been across the media, even around the world), Fr Kevin Lee, Parish Priest at Glenmore Park (in western Sydney), admitted last week to entering into a civil marriage with a lady from the Phillipines approximately 12 months ago.
Here is footage of Fr Kevin's very public admission to our local Channel 7 (one of Australia's "mainstream" stations, much like CNN or NBC).
My own initial response was one of shock, hurt and disbelief. I hold all priests in very high regard for all their sacrifice in bringing Jesus to us in such an intimate and personal way through the sacraments. Also, a move such as this "registers" with one more when you know of the Priest involved - I didn't know Fr Kevin in a personal way, but I was certainly aware of his work throughout the Diocese (apart from being a Parish Priest he also had additional roles such as Police chaplain) and I had attended the odd Mass here and there over the years where he was the celebrant. One of his many gifts was as a powerful and dynamic preacher of God's Word. Please pray for Fr Kevin that he will return faithfully to his vows. While Fr Kevin has committed a grave error of judgment in doing what he has done, this is not the time to engage in personal attacks on his character. We all face temptations related to persisting faithfully with our state in life (whether religious life, married or single) and we should all be constantly praying for ourselves and others that we always remain faithful to our calling - the temptation to "throw it all in" could happen to any one of us.
However, some matters that as men we do need to be ready to respond to though are 2 highly inaccurate comments that Fr Kevin has made, namely: (1) that celibacy of the Priesthood is directly linked to pedophilia (and by extension that the church should remove the celibacy requirement for Priests), and (2) that there are many other Priests leading a "double life".
Point (2) above is an unfair reflection on the majority of Priests who lead very holy and dedicated lives. Such comments have the potential to weaken Catholics' faith in the priesthood and create potential cynism and distrust in the Priesthood for those who aren't Catholic. Wherever you are in the world, the historical record (and our own experience with Priests) simply doesn't support such a blanket assertion.
More particularly, point (1) above is a point that we need to be prepared to respond to because it will no doubt come up in conversation. Given that this issue has been getting alot of media attention over the past decade in particular (with the sexual abuse scandals that have emerged in various parts of the Church throughout the world), as men we need to be prepared to address the issue with our families, friends and at work. We must be prepared to address the arguments made so that as Catholics our faith in the Priesthood is not weakened, and so that non-Catholics don't have the wrong idea around the reasons for celibacy. Thankfully, many faithful Catholics have already done the initial hard work for us in writing a number of excellent articles on the topic that deals with the issue fairly, objectively and truthfully. The following article from Christopher Kaczor at Catholic answers (from a 2010 issue of This Rock magazine) is an excellent summary of the issues.
Also, for those who subscribe to the new Catholic Answers Magazine (which succeeded This Rock), I notice that the May-June 2012 issue has an article by the outstanding Catholic author Mark Shea titled "Why a Celibate Priesthood".
I know that the media likes to make a circus of issues in connection with the Priesthood all the time, so in some respects this sad event is nothing new. However, let's all make sure we're prepared to defend the Church's position and support all our Priests, the majority of which are faithful and dedicated and would not share Fr Kevin's views at all.
Most importantly, again, please pray for Fr Kevin, and also for our Bishop who needs our prayerful and active support - dealing with these matters is never easy but our Bishop has (as always) acted courageously and with great class - here is the statement released after Fr Kevin's announcement, and more importantly the homily he gave this past weekend as part of a pastoral visit to Fr Kevin's former parish.
About Daniel Miller
Daniel Miller is a leader of the Men of St. Joseph in Sydney, Australia.
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