Madam, - Joe Patton (November 17th) links priests' misbehaviour to celibacy when he explains the rage of a usually mild-mannered priest by his sexual frustration. Mr Patton proposes marriage as solution to sexual frustration in taming sexual drive, the second strongest urge in human beings. This is a misconception of marital sex, which explains why many women are beaten up by their husbands when they refuse to be used as objects to satisfy their spouse's sexual drive.
At school, in the 1980s, we used to attribute the good or bad humour of our lay teacher to his good or bad relationship with his wife. We thought that he was transposing to us a punishment that was due to his wife, who might have refused a proposal. But marriage is neither sex nor the solution to sexual frustration.
Celibacy is actually here to remind us that the best way to handle our sexual drive is through self-control and not sex by all means (condoms, promiscuity, homosexuality, etc). Of course, self-control is not easy, but it is possible. - Yours, etc,
Fr ANDRÉ KABORÉ, St Patrick's College, Maynooth, Co Kildare.