http://www.thestarphoenix.com/news/Pope+meets+German+Catholic+leader+over+pedophilia+scandals/2674923/story.html

When will the catholic church realize that making men swear oaths of celibacy and then giving them impressionable youth to work with is a bad idea?!?

The celibacy oath of the priests isn't even Biblical. It was a change made hundreds of years into Christianity. It is something that needs to be fixed. Priests need wives. Celibacy, while it may be a noble thing to do if you can actually do it, is doing more harm than good. You are destroying a young man's sense of self and sexuality. I understand that the Church "abhors" this kind of behavior and they will do something about it.... but it won't ever be enough if priests continue to be celibate.

What are your thoughts? Do you think a change is needed or should the Catholic Church stick with the celibacy tradition???

Something has to change and soon. I don't know what it is but whatever they are teaching / learning in there they must be looking at woman as the devil. Why else would all these cases only have young boys? I don't think I've seen one with a girl yet and that is what is interesting about this.

And why can they not have a wife or get married? What is wrong with that? Is marriage the devil to them or what?

I think the idea became that being celibate was "more righteous" than giving in to the lusts of the flesh and getting married. As if being married and having kids was somehow a bad thing.

I don't think the incidents are totally isolated to boys.... but in the Catholic church they have altar boys (not girls) that work with the priest and quite often are at the church with the priest alone.

The even bigger question here is, are they getting away with it? The article didn't mention anything about punishment it only said this:

"Most of the priests concerned are not expected to face criminal charges because the alleged crimes took place too long ago. But there have been growing calls for a change in the law and for the church to pay compensation."

So does this mean that priests can rape little boys and pay it off? That is what that statement leads me to believe.

And since the priests are teaching (right?) they can technically mold the child into any form they want. They could make the child believe oral sex with a priest is a good thing. If that is the case then that is even more trouble.

that's what the Church has been doing for YEARS. They pay off the families to drop the law suits and charges against the priests. It's pretty much a round about form of prostitution.

Although to be fair, these sorts of crimes are hard to prove, especially the older cases, and even harder to get convictions on. It's a lot of effort for very little result. The Church can afford to fight the cases and pay people off but the families or victims don't have the means to go after these guys. It's really sad.


And yeah, the priests are "in charge".... they could try and teach these kids anything they want. "It's God's will that I do this" and crap like that. Or that it's a sin to tell people about this and you could go to hell. For any adult in a position of power, religious or not, to influence a child in such a way is disgusting.

My answer is that a immediate change should come about in the church to allow priest to marry because if this keeps on happening more and more will leave the Catholic church.

This incident does not surprise me. Every time I hear about some scandal it usually always a catholic priest. Please note I have nothing personal against catholics.

I don't think any of us have anything against catholics personally...

however, I do have a problem with the fact that it seems there is little to no outcry among catholics. If this were my church I would be trying to get these people out of the position they are in. If you can't keep your oath of celibacy then you don't deserve to be a priest. It's part of the job.

Originally posted by geeogree

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I don't think any of us have anything against catholics personally...

however, I do have a problem with the fact that it seems there is little to no outcry among catholics. If this were my church I would be trying to get these people out of the position they are in. If you can't keep your oath of celibacy then you don't deserve to be a priest. It's part of the job.

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I agree, if after swearing an oath to get the job, if you break it, you should be fired, because you knew the consequences and still did it...

in the latest episode of south park they slam the pope a couple of times.

A kid asks Cartman if he will help him on a job, and Cartman replies "Is the pope making the world safer for pedophiles world wide" and then the other kid replies "Excellent".

But back to the point I think that the celibacy laws should definetly be removed.
Its like with dogs and having them neutered. If you have a dog who isnt neutered and it isnt getting any action, it will eventually starts acting crazy humping whatever is near them. But then again, a preist you would think, would have the common sense to just go get a hooker. Not go around fondeling little deaf boys so maybe its deeper then that.

It's what happens when you forbid people to marry.

I thought that we were commanded to go forth and multiply =/ How can you multiply with no wife? Man needs woman a lot more than woman needs man, but we both are meant to have one another to love and cherish. Unless I'm mistaken, and the go forth and multiply bit is only in the Pearl of Great Price and not the Catholic bible.

I don't get why these priests have to be celibate. Its not biblical or anything like that.

Depends on which bible they are reading Or maybe they are just screwed in the head period. Whatever the case is, it seems to happen a lot. Probably best not to leave your children in church with a priest.

Doesn't have to be biblical in order to be justified Maybe they think that being in the house of God they will get off the hook easier since they can repent right after it? I don't know, someone needs to interview one of them to see what makes them do it

Didn't you know that whenever a bell rings, a priest molests a little boy?

A few rotten eggs out of the bunch. I am a catholic and every priest I know are not child molesters. Also, the reason marriage in the catholic church is not permitted in the Catechism is because that being a Catholic priest is somewhat like being a nun, you have to be devoted 100% to God and anyone who can't handle that can either become a priest/minister in another religion or not be a priest at all.