Why do Catholic priests, actual or technical celibates, all persist in writing books about sexuality? Sceptics and natural adversaries of the Roman ecclesial discipline will doubtless respond ‘because they are fascinated with what is denied to them’. True in many cases, but, overall, too neatly pejorative to be entirely convincing. As the late Kenneth Clark reminded us, the extremes of Protestant puritanism have held more fear and rejection of the body than Rome ever did in her most repressive periods. Even so, Australian and New Zealand Catholicism has always been both formed and deformed on sexual issues by the legacy of its Irish past. Since the 17th century where the native Irish clergy were heavily tainted with the Jansenist heresy in French seminaries, the baleful Hibernian attitude to sex has been unique in Christendom. To our colonial Irish forbears, gambling, improvidence, drunkenness, and pugnacity were indeed confessional matters, but the fires of hell itself awaited the sexually incontinent.
Continue reading for only $10 per month.
Subscribe and gain full access to Australian Book Review.
Already a subscriber? Sign in.
If you need assistance, feel free to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
If you are an ABR subscriber, you will need to sign in to post a comment.
If you have forgotten your sign in details, or if you receive an error message when trying to submit your comment, please email your comment (and the name of the article to which it relates) to ABR Comments. We will review your comment and, subject to approval, we will post it under your name.
Please note that all comments must be approved by ABR and comply with our Terms & Conditions.