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Oh yes. And no married man or minister has EVER molested children. Cannoli Send a noteboard - 12/04/2010 12:00:40 PM
These sex scandals are a lot more widespread and pervasive than what is reported. The parish priest for the town that I went to high school in ended up leaving the Church because he said he couldn't sit on a church committee paying out victim after victim with a clear conscience. Some of the people were obviously lying and out for money, but in most cases the Church itself had received evidence that the accused had been guilty of wrongdoing.

It is not normal, natural or healthy for people to be celibate, particularly not in the modern world where the Church's hold on "the Truth" has been shattered and its own peculiar dogma no longer has common acceptance. I've known many good, honest priests who are genuinely spiritual people, but we have to face the fact that a lot of people join the priesthood because they feel that whatever sexual urges they are having are not "right" and the priesthood helps them actively suppress those urges.


The only reform needed is better screening to get rid of such people, and bring the American church back into line.

In an era when homosexuality no longer bears any stigma, the feeling that one's urges are not "right" can only come from activities that are truly wrong - paedophilia, necrophilia, zoophilia, rape, or sex combined with murder.
So it's okay for these people to still become priests, right?
And who decides when these things are now acceptable? Can you let me know, so we can keep an eye on them lest they decide pedophilia is okay? Anyway, if not-right urges still include the actual crime these priests are accused of, what is the point of all this? You say pedophilia is the result of men joining the priesthood to help suppress not-right urges, because of antiquated Catholic doctrine making them feel guilty about their perfectly healthy sexual inclinations, but then go on to say that they only unacceptable urges include pedophilia!

I think the Church should adopt the common practice (usage) that the Eastern Churches have held since before the schism - to receive a parish, a priest must be married. The only celibate clergy are monks and priests whose spouses have died (but only such celibate clergy are allowed to become bishops, metropolitans or patriarchs).
And what the hell good would that have done? According to the mandatory briefing by a government social worker on the topic of child abuse I had to attend as a teacher, the majority of child molestation is done by married, heterosexual men. I got news for you - for most perverts, the first inclination is NOT to bury yourself in the priesthood, it is to find a beard and live an apparently normal life. As the sola scriptura crowd would do, they take St. Paul's advice that it is better to marry than to burn. Imposing marriage on people who do not have a calling for it, in addition to the extreme logistical difficulties it would impose on the Church (and what do you do about sham marriages, where a priest with a natural inclination to chastity AND a gift for pastoral care pretends to be married so he can get a parish? ) and the conflict between sacerdotal and paternal duties, goes completely against religious and natural freedoms and law. There is a reason why the Roman Catholic Church is the largest and most widespread Christian denomination, and the Eastern bunch is a tiny nationalist church whose own leader is a Muslim vassal, despite their more powerful starting position.
Cannoli
“Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions.” GK Chesteron
Inde muagdhe Aes Sedai misain ye!
Deus Vult!
*MySmiley*
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Future Pope stalled on removing child molesting priest, even though the Bishop wanted him defrocked - 11/04/2010 04:45:25 AM 459 Views
The Pope should resign and the Church needs to reform itself. - 11/04/2010 04:58:57 AM 116 Views
Yeah... - 11/04/2010 07:57:39 AM 135 Views
^ This idiot hasn't electrocuted himself yet? *NM* - 11/04/2010 01:20:22 PM 46 Views
No, electricity is a sin where he's from? *NM* - 11/04/2010 01:48:15 PM 42 Views
Ad hominem attacks... - 11/04/2010 04:28:38 PM 97 Views
They're only ad hominem when the target is a human being, so that wasn't. *NM* - 11/04/2010 04:34:21 PM 46 Views
Creative. - 11/04/2010 07:00:06 PM 86 Views
I really don't think you understand the concept of "ad hominem" - 11/04/2010 04:43:33 PM 95 Views
It has become his favorite reply. - 11/04/2010 05:00:36 PM 85 Views
Probably a well-meaning English teacher. - 11/04/2010 05:46:26 PM 64 Views
Look. - 11/04/2010 06:59:21 PM 85 Views
My gift to you. - 11/04/2010 04:48:22 PM 101 Views
Now that looks like an ad Filium Dei attack - 11/04/2010 05:10:06 PM 75 Views
Attack? Are you crazy? - 11/04/2010 05:21:09 PM 70 Views
Thanks. - 11/04/2010 06:49:18 PM 83 Views
No, thank you. You're an inspiration to us all. *NM* - 11/04/2010 06:51:14 PM 47 Views
Well now you flatter me too much. - 11/04/2010 06:55:27 PM 75 Views
They do? - 11/04/2010 05:59:59 PM 92 Views
They sure do. - 11/04/2010 06:54:24 PM 79 Views
Sorry, I don't see it. - 11/04/2010 08:45:47 PM 77 Views
No apology neccessary. - 11/04/2010 09:45:31 PM 68 Views
Oh yes. And no married man or minister has EVER molested children. - 12/04/2010 12:00:40 PM 88 Views
I find their continual insistence that nothing inappropriate on Ratzinger's part occured sickening. - 11/04/2010 05:20:15 AM 87 Views
He can resign, and the pope is not infallible - 11/04/2010 05:30:45 AM 75 Views
Re: He can resign, and the pope is not infallible - 11/04/2010 05:52:10 AM 78 Views
I can't excuse stupidity or people who don't understand their faith - 11/04/2010 06:03:27 AM 86 Views
knowledge? Understanding? - 11/04/2010 04:49:14 PM 96 Views
The only people I've ever seen say that are atheists, actually. It's a fun little strawman. *NM* - 11/04/2010 10:44:56 PM 45 Views
well, then I'm mocking atheists - 11/04/2010 11:48:24 PM 59 Views
Ah. - 12/04/2010 07:18:11 AM 53 Views
It wasn't a strawman - 12/04/2010 08:01:21 AM 63 Views
Your comments above had absolutely nothing to do with my post. - 12/04/2010 08:42:45 AM 55 Views
I fail to see the problem. - 11/04/2010 07:55:42 AM 103 Views
They've resigned before. *NM* - 12/04/2010 08:43:21 AM 42 Views
Not in the last 595 years. - 12/04/2010 05:53:10 PM 68 Views