Would allowing priest to marry change things?

notreally

notreally

1,000+ Posts
in the catholic church that is.

is that even the problem? i have to assume it is. serious question. would be nice if there were some catholics that could weigh in.

i know that abstinence and pedophilia are not directly connected, but one can only draw the conclusion the way a catholic priest lives must have some bearing on the way they are acting out.

that of course assumes these men "crossed over" into pedophilia at one time. i guess it is plausible that these men were pedophiles that joined the priesthood, but that doesn't seem as likely to me.

however, i don't understand how anyone could "cross over" either.
 
Well, there is a passage in the NT in which Paul says something along the lines of 'getting married is good, but I am not married because a married man works for his wife, and an unmarried man works for God, so, it is better to be unmarried and work for God but still ok to be married and work for wife (and God when she gives you free time).' I am not a biblical scholar, but I believe that is one of the reasons why the Church doesn't allow priest to marry, so they can be fully devoted to the Church. Now, if the priest is molesting kids I would say he isn't fully devoted to the Church so there is a legitimate argument to allowing them to marry, especially since deacons are allowed to marry and can give just as good advice and sermons as a priest.

As far as this secrecy and cover ups by the church concerning molestations, that's just idiotic. There is a bible passage that says "if something causes you to sin, remove it". These guys should be instantly removed from the Church and turned over to local police.
 
my two cents:

I'm guessing that a lot of guys that have "immoral" urges, such as a desire for children, or homosexual feelings, try to fight it by immersing themselves in religion. They think that becoming a priest will give them the strength to resist their "immoral" temptations. Unfortunately, it doesn't work.
 
I don't know about the OP's original question. I do know that once you start mixing in religion and scripture to questions like this, it ends up being a bigger mess than if 2 people just sat down and came to their own conclusion over a cup of coffee.
 
There are perverts in all walks of life and in the cloth of all religions. Catholic Christendom is far and away the largest centrally organized faith and thus stands out by comparison even barring a proportionally worse problem. With that having been stated, the problem probably is worse proportionately among catholics based on a number of factors. Catholics place a heavy emphasis on forgiveness, sanctity of the rite of contrition, and priests as family rather than employees. And of course, the vast majority of catholic clergy are not permitted to marry.

The rule forbidding most priests from marriage is merely a discipline. In other words, it is something that the church has indicated it thinks is useful, not something mandated by scripture and/or tradition. The church could cancel the rule any time it wished. It has been and remains my opinion as a faithful catholic that the rule should be changed for several reasons, including the one leading to this thread.

Broadening the conditions under which priests may marry will not weed out those who seek positions which will permit the necessary influence to facilitate the sort of perversity which has caused so much trouble. It will introduce all-new problems such as a significantly increased incidence of priests seeking divorces. IMO, though, the change is one the church should, and someday will, make.
 
man, i am firmly with BigWill on this one....
I've often thought that these are people from strict homes who believe from an early age that sexuality is perverse (not to mention that it would be totally taboo in their homes) and that they begin repressing early on and then seek "purification" through priesthood only to wind up being a gigantic conflicted sexual clusterfuck.
i do think they should be allowed to marry. if you don't like it and your priest is married go to a church where the priest has taken a vow of celibacy.
it really makes no difference to the conversation, but i grew up catholic and in the past year or so have gravitated back toward it a bit...
 
bill maher said last night (okay, he's a douche but bare with me)....

that he doesn't believe that anyone would leave the catholic church if the church decided to allow/encourage it and i tend to agree. of course there would be some, but 95 out of a 100 catholics would probably not change their worship habits at all.

i agree with that. not to mention, it hasn't always been that way. it was only mandated in the 12th century (someone else's quote btw, not mine).
 
I agree with BigWill as well. Although even marriage doesn't end all temptations. I think most married men would agree with that statement.
I think that the bigger story is the coverup of the abuses. Sadly, you are going to have priests do awful things. These priests truly are few and far between. The biggest problem I have is that instead of the Catholic Church acknowledging what a few have done and dealing with them at the time, they tried to cover it up.
 
I don't think there is any correlation between allowing marriage and the homosexual and/or pedophile priests, that is a separate issue. I believe it was correctly analyzed above, that is, people who want to suppress those feelings join the priesthood to try to immerse themselves in the church, and avoid what they have been taught is anti-Christian and sinful. Maybe it works in some cases, but obviously not all.
The argument for and against marriage for priests, as I understand it: for-priests spent a good amount of time counseling parishoners on marital matters, and being married would hopefully set a good example; against-priests are considered "married to the church," and therefore can devote full time to spiritual concerns.
 
Saying that pederasty can be resolved by allowing marriage, is like saying that grand theft auto can be resolved by giving out free bus passes.

In any event, we aren't really talking about "marriage" here are we? If you are of the belief that sex is meant solely for procreation, not recreation, marriage doesn't necessarily scratch that itch, if you get my meaning.

My main problem with the thesis of this thread is the belief that sexual desire is equally transferable to any available hole... which is an utter crock. These priests keep going after children because these men are attracted to children, not because of generalized sexual frustration.
 
I am not sure it is completely due to attraction that priests target children. These men are predators. Predators need to be in a position where they feel dominant over their prey. Since priests are often immature sexually and socially the only people they can feel dominant over is children. For some of them I think the attraction develops as a consequence of them choosing the only type of prey available to them. On the other hand I may be trying to rationalize because I cannot fathom why anyone would have an attraction to children.

I agree with Will that many of these predators realize they have a problem and go into the priesthood to hide only to find themselves with too much easy access to children.
 
The theory people are trying to state, if I am correct, is that those with these urges who attempt to fight them might do so by joining the priesthood, hoping to avoid carrying out their inclinations. It wouldn't be true in every case, but this has to be a big component of the issue.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Weekly Prediction Contest

* Predict TEXAS-KENTUCKY *
Sat, Nov 23 • 2:30 PM on ABC

Recent Threads

Prediction Results Threads

2024 Schedules

Back
Top