toldailytopic: Pedophile priests. Why does the the Catholic Church have such a wide-s

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Nick M

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Clearly this is a result from the Churches unbiblical stance that forces Priests to be celibate.

When you make a demand such as that... your reap the horrifying consequences.

That would be my guess. The G rated version of Dennis Miller was something similar. They don't let them get married and don't pay them any money. It is a time bomb waiting to go off.

What Paul said was specifically stated to be his thoughts and not a command from God. It was never to be made into a requirement to be in such positions in churches.

To add to this, it is because he thought Christ's return was short.

To whom was Christ married?

Israel. Metaphorically of course. They are his bride for earth.
 

Nydhogg

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To be fair to the priests, a fair deal of them manage to stay celibate, and most of those who don't have adult and consensual mistresses or consensual gay affairs instead of raping kids.
 

elohiym

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"Pedophile priests. Why does the the Catholic Church have such a wide-scale problem with them?"

A better question might be, why do any churches have the problem at all? And I believe the answer to that question is that they have flawed doctrines regarding what it means to be free from sin, and thereby continue to sin and teach others to sin.
 

Persephone66

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Clearly this is a result from the Churches unbiblical stance that forces Priests to be celibate.

When you make a demand such as that... your reap the horrifying consequences.

That was my initial thought on this, but then I got to thinking about other institutions that to not require celibacy yet still have a problem with pedophilia. I think it's more that they think they can get away with it.
 

Frank Ernest

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The TheologyOnline.com TOPIC OF THE DAY for September 14th, 2010 11:11 AM


toldailytopic: Pedophile priests. Why does the the Catholic Church have such a wide-scale problem with them?

I believe the problem is high-profile publicity, deep-pockets trial lawyers, and folks who have a stake in trying to discredit/destroy said institution.

I do not believe, from what I've read and what I understand from Catholics I know, that the problem is wide-spread among Catholic priests.
 

aSeattleConserv

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it doesn't

the incidence of pedophilia is the same or less than any other institution that deals with children

so you misstated the question

what you may be referring to is the problem the Church has had with homosexual priests
and
the Church no longer knowingly ordains homosexuals

85% of all the cases reported are male
and
not children

the problem has been addressed
but
we will continue to hear about it

Well said. Post pubescent sex/molestation isn't pedophilia, it's homosexuality.

Michael S. Rose wrote about Catholic seminaries being infiltrated by homosexuals in his book "Goodbye, Good Men". He talked about the celibacy hoax as well.
http://www.thedefender.org/Goodbye! Good Men.html

It appears that the Protestants aren't immune to this sort of problem either.
http://www.ethicsdaily.com/news.php?viewStory=9149
 

Granite

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I believe the problem is high-profile publicity, deep-pockets trial lawyers, and folks who have a stake in trying to discredit/destroy said institution.

I do not believe, from what I've read and what I understand from Catholics I know, that the problem is wide-spread among Catholic priests.

Are you kidding me?
 

chrysostom

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I believe the problem is high-profile publicity, deep-pockets trial lawyers, and folks who have a stake in trying to discredit/destroy said institution.

I do not believe, from what I've read and what I understand from Catholics I know, that the problem is wide-spread among Catholic priests.

he does this just to get a positive rep from me
 

yeshuaslavejeff

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The TheologyOnline.com TOPIC OF THE DAY for September 14th, 2010 11:11 AM


toldailytopic: Pedophile priests. Why does the the Catholic Church have such a wide-scale problem with them?




think about it... why does the mafia have such a wide-scale problem with crime? ... why does the tiger have such a wide-scale problem with eating zebra ? .... why do cats have such a wide-scale problem eating mice ?
...
it really is that simple. (even if it's mind-boggling to most people because they were lied to every day of their lives, hearing the truth is almost impossible)



Take the topic above and run with it! Slice it, dice it, give us your general thoughts about it. Everyday there will be a new TOL Topic of the Day.
If you want to make suggestions for the Topic of the Day send a Tweet to @toldailytopic or @theologyonline or send it to us via Facebook.
 

chrysostom

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Well said. Post pubescent sex/molestation isn't pedophilia, it's homosexuality.

Michael S. Rose wrote about Catholic seminaries being infiltrated by homosexuals in his book "Goodbye, Good Men". He talked about the celibacy hoax as well.
http://www.thedefender.org/Goodbye! Good Men.html

It appears that the Protestants aren't immune to this sort of problem either.
http://www.ethicsdaily.com/news.php?viewStory=9149

thank you for that

I will look for the book as it does sound interesting
and
it shows that we are being attacked within the Church
 

MaryContrary

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Are you kidding me?

