Sex Scandal Miami Priest Quits Catholic Church

From Reuters:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090528/us_nm/us_usa_priest

Some excerpts:

Some Catholics expressed sympathy for Cutie and said it was time to end the celibacy rule. Others said that, given the recent scandals involving U.S. priests sexually abusing young boys, and Irish priests raping, flogging and enslaving children in Catholic schools, they were relieved that Cutie had merely become involved with an adult woman.

...

Cutie later said he had fallen in love with the woman and broken his vow of celibacy. He apologized for his behavior, but told the Univision Spanish-language television network, "I didn't stop being a man just because I put on a cassock. There are trousers under this cassock."

...

Some Catholics expressed sympathy for Cutie and said it was time to end the celibacy rule. Others said that, given the recent scandals involving U.S. priests sexually abusing young boys, and Irish priests raping, flogging and enslaving children in Catholic schools, they were relieved that Cutie had merely become involved with an adult woman.

I am under no illusions about the Catholic church, but that last paragraph in particular really stands out to me. The bar is now apparently so low that an "ordinary" sex scandal is cause for relief. This is why CHARACTER is the most important thing for men who would be leaders in the church. 1 Tim. 3 and Titus 1, among others, lay out these standards for character, and every time a leader falls, it's almost invariably because that leader has fallen short of these Biblical qualifications.

Another thing that strikes me about the above is how, once again, celibacy as a permanent state is demonstrated to be such an unnatural thing for the vast majority of people. If someone genuinely feels no lust such that they believe they fall under 1 Cor. 7:32-35, then praise the Lord, but time and time again, we see how that is the extremely rare exception rather than the rule. For the rest of us, we have 1 Cor. 7:9. Yet the Catholic church insists on enforcing this rule of celibacy for all, regardless of their gifting, and in so doing goes against Scripture and continues to reap the consequences of systematic, millenia-long rebellion.

One last point. Although I sympathize with anyone who would strive to be celibate forever against their gifting, I am reminded powerfully of the story of Jephthah's vow to God in Judges 11. The consequences there, too, were tragic, and the story illustrates well why we should FEAR making vows to God. I don't believe I've ever made a vow to God in that way, and I don't believe I ever will... although I certainly am not VOWING that I never will! This man made a vow, to the God of his own mind, but he made a vow nevertheless. And he broke it, and rather than live with the consequences of that, he just hops over to another denomination, who apparently is thrilled to have him.

What sadness, on so many levels, this spectacle generates. Oh Lord, return soon, so that these affronts to your glory are ended forever!