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  New Pope Will Face Several Tough Issues

By Sabrina Banes
The Advocate [Connecticut]
April 18, 2005

As the College of Cardinals gathers in Rome's Sistine Chapel to elect a new pope, Catholics will be watching for the white smoke that signifies a leader has been chosen.

Clergy, theologians and laity in Fairfield County agree that the new pontiff must be spiritual, wise and moral. But their ideas vary on the issues he will face, including doctrine, eligibility for the priesthood and church governance.

Doctrine

The church's "theology of the body" comprises some of the most difficult issues Catholics face. This doctrine includes rules on contraception, abortion, stem cell research and end-of-life matters.

While those interviewed said they do not expect the church to change its policies on abortion or end-of-life issues, many believe it may be time to relax the ban on contraception.

Sixty-four percent of Northeastern Catholic respondents to a national poll released Thursday by Quinnipiac University in Hamden said the church should relax the ban on artificial methods of contraception.

"I don't remember the last time any Catholic came to me in confession and said they practiced artificial means of birth control," said the Rev. Nicholas Calabro, pastor of St. Roch Church in Greenwich.

He said he believes it is not because people are not using birth control that they are not confessing it -- it is because they do not feel they are doing anything wrong, Calabro said.

Monsignor Francis Wissel, pastor of St. Mary Church in Greenwich, said he would not know how to advise a married parishioner who asked him about contraception.

"Certainly, I cannot support birth control," Wissel said. "But if a man came to me and said, 'I'm trying to be a good Catholic. I have five children. My wife can't stand to have another. I can't support another.' What am I supposed to say? You have to? . . . I can only be compassionate and put the ball back in their court."

Other priests disagree, saying that natural family planning, or abstinence during the time a woman is fertile, is the only way.

"(Contraception) violates the natural purpose of sex. The natural purpose of sex is to unite the couple and procreate," said the Rev. Greg Markey, pastor of St. Mary Parish in Norwalk.

The Rev. Joseph Malloy, pastor of St. Clement Church in Stamford, said artificial contraception can cause problems in marriages when one spouse wants children and the other does not. It encourages a lack of responsibility for married couples, he said.

"In order to allow them to advance in their professional careers, it's nice to allow them to have the sexual union without having children. God created sexual desires for procreation," he said.

The Rev. Kevin Royal, dean of St. John Fisher Seminary in Stamford, said he believes parish priests are not teaching enough about contraception and other sexual issues.

"My experience is when the theology of the body is presented in a clear, pastoral, charitable way, it grabs young people," Royal said. "It's attractive to them."

The priesthood

With a growing shortage of priests nationwide, it may be time for the church to reconsider allowing priests to marry, Calabro said. There are some married priests, but those men were married before they were ordained.

Until the 11th century, there was no ban on priests marrying, according to Paul Lakeland, professor of Catholic Studies at Fairfield University.

Wissel said giving up the ability to have a family was difficult. But, he said, such a decision "is a sign that there is something more important waiting, and that is the kingdom of God."

Markey said he believes modern society has become "sex-crazed," making the sacrifice of celibacy and virginity more important than ever.

"Men and women who are celibate and virgins give powerful testimony to the fact that people can be happy, healthy and balanced even when they're not sexually active," he said.

Malloy said the question of whether to allow priests to marry is complicated because of the possible financial cost. Rectories, he said, were not built to accommodate families.

Some Catholics say the church should consider ordaining women. Nancy Dallavalle, a professor of religious studies at Fairfield University who teaches courses on the relationship between Catholicism and feminism, said she does not expect to see such a change soon.

"The refusal to ordain women has become more entrenched in doctrine," she said. "Not only was (Pope John Paul II) opposed to ordaining women, he codified the rule against ordaining."

Markey said it would be impossible for the Catholic church to change its policies on the ordination of women.

"That's never going to happen," he said. "It's been a constant teaching of the church for the last 2,000 years. It's been held always and by all the popes."

"Women are the ones who seem to go to church, yet men are the ones who seem to lead it," Malloy said. "We look at ordination as a sacrament that Jesus instituted. When the sacrament was instituted, it was instituted for men."

If the church does change its policy on married or female priests, it will not be because of the shortage of Catholic clergy in the United States, Royal said.

"The reason women and married men would be ordained could only be not for number's sake, but because the church determined that that's what God wanted to best represent Christ the priest," he said.

Church government

Lakeland said the re-centralization of authority during Pope John Paul II's pontificate has been a step backwards for the church.

While Pope Paul VI was in power, Lakeland said, the Catholic church was moving in a direction of decentralization, with a doctrine known as "collegiality."

"It's basically co-responsibility for the church," Lakeland said, explaining that national bishops conferences had the independence to deal with problems in their own regions.

"What has happened with John Paul II is that he sort of turned the clock back to a more authoritarian time when Rome speaks and people follow," he said.

Tom Malarkey of Greenwich, president of the Stamford affiliate of Voice of the Faithful, linked the recentralization of church government to the Vatican's handling of the recent sexual abuse scandals.

"There were many problems inherent in what bishops were doing with supporting structural change in the church," he said.

The result of recentralizing authority was that laity's' input ceased to be heard, and laypeople were not informed of situations in which children were abused by priests, Malarkey said.

Church structure calls for bishops to hold canonical trials for priests who are suspected of sexual abuse, who may appeal to Rome if they are found guilty. No priest can be defrocked without approval from the Vatican.

In the Quinnipiac poll, 57 percent of respondents said they believe leaders in Rome exert the right amount of control over the Catholic church in the United States.

Malloy said church leaders are aware they made mistakes during the sexual abuse scandal and are working to make changes.

"For instance, Bishop (William) Lori (of the Bridgeport Diocese) is very much into protecting the children to the best of his ability," Malloy said.

But some bishops have not been on top of the problem and a solution may be for laypeople to vote in the selection of bishops, Lakeland said.

Wissel said he opposes the election of bishops.

"The church is not a democracy. It never was," he said.

Markey agreed.

"By having Rome appoint the bishops, you can be assured that the man who is bishop is going to be preaching the truth and not going to be running for election and trying to seek votes," he said.