Peter Seewald on Pope Benedict

Peter Seewald's book 'Light Of The World' has been published.

If it is anything on his two previous books on Pope Benedict then it is a must. Those two books are simply a fantastic read.

The headline about the book in today's Irish Times is, 'Pope links failure to tackle abuse with 1960s reform'. In the article journalist Paddy Agnew quotes a passage where the pope quotes the Archbishop of Dublin on how he told the pope that ecclesiastical penal law broke down int he 1960s.

That is true but it 'broke down' right across the Catholic Church.

But it would appear to me that there is an underlying issue here that the church simply refuses to discuss. Maybe it cannot.

Human sexuality is a complicated piece of equipment. It is mysterious, it is sacred. From my experience having spent most of my life close to the clerical state it seems there can be something unsound, something worrying, something far too secret about what happens when a group of men live together.

Of course there are amazing priests, who do extraordinary work. But when things go wrong there seems to be little signs of protective/caring/truthful mechanisms to help solve the situation.

And I come back to what I have said for now over 25 years there is link between some sort of sexual orientation that seems 'different' from the norm and an obsessive interest in ritual. It is also mixed with a worrying misogyny.

The behaviour and style that goes on at many of the Latin Mass celebrations has to worry any ordinary person. It has little if anything to do with prayer.

And I can give chapter and verse to support that belief and feel the time is coming to do so.

For the pope to single out Ireland, if he does, is a little worrying. The horrible abuse 'stuff' is not exclusive to Ireland or the US. The worry that I had about Ireland in the mid 1970s were worries that I was forced to consider in Germany in that same time.

There is a problem out there, an issue that the church continues to refuse to discuss. And it is real and it must be discussed.

I believe the problem is getting worse.