Catholic Church and the consequences of celibracy

Alan McDougall · #1 06-01-2009, 03:11 PM

What do you think forum

The 2600-page report by Ireland's Commission to Inquire Into Child Abuse found rape was endemic in more than 250 Irish-Catholic care institutions from the 1930s to the 1990s, and the church protected pedophiles from prosecution. Victims groups say the culture of abuse and cruelty in Catholic institutions in Australia last century could have been as shocking as that revealed in a nine-year Irish commission's report.

This adds to the sorry saga of the Catholic Church in America where over a billion dollars was paid out to American victims of pedophilia. At the same time Irish Bishop Pat Buckley has confessed that some 500 of his priests to-day are having regular sex, willfully exploiting their power, their status and their position over women. Surely with all this evidence it is time for the Catholic Church to end its insistence on celibacy and readmit married priests into the church.

There is nothing in the Bible that one has to be celibate to do religious work. There are other Christian organizations where their priests and Christian Ministers are allowed to get married. There has to be more attention given to the human needs of the clergy.

This would need a directive from the Vatican about the matter. Of course, the more skeptical would say no Pope would ever do that. In the meantime, you have hundreds and thousands of priests around the world abusing their position to satisfy their physical needs exploiting women and children with or without the Pope’s blessing. Unaddressed this whole issue will continue to create disharmony within the Catholic Church and divert energy, resources and attention away from the critical issues that face humanity

Surly surly this Church must bundge from the stone walls of silly traditions

Didymos Thomas · #2 06-01-2009, 05:49 PM

I'm not convinced by the connection: 'celibacy, therefore, child abuse/rape'

Surely there are other factors. There seems to be celibate Catholic priests who do not engage in this sort of deplorable behavior.

GoshisDead · #3 06-01-2009, 07:08 PM

I think it could be celibacy that attracts people with propensities to pedophilia. They know its wrong and want to go some place where they have a shot (at least in their heads) of avoiding it.

Bones-O! · #4 06-01-2009, 07:29 PM

Hi Alan

I started a thread on the topic of this particular scandal, though not to do with celibacy. You might want a quick look.

http://www.philosophyforum.com/forum...ic-church.html

My position on this is that the problem lies not with genuine clergy but the fact that the practises of the Catholic church leave it wide open to exploitation. I cite a particular testimony in the above thread that, in my mind, removes any possibility that the perpetrators were what anyone would describe as Christian above and beyond the general nature of the abuses.

The celibacy angle I didn't cover. My first reaction to this would be that since these schools and reformatories were practically rape dens, the description of 'celibate' seems rather inappropriate. I could see your point if the story described, say, a one-off rape charge of a celibate cleric, but the 'Irish holocaust' shows all the signs of being systematic. Vows of celibacy seem to have been abandoned a while ago.

Power, I fathom, is the driving force here, heightened by opaque practises.

Alan McDougall · #5 06-02-2009, 03:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bones-O!

Hi Alan

I started a thread on the topic of this particular scandal, though not to do with celibacy. You might want a quick look.

http://www.philosophyforum.com/forum...ic-church.html

My position on this is that the problem lies not with genuine clergy but the fact that the practises of the Catholic church leave it wide open to exploitation. I cite a particular testimony in the above thread that, in my mind, removes any possibility that the perpetrators were what anyone would describe as Christian above and beyond the general nature of the abuses.

The celibacy angle I didn't cover. My first reaction to this would be that since these schools and reformatories were practically rape dens, the description of 'celibate' seems rather inappropriate. I could see your point if the story described, say, a one-off rape charge of a celibate cleric, but the 'Irish holocaust' shows all the signs of being systematic. Vows of celibacy seem to have been abandoned a while ago.

Power, I fathom, is the driving force here, heightened by opaque practises.

Hi it was not my intention of putting down or criticizing the Catholic Church, more aimed at celibacy as unnatural and I feel the priests and Nuns should be allowed to marry, if they want to

The Catholic Church has done enormous good,and sadly also some bad thinks so there are two sided to this coin

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