I was recently watching my grand-nephew playing a soccer grand-final and got talking to another spectator who turned out to be a highly educated and articulate Catholic High School teacher – a Mr Ptolemy. (That’s correct, Ptolemy. He was impressed that I knew about the Ptolemies in Egypt arising from the break-up of the Greek empire! BTW, here’s a useful site on the Ptolemies: https://www.thoughtco.com/rulers-of-the-ptolemies-172247 )

We got to talking about all kinds of things, including the connection between pedophilia in the Catholic Church and priestly celibacy, the celibacy which this catholic man seriously disagreed with. He said it was bizarre that the Catholic Church would not allow their own priests to partake of one of their own sacraments – the sacrament of marriage – that every priest authorizes before God in the wedding ceremony!!

I replied that forced celibacy didn’t make sense to me either, but my feeling was based on the Scriptures, and I reminded him of Paul’s words to Timothy – 1 Timothy 4:1-5, about the doctrine of demons, “forbidding marriage.”

He didn’t comment, but it was clear he was aware of the Scripture, seeing he was a teacher of Religion in the Catholic System. Mr Ptolemy has my contact details. Who knows where such a conversation may end?

–Name Withheld