Lawmaker urges Catholics to allow priests to marry

Rep. Rida Cabanilla Arakawa (D, Ewa Villages­-Ocean Pointe-Ewa Beach) held a news conference Friday to urge the Roman Catholic Church to consider allowing married men to be ordained.

The press conference focused on House Resolution 69, which Cabanilla Arakawa introduced, to address sexual assault against minors by those affiliated with the church.

“HOUSE RESOLUTION 69 is urging the entire Catholic system — from the pope down to the priests, all the individual churches — to implement a corrective action plan going forward to correct those atrocities or those crimes committed by the members of the clergy,” she said. “These cover-ups and all these abuses have been happening for many decades, and it’s now being discussed.”

Cabanilla Arakawa, who spoke at the state Capitol, said that allowing married men into the church would help curb sexual abuse against minors.

“Pope Francis already said one of the things they’re looking at is they should allow priests to marry, because the sexual suppression comes out in different ways,” she said. “Priests are no different from anybody else: They are created by God with the same anatomy, with the same desires, with the same emotions.”

Pope Francis hosted a summit at the Vatican last month to address the worldwide crisis the church is facing regarding the sexual assault of children.

During the summit, Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta suggested that the current requirements of celibacy needed to be reviewed.

“A just and balanced understanding of the demands of priestly celibacy and chastity should be underpinned by a profound and healthy formation in human freedom and sound moral doctrine,” he said. “Above all, the order is responsible for guaranteeing and promoting the personal, physical, mental and spiritual well-being of his priests.”

Cabanilla Arakawa, a Catholic, was critical of clerical celibacy, the church’s tradition of allowing only unmarried men to enter priesthood, and said that it is not rooted in Catholic doctrine.

“CELIBACY IS not part of the Bible,” Cabanilla Ara­kawa said. “It was a policy that was implemented by the Catholic Church during the Middle Ages for the benefit of the church.”

In 2018 the law firm Jeff Anderson and Associates PA and the Law Office of Mark Gallagher released a report saying 58 clergy members in the Diocese of Honolulu were accused of sexual abuse against hundreds of minors, based on information dating as far back as the 1950s.

Beyond Cabanilla Arakawa’s resolution, state legislators are moving along Senate Bill 1035, which would remove the statute of limitations on cases of sexual abuse against minors.