Celibacy in Crisis: A Secret World Revisited [Paperback]

A.W. Richard Sipe (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0415944732 | ISBN-13: 978-0415944731 | Publication Date: September 21, 2003 | Edition: 1

In the midst of the worst crisis the Catholic Church has seen in almost 500 years, this book challenges Catholic authorities to renew, rethink, or reform the long-standing institution of celibacy.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Sipe, a psychotherapist and former priest, reexamines the Roman Catholic Church's policy of mandatory clerical celibacy in light of the recently exposed sexual misconduct scandals. Placing the evolution of the celibacy concept firmly in historical context, the author provides the background information necessary for a contemporary analysis. Using hundreds of candid interviews conducted with priests, their sexual partners, and victims of clerical sexual abuse, he provides overwhelming evidence of the physical and spiritual failure of the celibacy ideal. Significantly, he enfolds this discussion within the archaic position of the church on human sexuality in general, arguing persuasively that the two issues are intimately and inextricably entwined. Though the frank nature of the first-person narratives may disturb some readers, others will welcome this objective exploration of a religious crisis centuries in the making. Margaret Flanagan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

Now that the celibate cat is out of the bag, so to speak, there is a deep and pressing need for the kind of professional expertise and wisdom that Richard Sipe can provide--expertise and wisdom born not only of study and reflection, but also of years of experience as a priest and psychotherapist. Because of the efforts of persons like himself, there is hope that the 'secret world' of clerical celibacy and sexuality will eventually be transformed into what he calls a 'better world'.
–from the foreword by Richard P. McBrien

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (September 21, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415944732
• ISBN-13: 978-0415944731
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,045,491 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Celibacy System Is No Longer a Secret, March 25, 2004

By 

Edward Lozzi (Beverly Hills, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Celibacy in Crisis: A Secret World Revisited (Paperback)

Richard Sipe, a former Roman Catholic priest, blows the lid off of the secret world of so-called celibacy in the US Catholic church. This tome brings you right up to date on how the celibacy system is used by a significant number of priests to sexually abuse minors and the cover-up that follows is well documented. The current scandals in the Boston and Los Angeles Arch Dioceses are exposed in shocking detail. This is a book of facts weened from the interviews of over 1,500 sexually active priests that scared me half to death. I was quite shaken after reading it. [...]

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It Would Take A Whole Book To Counter The Fantasies of Sr. Mary Ann Walsh, July 17, 2011

By 

Peter P. Fuchs (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Celibacy in Crisis: A Secret World Revisited (Paperback)

This is not a new book, and since its publication the author has been on TV a number of times, bringing only further seriousness to his arguments. But contextually one can look at this book as a medicinal corrective for the high-sugar fantasies of Sr. Mary Ann Walsh who is the spokesperson for the Catholic Bishop in this country. The author quotes her from a TV appearance saying that 99.44% of priests keep their celibate vows. Well, this is such a complete fantasy, that one only needs statistical averages to debunk it. Further, those with any kind of personal knowledge of such affairs know that such has about as much chance of being true as that the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception is filled with inspiring works of art. Significantly, it really does boil down to an aesthetic judgment in some ways. For if one includes the "sin of Onan" in the calculation in the assessment of clerical celibacy then we are talking of a very approximate sense of things, like the sfumato of Da Vinci or the indistinctness of the impressionists. In this ambit the "children's books" aesthetic of the the art of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception becomes a curious and telling cultural marker, and emblem of the American Church, because it is "America's Catholic Church". The bizzarely adolescent look of the art speaks of the first surprised and jejune simplicity of prevarication that comes in explaining to mama that first wet dream. From a mature adult perspective, and leaving aside the sanctity of personal religious conviction for a moment, it appears as the biggest pile of nonsense one can conceive of. Indeed, it takes a lot to counter Sr. Mary Ann's special romper room.