"After media outlets misinterpreted an article by Cardinal Christoph Schönborn to say that he is questioning the Church's rule of priestly celibacy, several high ranking churchmen have spoken out in praise of celibacy as a gift. They also dismissed the idea that celibacy is connected to pedophilia."
Catholic News Agency
We just can't bring ourselves to name the real cause of this, can we? It isn't celibacy, it's HOMOSEXUALITY! Most of these guys weren't buggering little girls, were they?
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Tom,
ReplyDeleteEven if pedophilia priests were abusing little girls, I would wager that the incident rate of sexual abuse of minors among Protestant clergy is GREATER than that of Catholic clergy, but the news media won't report this.
Yes, I agree that Catholic clergy should and must be held to a higher standard. However, while being raised in the Assemblies of God in my youth, I observed a great deal of sexual abuse of female teenagers. Over a ten year period or so my church went through six pastors. Three of the six had committed sexual abuse of teenage girls and were literally run out of town. Now that bit of history certainly isn't statistically valid - a 50% abuse rate - but I have now been a Catholic for considerably longer than I was a Protestant and I have yet to been charged. I do know of two priests in my area who are accused, but the allegations appear to be false and motivated more by a desire for access to the Diocese's treasury than by a desire for an expose of the truth.
All I can tell you is what I have seen. And as you correctly indicate, celibacy is NOT the problem and has NOTHING to do with whether or not someone sexually abuses minors. Three of six Protestant pastors, all of whom had wives and children of their own, amply demonstrate the veracity of your statement.
Besides, if priests marry, then in today's society we can expect priestly divorce rate to equal the divorce rate among Protestant clergy and what a stick the news media will make fo that! No matter how you slice it - celibacy or no celibacy - the world will forever ridicule, revile and condemn its only hope for salvation. The issue of celibacy is nothing more than a red herring, and Rome is right for insisting on the discipline thereof.
I suspect you may be right about the problems inside th Protestant churches. Not that it excuses the problems we have.
ReplyDeleteI had a job a few years ago where my boss was a Pentecostal preacher. We talked openly about every aspect of our faith and our churches. He told me that one of the higher ups at the headquarters for his branch of Pentecostalism, which is based here in the St. Louis area, told him to get ready. He said that there was something going on inside their churches that would make the "Catholic problem" pale in comparison.
Of course, nothing came of it. That tells me that because Pentecostalism isn't the threat to Satan and the Progressives that Catholicism is the story was never pursued and pushed under the rug.
It also tells me that your gut feeling may not be far off the mark.