BishopAccountability.org

The Catholic Church: Recognition of healthy sexuality crucial to cure

The Age
March 10, 2019

https://www.theage.com.au/national/the-catholic-church-recognition-of-healthy-sexuality-crucial-to-cure-20190309-h1c6yz.html


Elevating women and lay people to positions of power in the Catholic Church may help drag the institution into the modern world but will not address the heart of the sexual abuse problem ("Call for Catholic female voice", The Sunday Age, 3/3). Only when male and female clergy are free to enjoy healthy sexual relations and marry will sexual misconduct begin to be solved. Imposed celibacy and denying the inherent sexual drive of men and women is an archaic practice providing fertile ground for sexual abuse and other psychological illness.

Dr Paul Mulkearns, Mount Macedon

Empower women and reclaim the church

How refreshing to hear "The view from the pews" (Comment, 7/3) as Jim Barber speaks up for the many committed Catholic people who continue to support their church, damaged and publicly disgraced as it is. His pragmatic attitude balances the conflicting tensions of critical analysis and ongoing allegiance. Along with Pope Francis, he calls for an end to clericalism and he rightly urges the church to empower women to exercise their God-given gifts, and for committed lay people "to reclaim their church".

Father Kevin Burke, Eltham

Bring the Eucharist back home

Jim Barber is right to say that now is the time for Catholics to reclaim their church. We should begin by taking back the Eucharist. In the early church this was celebrated over a meal with family and friends, following the simple directive of Christ that it be done in memory of Him. We Catholics should return to our roots and bring the Eucharist back home where it belongs.

Susan Glover, South Melbourne

Christ showed the way to follow

Catholic parishioners are less acquiescent than a few years ago, but of those who go to Mass, many do not speak up about matters of concern in the church.

Priests, by the very nature of their training and because of church culture, at times seem subservient to church authorities and they can be treated badly by them. There are a small number of priests who are notable exceptions to the ordinary priests and they are amazingly brave and compassionate.

A priest asked last weekend what was God on about with all that has been going on in the church. My answer was that I thought he wanted Catholics to reform the church, to be a better, kinder, more understanding church with more people following Christ's example of how to live in the community.

Mary Lane, Mornington

While terrible, abuse not the only issue

A thoughtful reminder from Jim Barber that most Catholic clergy were naively innocent while the abuse scandal bubbled away outside their gaze. I believe this is mostly true and they deserve our understanding. However, while he is still there in the pews the abuse issue was just one of the end points for many ex-Catholics. The faith no longer provides a useful narrative to us of why we are here and where we are going.

Peter McCarthy, Mentone

FORUM The lower orders roar

Given recent letters to the editor speculating on how many departing Coalition politicians on generous defined benefit superannuation payouts will transfer seamlessly to well-remunerated private sector employment, Jacqueline Maley's article (The Sunday Age, 3/3) on the Orwellian, class-based nature of the ParentsNext government welfare program is pertinent. There is a long history here: at the beginning of the 20th century, the introduction of unemployment benefits in Britain was framed in Victorian-era terms as entailing the need to "search for the scroungers" or "undeserving poor" in cities such as Birmingham or Manchester.

In 2019, as Maley details, the Coalition still harbours such assumptions based on archaic middle-class assumptions around the alleged fecklessness of the lower orders. Who, then, can be surprised that, across the Western world, there is now a resurgence of "socialist" movements in democracies?

Jon McMillan, Mount Eliza

Manual for meanness

Thank you, Jacqueline Maley, for bringing attention to the government's discriminatory, ideologically driven ParentsNext program (Metro, The Sunday Age, 3/3).

The ideology that comes straight out of Tony Abbott's misogynistic "Handbook for Managing Women", to punish single mothers without husbands who rely on welfare to live, forcing them to comply with activities that correlate with the government's concept of good mothering. The message it sends is one of contempt for the poor and a reluctance to engage with women and their issues in a more humane way. What's next? Food stamps? Women deserve better than this.

Zoe Frost, Sale

Combustion and delay

The editorial (3/3) rightly highlighted the extraordinary delays in taking action to replace combustible cladding on buildings. It also notes that there about 400 such buildings, including schools, in Melbourne alone.

Replacement work will take years to complete, if it ever gets started. This leaves thousands of residents at risk for however long it takes. There are several short-term measures, in addition to relocating smoke alarms, that should be considered for quick action to minimise the risks. The residents deserve help and action now.

Michael Hipkins, Richmond

Hang up, be counted

Asking governments and big businesses to introduce technology so that mobile phones are deactivated while a person is driving? What happened to self-regulation? Put your phones in the boot or turn them off and out of reach. Having to have access to mobile phones 24/7 is an addiction just the same as other addictions (e.g., smoking, drugs and gambling). How outraged is everyone about these addictions! Drivers need to change their mindset, which has been proved to be the only way to quit. When driving we all need to take responsibility for our actions. Don't expect others to take on that responsibility. Stand up and be counted.

