The Unhealed Wound
The Church, the Priesthood, and the Question of Sexuality
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Kennedy, a psychologist, former priest, and a leading Catholic author and scholar, addresses one of the most compelling yet undiscussed issues in the Church: human sexuality. The Unhealed Wound is a penetrating and insightful study of the unresolved conflicts Catholics face regarding both their sexuality and spirituality, deep conflicts which grow more and more serious as they remain unaddressed within the Church.
He astutely yet respectfully takes to task a faith that-despite the reality of erotic love as a natural and human aspect of life itself-condemns birth control, marriage for priests, and sex outside of marriage. The Unhealed Wound also examines the Church's formidable hierarchy, challenging those clerics who uphold papal edicts unthinkingly. Articulately postulating our need not only to understand but celebrate our own sexuality, this book will engender both controversy and heated dialogue among today's scholars, students, and believers of Catholicism.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The Catholic Church has been pilloried aplenty in modern times for its teachings on birth control, priestly celibacy and a male-only priesthood. Kennedy, a psychologist and former Catholic priest, adds his voice to the jeering in this indictment of the Church of Rome. Kennedy argues that Catholicism suffers from a gaping wound because of its alleged failure to deal with sexual intimacy in its midst. Besides opposing artificial contraception and requiring priests to be unmarried males, Kennedy says the Church has failed its people by labeling as sinful all sexual activity outside marriage and deeming homosexuality an "objective disorder." He claims the Church is willing to look at intimate human experience only through its own "distorting lenses," but he fails to point out that other churches with a traditional view share many of Catholicism's positions on sexual behavior. Kennedy also criticizes the Vatican for what he says is its unwillingness to publicly discuss the celibate, all-male priesthood and for mishandling pedophilia scandals. Kennedy maintains that celibacy is a means "to master... men" through controlling their sexuality, and he traces the pedophilia problem to the immature sexual development of priest perpetrators. Readers who are unhappy with the Church's stances on human sexuality will find a sympathetic ear in Kennedy, but little in the way of realistic, constructive solutions.
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