Celibacy is important

Editor: Maria Elena Salinas, one of your syndicated columnists who regularly attacks the Catholic Church, wrote in her May 9 column that “sex between clergy and an adult woman is a far more serious offense than molesting minors,� according to church law.

In fact, the opposite is true. The very canon she cites allows for dismissal from the priestly state if a priest persists in a sexual relationship with a woman after being warned; for a priest molesting a minor, this dismissal can happen after only one offense.

Her statement that celibacy is “unnatural� is the reason why it is so important today. In a society dominated by sex, where even many Christians justify their sexual sins by saying that it’s not possible to live without sex, the witness of celibacy on the part of priests, nuns and many laypeople — even if unreported by the media — shows the presence of the grace of Christ in the world.

The Rev. Michael Moore

St. Brigid Church, Hanford