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Texdav, true enough that occupations that involve spending a lot of time with children probably attract pedophiles. And agreed that diligent checking into the backgrounds of people applying for these jobs is a good idea. Priests, and clergymen in general, deal with people of all ages and backgrounds, however, not just children. I doubt that the fact that children are among the varied mix of people priests come into contact with attracts pedophiles to the priesthood. My guess is that the problem has its roots in the policy against allowing priests to marry, and has been further exacerbated by the fact that it seems a culture of pederasty, and of covering for pederastic priests, has entrenched itself within the Catholic priesthood.
I think that priests' not being allowed to marry has a lot to do with this, maybe everything. Pervs are pervs, as Gardener34 points out, but why does there seem to be a perv culture among Catholic priests? Why so many of these incidents, and so much turning a blind eye by other priests who aren't pedophiles themselves? Seems to me that the reason most likely is that those who choose to become priests know going in that entering the priesthood means they will never marry, or even have normal dating relationships. It follows that those who are not inclined toward normal relations with real live grown adult women will be more inclined to enter the priesthood, since to them it's not a sacrifice not to be allowed to marry.
In this day and age, a lot of men entering the seminary to become priests have already dated and some have already had sex with women.
The problem the Catholic Church has, IMO, is that once the Archdiosese knew about these pervs, they did a fall back, of confession, which wipes away sins, then, they transferred the "born again" perv to another place, where he could continue his "work", this time more skilled, cunning, and secretive. That is the sick part about this whole scandal. They knew a bad priest, and continued to protect him. Even now, they still say a perv priest needs to be reported to church authorities, NOT civil authorities, that to do so is against church laws...how messed up is that!!?
I have met some great Catholic priests who were not pervs, or gay, just very scholarly, religious men. It is sad that they are all being painted with the same brush...
I agree. That's what I can't forgive the Church for is that they knew what these priests were doing and relocating them to do it again over and over to innocent children. How Christian is that?
There are many priests that are not pedophiles and very loving but for me, it's too late to be in a Church that condones that type of behavior.
Just FIY, homosexual does not = pedophile.
Also being gay does not mean one should live their lives "shamefully."
Of course you shouldn't live shamefully as a gay but back in the day gays could not come out and it would have been shameful.
These men that became Priest, IMO, were gay and they only had small boys around them. They had no chance of being around other men or they would have had sex with them. But being in the Church, they were surrounded by children so that's who became their victims.
When I was growing up, if you had a Priest or Nun in your family, it was like you had a real life Saint living in your family. These men knew that so why go live their lives as gays and shame their families when they could become Priest and be accepted within their families.
When I was growing up, if you had a Priest or Nun in your family, it was like you had a real life Saint living in your family. These men knew that so why go live their lives as gays and shame their families when they could become Priest and be accepted within their families.
Good point.
But you're making the assumption that being accepted and revered was the only goal....sex is a pretty strong and natural urge and I suspect the reason priests are likely to molest boys is because that's who they have the most access to.
Mind you I think celibacy is a strange and unatural notion and a strange way to require someone to live. Especially when the Catholic church encourages their married lay following to be fruitful and multiply and not to use birth control. Ignoring the message that sends to millions of poor Catholics, especially south of our border. That's a different topic I guess, but it seems somewhat hypocritical to me.
nicet - reps for the history! I didn't know that.
There is a modern sect of the Catholic church that does allow priests to marry; I knew a married priest who was with this church. They also marry divorced people, under certain circumstances.
While I don't begrudge a cent given to those who were abused, and I believe that financial punishment has made the Catholic church step up to its responsibility of knowingly transferring pervs, it is sort of strange...get raped by a priest get a million dollars, or more, get raped by a regular perv, get nothing...luck of the draw...
In this day and age, a lot of men entering the seminary to become priests have already dated and some have already had sex with women.
This certainly will complicate the decision to become a priest, and give the person in this situation more to consider in making the decision whether to become a priest. A key point is that not all priests molest children. Not all priests enter the priesthood to escape something in the outside world, or out of confusion about their sexuality, or for any other questionable reason. The fact still remains that a certain percentage of those entering the priesthood will be people who are not concerned that it would be a sacrifice not to be able to marry or have normal dating lives, because they are not inclined toward healthy relations with grown women. This reality makes it an easier decision to become a priest in the case of someone whose sexuality is not normal, which in turn is likely to mean that a disproportionately high (when compared to the general population) percentage of people with inappropriate sexual tendencies will be comfortable with the idea of becoming priests.
It is interesting as information/studies come out (such as in Newsweek magazine, Christian Science Monitor or the study by Dr. Thomas Plante of Stanford University) showing that Catholic clergy are not more likely to have sexually abused minors than any other clergy and less likely than the adult population as a whole, that the media is still disproportionately reporting cases involving the Catholic Church. What's up with that?
It is interesting as information/studies come out (such as in Newsweek magazine, Christian Science Monitor or the study by Dr. Thomas Plante of Stanford University) showing that Catholic clergy are not more likely to have sexually abused minors than any other clergy and less likely than the adult population as a whole, that the media is still disproportionately reporting cases involving the Catholic Church. What's up with that?
I read that...I imagine, though, given the hidden nature of pedophilia, it might be difficult to get accurate stats. People who compile studies can only count reported abuse.
If true I guess it's simply because it's more newsworthy. We hear about politician's affairs and celebrity drug or alcohol use simply because it's people in the public eye who are doing things that non-newsworthy folks do all the time.
Also of course the hypocrisy angle makes it more newsworthy too. Being how priests are supposed to be celibate, the church is pretty morally uptight about sexual matters, and has covered up this behaviour for decades.
What is it with priests and boys? Why aren't the priests chasing grown women?
They prefer boys because they are homosexuals as well as pedophiles.
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