César Baldelomar 15-5- 09;
César J. Baldelomar is the executive director of Pax Romana Center for International Study of Catholic Social Teaching and blogs at www.holisticthoughts.com. He will begin graduate studies at Harvard Divinity School in the fall.
Scandal has again surfaced in the American Catholic Church, but, gratefully, this time it is not over child abuse or mismanagement of funds. Rather, it is over the publication of sensual pictures that show famous Miami Catholic priest Alberto Cutié kissing and cuddling a woman on a South Florida beach. While it is not the objective of this post to discuss Father Cutié’s actions, it is worth pointing out that an overwhelming majority of Catholics in Miami – many of whom are staunch conservatives – remain supportive of Rev. Cutié. More importantly, his pictures have led to intense debate within the global Catholic community concerning the church’s policy on mandatory celibacy for its religious. On one side, we hear that celibacy is not optional for religious, since priests marry the church when they profess their vows. Canon Law states… that Clerics are obliged to observe perfect and perpetual continence for the sake of the kingdom of heaven and therefore are bound to celibacy which is a special gift of God by which sacred ministers can adhere more easily to Christ with an undivided heart and are able to dedicate themselves more freely to the service of God and humanity.
See: http://blog.sojo.net/2009/05/15/priest-scandal-re-opens-celibacy-debate/15/5/09
Tags: Celibacy, Christianity