SCOTLAND
Scotsman
By EDDIE BARNES
Published on Sunday 3 March 2013
CATHOLIC priests in Scotland should be told either to sign a renewed pledge to remain celibate or asked to leave their posts, according to an adviser to the Vatican.
Professor John Haldane, a Roman Catholic academic based at St Andrews University, is proposing the radical step following Cardinal Keith O’Brien’s resignation last week amid claims that he had engaged in “inappropriate behaviour” with four priests and one former cleric.
The cardinal’s case is being dealt with by the Vatican but, with a stunned Church hierachy in Scotland seeking to pick up the pieces after the revelations, Haldane – one of the most respected figures in the church – warns that fresh steps are required to prove that priests across the country are abiding by their original vows so such “scandals” can be avoided.
In an article in the Catholic newspaper The Tablet, Haldane asks how “in scandal-scarred Scotland” should the Church renew its vocation. It should include, he says, a call to “engage directly with the clergy, proposing a clear option: remain in holy orders subject to signing a private but strict renewed solemn vow of celibacy; or failing willingness to do that, be restored to the lay state.”
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