If you look at the numbers, they aren't much different that what you see in any institution, religious or not, where a pedophile could have the same access to children.

The problem isn't that the Catholic church is more prone to pedophilia but that they handle it so very badly when it does occur.
 
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Cruciform

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Cruciform

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Clearly this is a result from the Churches unbiblical stance that forces Priests to be celibate. When you make a demand such as that... your reap the horrifying consequences.

The following is extracted from a longer article:



10 Myths about Priestly Pedophilia

1. Catholic priests are more likely to be pedophiles than other groups of men.

This is just plain false. There's absolutely no evidence that priests are more likely to abuse children than are other groups of men. The use and abuse of children as objects for the sexual gratification of adults is epidemic in all classes, professions, religions, and ethnic communities across the globe, as figures on child pornography, incest, and child prostitution make abundantly clear. Pedophilia (the sexual abuse of a prepubescent child) among priests is extremely rare, affecting only 0.3% of the entire population of clergy. This figure, cited in the book Pedophiles and Priests by non-Catholic scholar, Philip Jenkins, is from the most comprehensive study to date, which found that only one out of 2,252 priests considered over a thirty-year period was afflicted with pedophilia. In the recent Boston scandal, only four of the more than eighty priests labeled by the media as "pedophiles" are actually guilty of molesting young children.

Pedophilia is a particular type of compulsive sexual disorder in which an adult (man or woman) abuses prepubescent children. The vast majority of the clerical sex-abuse scandals now coming to light do not involve pedophilia. Rather, they involve ephebophilia — homosexual attraction to adolescent boys. While the total number of sexual abusers in the priesthood is much higher than those guilty of pedophilia, it still amounts to less than 2 percent — comparable to the rate among married men (Jenkins, Pedophiles and Priests).

In the wake of the current crisis in the Church, other religious denominations and non-religious institutions have admitted to having similar problems with both pedophilia and ephebophilia among the ranks of their clergy. There's no evidence that Catholic prelates are more likely to be pedophiles than Protestant ministers, Jewish leaders, physicians, or any other institution in which adults are in a position of authority and power over children.

2. The celibate state of priests leads to pedophilia.

Celibacy bears no causal relation to any type of deviant sexual addiction including pedophilia. In fact, married men are just as likely as celibate priests to sexually abuse children (Jenkins, Priests and Pedophilia). In the general population, the majority of abusers are regressed heterosexual men who sexually abuse girls. Women are also found to be among those sexual abusers. While it's difficult to obtain accurate statistics on childhood sexual abuse, the characteristic patterns of repeat child sex offenders have been well described. The profiles of child molesters never include normal adults who become erotically attracted to children as a result of abstinence (Fred Berlin, "Compulsive Sexual Behaviors" in Addiction and Compulsive Behaviors [Boston: NCBC, 1998]; Patrick J. Carnes, "Sexual Compulsion: Challenge for Church Leaders" in Addiction and Compulsion; Dale O'Leary, "Homosexuality and Abuse").

3. Married clergy would make pedophilia and other forms of sexual misconduct go away.

Some people — including a few vocal dissenting Catholics — are exploiting this crisis to draw attention to their own agendas. Some are demanding a married Catholic clergy in response to the scandal, as if marriage would make men stop hurting children. This flies in the face of the aforementioned statistic that married men are just as likely to abuse children as celibate priests (Jenkins, Pedophiles and Priests).

Since neither being Catholic nor being celibate predisposes a person to develop pedophilia, a married clergy wouldn't solve the problem ("Doctors call for pedophilia research," The Hartford Currant, March 23). One has only to look at similar crises in other denominations and professions to see this.

The plain fact is, healthy heterosexual men have never been known to develop erotic attractions to children as a result of abstinence.

 

The Barbarian

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In fact, an investigation by the Christian Science Monitor revealed most such cases were in Protestant churches, and most did not involve a minister or priest.

It is highly disturbing to see the extent to which Catholics were involved, because I'm Catholic, and I am more concerned with cleaning up my own denomination.

It is secondarily disturbing to see so many other denominations with their heads firmly stuck in the sand. Such an attitude, given the data, will lead to more children abused.

And all because those who could do something, pretend it's mostly a "Catholic Problem."
 

The Barbarian

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Celibacy bears no causal relation to any type of deviant sexual addiction including pedophilia. In fact, married men are just as likely as celibate priests to sexually abuse children (Jenkins, Priests and Pedophilia).

Right. The FBI says that the majority of pedophiles are men with a history of heterosexual relations.
 
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