September 30, 2025 04:19 AM GMT
Kuravilangad is a small township within the larger district of Kottayam in central Kerala. The Catholic Syro-Malabar rite is influential here, with many convents, churches, and other religious institutions owing allegiance to it.
So it is tragic indeed that a senior official of this very rite, a bishop no less, should be accused of illicit sexual activities with a female member of his own missionary congregation. He has denied this vehemently, and his acquittal has been upheld in court.
Religious sisters and women’s groups that support the congregation have appealed.
How fragile the condition of Catholic women in this land, and how easily they become the playthings of powerful men.
Pedophilia and other sexual offences
One of the tragedies afflicting the Church in the 21st century are the cases of pedophilia instigated by the Catholic clergy.
Although a previous pontiff, Pope John Paul ll, disdainfully called it ”an American disease,” in reality it was not so; it affected the clergy everywhere, especially its higher ranks, viz., bishops, religious superiors, and cardinals.
Pedophilia — the sexual abuse of minors — is one extreme form of non-celibate activity. That it has gained such notoriety is both unfortunate and tragic.
In India, however, it is the sexual assault on women that is more prevalent, as the Kuravilangad case clearly shows.
But that apart, there is a whole range of priestly behavior related to the arrogance of power at work in the celibate system.
This ranges from the exclusion of women from ordination and thus from all positions of authority; the quashing of all dissent under the pretext of infallibility; the desire for control, especially financial control; and the subculture of philandering and alcoholism often present in clerical circles.
During the Synod on the Consecrated Life held in Rome in 1994, not a single one of the 180 public statements issued by bishops and delegates from around the world mentioned sex or celibacy.
Events from the Catholic world soon revealed how grossly unreal such a situation was.
Celibacy, a superior caste?
It is true, as the Gospels state, that celibacy for the “sake of the Kingdom of Heaven” is an evangelical sign.
However, recent scandals in the Church compel us to ask whether clerical celibacy has also become the mark of a caste-conferring power.
There are four strategies implicit in the celibate power system in the Church.
Firstly, secrecy. Secrecy and a dedication to avoiding scandal are embedded in canon law and fostered at the local level. Even more, secrecy is akin to blackmail: “You dare squeal on me, and I’ll let people know what you did!”
Next, complicity. Someone in authority permitted the activity, knew about it, and condoned it. In cases like communal riots and financial scams, this is what invariably happens. At worst, the offender is transferred — so that the crime can start again, but somewhere else.
Thirdly, co-opting civil power. Pressure is brought to bear upon the public media, the courts, the police, and the government to see that a Church scandal is avoided.
The Church has been an institutional force in society for so long that it considers it “natural” to control public opinion to serve its own interests.
Finally, there is the adamant refusal to see the connections between such behavior and the power system that gives rise to it.
As this article has tried to show, the question of celibacy in the Catholic Church is directly related to the issue of power: who is to be the boss? Who will control others?
This is why it directly affects clerics and the hierarchy, who are all male. Women may be a majority of religious, and may continue to fill the pews, but they are a “silent, powerless majority.”
They are more often than not, like the nuns in this story, the victims and the objects of the decisions of others. Most women have no control over their lives and endure unequal relationships, even in the Church.
Of course, things are changing, be it ever so slowly.
What is surely surprising is that when the changes occur in terms of greater equality for women, they are usually initiated by women outside Church structures, and even outside the categories of conventional belief.
In fact, those who resist change are the conventionally pious, who have never explored the implications of social change!
This is why it is unlikely that we will see any significant change to the law affecting celibacy anytime soon. The men who control the Church are unlikely to let power slip through their fingers.
We need to wait much longer for a less powerful but more humane Church.
*The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official editorial position of UCA News.
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