He came, he spoke, he conquered.
Pope Benedict XVI is back in Rome, after his razzle-dazzle visit to the United States -- where he impressed everybody with his apologetic comments about the priest pedophile scandal.
Well, ALMOST everybody. He didn't impress me, because -- even though, for the first time, he expressed regret at the way the Church tried for so long to cover up the scandal -- he still refuses to recognize what lies at the heart of the problem.
As long as the Catholic Church insists on only ordaining men as priests -- and only accepting celibate men as priests -- its sex scandals are never going away.
There's nothing in Scripture or in the teachings of Jesus to support a male-only, celibate clergy. Those rules were added much later by misogynist, sexually-screwed up theologians.
After all, some of the closest and most loyal followers of Jesus were women. And most of the Apostles, including St. Peter, were married men.
Look at ministers, rabbis, or Orthodox priests. There's no doubt a member of the clergy can marry and still function as a priest.
If Benedict is really serious about fixing the Church's sex scandal problems, he will let priests get married. Then they won't be so likely to prey on little boys.
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With or without celibacy law, priests will want to get off homosexually or heterosexually. The problem with the Catholic Church is that church leadership has promoted pedophilia.Celibacy law won't prevent priests from whoring, nor will reversing celibacy law prevent priests from whoring or committing perversions with little boys and girls.
But gay priests are into men, not little boys or girls. They are also into colorful priestly silk dresses and skirts, wonderful hats; no undergarments to hide baskets. Gays are in it for the drag show and copulation with men.
This most recent pope, conservative, former Hitler youth soldier and Prefect of the Holy Office of the Inquisition, considering his rulings while holding that seat, is in his own way repressed. Who knows? He might have brought Cardinal Law to sit beside him so they can conspire on issues of sexual depravity. They already have by consciously shifting pedophiles from one parish to another. Ratzinger's own "Crimen Solicitationis" itself gave permission to cover up sex abuse crimes.
More and more turn toward what Ratzinger calls religious indifferentism, a right-leaning term for enlightenment and moral and ethical clarity based essentially on categorical imperatives....More and more do not buy into state-sanctioned mythologies because they see the hypocrisy and harm traditional, structured religion causes. Popes are not infallible. Church leaders can commit heinous crimes against their own gods but more importantly, against humanity.
People see into that and say they're not living uneducated in squalor with 25 kids so the Church can have its babies. What Ratzinger sees as ignorance, others see as enlightenment. Ratzinger's religious indifferentism is a right-leaning term for moral and ethical clarity based on categorical imperatives. The reason why more and more in the world turn away from Christianity but here in America more and more turn toward it is others see priests as living in their own alternative universe while Americans see it as something their growingly ignorant selves see as enlightenment.
And considering that in Paul's letters he makes specific references to female leaders in the Church, and as stated above that Peter and others were married themselves....
all of what you have written about is malarkey.
The Church instituted celibacy when it became concerned that priests were leaving property to their children. It was a power play. Way back when just about the only respectable occupation a man could get was being a priest. He got educated (very rare in that society) was taught to read and write, and was respected in his community. Many times it was either that or live a life of total poverty and no social mobility.
That is no longer true and the church has to change or it will no longer attract enough priests.
I watched a program which partly included an interview with a Catholic priest who studied sexual problems. Basically he said that the priesthood attracted a certain number of people who were uncomfortable with their own sexuality and who thought praying and chastity would cure these ills. (this as opposed to other men who were not running away from their sexuality but embracing celibacy as a way to find God)
By giving up the celibacy rule, the priesthood would attract a higher number of people with a healthy sexuality - but it would not stop an abuser from abusing people.
The only conceivable abuse I can see it stopping would be possibly hidden affairs with members of the congregation, which could be an abuse of power just as it can be with a psychologist who has sex with patients. But this still happens with psychologists.
I suggest you learn about pedophiles. They are classified as such because they prefer sex with children over that with adults. It has nothing to do with heterosexuality or homosexuality. I don't understand how anyone could not comprehend this part of it.
It has been widely publicized that the Catholic church is running out of priests. They are going to have to allow married men and women as leaders or wither. But even with these additions, they will always have to guard against all kinds of abuse.
~ At least 30% of those abused by priests are girls.
~ Pedophelia and homosexuality are unrelated.
~I agree with IDYTME, please educate yourself about sexual abuse. It's unrelated to sexual identity.
The content of your post indicates the degree to which the current drag queen from Italy is fallible.
Maybe they should start wearing slacks rather than dresses. I cannot begin to imagine how many gays love being priests for the costume and splendor of it all, but I do not think it's the gay priests who are sleeping with little boys and girls.
If the Pope, former Hitler youth and soldier and later holder of the seat once held by the rulemaker of the Inquisition, wants to indicate he is anything other than words, he can assign Cardinal Law to a hot place in Hell but first remove him for that chair to his right in the Vatican.
Religion appears to be the modern day choke-hold on man's evolution towards enlightenment....
Wait? So there is sexual abuse in the schools as well in the churches? And there is sexual abuse in Protestant churches, as well--all of which allow married ministers and many of which ordain women?
Bill, if you disagree with the Catholic Church's teachings on priestly celibacy and the all-male priesthood, fine. But that has nothing to do with the sex scandal. Sexual abuse permeates all areas of society. Most abusers are not people who took vows of celibacy. And, yes, some bishops covered up the scandal and transferred pedophile priests, but that has nothing to do with priestly celibacy.
To nerakami, this is not a reply to your post. I just couldn't figure out how to post a comment without replying to someone in particular.
You feel you are better than the priests, and that these imperfect guys who say mass at the altar are just imperfect humans. But after all is said and done, you are kneeling in the pew and have your one on one talk with god.
If unmarried men are the ones who prey on children, then let me ask again, since it seems my earlier post wasn't tasty to you, how many children did you molest before you were married? See how baseless your flawed logic is..."no wives equal pedophilia...unmarried clergy have no wives...therefore celibate clergy are pedophiles..." DOES NOT COMPUTE.
Stop attacking the men who honestly and sincerely strive to do God's work day in and day out, without hurting children, in order to rationalize a post modern feel good justification for women's ordination and married clergy. If you dig a bit deeper, you will know that the church already allows married priests who come to the church from the Anglican tradition.
If the Catholic church really wants to fix its sex scandal it would just do a little more screening. Rooting out gays in favored of "married" priests won't do that. Heterosexual pedophilia is quite possible, you know.
We should let the church be the church. Women and married priests aren't going to make that tradition palatable to people with modern sensibilities.