THE sex scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church in the United States are a result of psychological sickness, Zambia Episcopal Conference (ZEC) secretary general Fr. Ignatius Mwebe has said.
Fr. Mwebe yesterday said while it was not acceptable for priests to engage in any form of sex, it was important to note that the US priests involved were engaging in abnormal sexual behaviour. "What is happening in the US is not to do with normal sexual behaviour. It's a sexual abnormality," Fr. Mwebe said.
"It's psychological sickness. This is a sexual deviation." Fr. Mwebe said it was for this reason that the Catholic Church would not change its stance against the use of condoms. "This has nothing to do with condoms and this started happening a long time ago," Fr. Mwebe said. "It has nothing to do with normal sexual behaviour.
" Fr. Mwebe said even the cultural background of the places from where the scandals were taking place should be taken into consideration as people condemned the acts.
He said it was common in the United States to find cases of child abuse and it could explain why even priests were targeting small boys. "They are not abusing female children but small boys and this is common in the US," Fr. Mwebe said.
"These are cases coming from the secular society as well." Fr. Mwebe said the phenomenon was now spreading to other countries and called on authorities to quickly intervene. He said there was need to ensure that the erring priests were helped to reform. "Those in authority should ensure that things are corrected," Fr. Mwebe said.
"It doesn't help to transfer problematic priests from one place to another. It's better to solve the problem there and then." Fr. Mwebe urged Catholic authorities in affected areas to ensure that such cases are not prolonged. He said it was important for discipline to be enforced starting from seminaries so that professional ethics were jealously guarded. Fr. Mwebe said the cases have been covered for too long a period.
"We have to confess that they have been covered for a long time and this is the most regrettable thing," Fr. Mwebe said. "This is against the background of professional ethics.
Priests have to be exemplary in their conduct." However, Fr. Mwebe said people should understand that the Church was on a long journey towards perfection. He said such cases were expected as long as the Church was composed of human beings because they were easily moved by emotions. "We tend to look at the Church as something that has already achieved perfection or holiness but we are constantly working towards that," Fr. Mwebe said.
"The Church will only be triumphant at the final end." Pope John Paul II has summoned leaders of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States to the Vatican to discuss recent disclosures of sex scandals which have rocked the church.
The Vatican says the meeting with American cardinals will probably take place next week. The Catholic Church has faced similar allegations of its priests engaging in sexual abuse in a number of other countries.