Michele Trusler, Dandenong North

Not so, Millennial boy

I have to laugh when I hear or read rash generalisations by the likes of Ben Groundwater (Traveller, The Sunday Age, 3/3) that nobody uses paper maps or travel agents any more. I and many friends are quite content with our dumb phones, paper maps and consulting travel agents.

Joan Ponsford, Bendigo

A necessary aid

The ability to use your smartphone for navigating with Google Maps or similar apps while driving, walking, or cycling is a vital service ("Bid to hang up the phoning driver", The Sunday Age, 3/3). I am a safer driver when in unfamiliar territory than I would be without my phone. The voice directions let me keep my eyes on the road, and not on a Melways while driving. The feedback from millions of users ensure that smartphone mapping is more up-to-date than that of dedicated devices such as Garmin. They also suggest alternative routes, and warn of traffic congestion, allowing drivers to avoid jams.

But the federal government is seeking to deny to drivers the Wi-Fi or mobile data services, on which navigation apps rely, while the vehicle is in motion. Perhaps smartphones must be in a special cradle and all apps disabled except communications, location, and navigation.

Hedley Finger, Camberwell

Worthy of a holiday

We have public holidays for a horse race and a football grand final parade, while Berlin has just had celebrated its first public holiday for International Women's Day. Well done, Berlin.

Lucille Warlow, Essendon

Not persuaded

Jim Barber's voice (Comment, 7/3) for the minority of practising Catholics and the 93 per cent of priests who have never been subject to a complaint – let alone a charge or conviction – is timely, but his solution is unconvincing.

Catholic morale has suffered, but figures aired on the ABC's Q&A on March 4 are instructive. While 64 per cent of victims of abuse in religious institutions were in Catholic ones, we have to recognise that the Catholic Church operates more schools, hospitals and other charitable institutions than all of the other religions put together.

The solution of women priests and ditching celibacy would satisfy only the long-term advocates of these changes. It is an irony that the Catholic Church, epicentre of public ire for past scandals, has cleaned up its act more than most.

John Morrissey, Hawthorn

Divine interpretation

The Catholic Church believes in a number of improbable and unprovable events, such as human parthenogenesis in the form of the virgin birth, and numerous miracles throughout history, so it's not difficult to imagine why individuals who embrace those belief systems would simply conclude about a situation such as the Pell conviction, just what suited them regardless of the evidence.

Benjamin Nisenbaum, Mount Dandenong

Pay up for peace

If Boral boss Mike Kane is worried about "industrial mayhem" (Business, 7/3) perhaps he can suggest another avenue for workers to share in improved productivity and business profits. With the profit share at a record high maybe he and other CEOs should simply give workers decent pay rises, thus avoiding the need for any mayhem. The Reserve Bank governor has been saying for a couple of years that wage stagnation is our biggest economic problem, but if corporate Australia won't heed the message is it any wonder that workers and unions are getting frustrated?

David Francis, Ivanhoe

Climate lead needed

It's worrying to see that Victoria's emissions are increasing after a summer that has broken records for extreme heat. The Andrews government has shown leadership on climate change by strengthening climate laws, banning fracking, and setting Renewable Energy Targets. But it will have to lead again if Victoria is to rein in emissions and avoid dangerous climate impacts.

As The Age has reported, Inverloch, Apollo Bay and Tooradin are already seeing the impact of rising sea levels and storm surges on beaches and coastal infrastructure. We will see more communities on the front line of climate change if governments fail to act.

Leigh Ewbank, Preston

Small mercies

I felt sorry for the cattle who drowned squashed up against a fence in the recent Queensland floods. If they had been lucky they would have lived a little longer and been squashed into a truck and driven to an abattoir or a prison ship.

Peter Berenyi, Howes Creek

Minister tone-deaf

On the day it's reported hundreds of ringtailed possums are falling out of their trees because we've stuffed up their environment so much they're dying of heatstroke, the federal Minister for Resources, Matt Canavan, yet again declares this would be a great time to open more coal-fired power stations. Canavan thus shows us how naked Scott Morrison is when it comes to his empty rhetoric about caring for our environment in the face of human-caused climate change.

Lex Borthwick, Burwood

Trees are precious

Each day that the dry spell continues more and more street trees may be dying, particularly recently planted ones. It can take a long time to replace a tree that gives very effective cooling to our streets. What a waste this would be.

George Leighfield, Brighton

Contact: letters@theage.com.au




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