Jul 4, 2005

The Priesthood and Celibacy: A "Sin"

Pope obstructed' sex abuse inquiry

    It asserted the church's right to hold its inquiries behind closed doors and keep the evidence confidential for up to 10 years after the victims reached adulthood. The letter was signed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who was elected as John Paul II's successor last week.


A contributor noted that "Many Catholic priests here in Italy have girl friends (and go to discos, without dog collars), and as a result, child molestation seems to be less frequent here."

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Yes, that brings up something that I saw from a Catholic that struck me as a little odd. It was stated that molestation was no more prevalent among the Catholic Church than others, and perhaps not even as bad. Well, I'll go along with that if the list being compared to is a list of churches that require celibacy.

C'mon. Celibacy is not a normal way to behave. It flies in the face of every socio-biological drive that we have. It is a perfect recipe for trouble. Look around. I see over and over again that people respond to having a natural bodily functions perverted or demeaned, by developing another perversion or abnormality of behaviour in response.

Just as the pressure to remain skinny in a culture where food is everywhere is expressed as anorexia/bulimia, to abstain from the sex-drive results in suicide, pedophilia or outright madness. If you taught someone that they were a bad person for taking going to the bathroom (I'm serious!)you'd get one f***ed up adult. And if you beat them I bet you'd get a whole range of various bizarre behaviours.... and not just the ones you'd expect from somebody who was beaten for "acting up". I mean, is any of us surprised when we hear that a mass murderer was brought up by parents who were very religious and strict? Certainly not me. I expect it.

As well, when you make celibacy a prerequisite to the priesthood, what kind of young men do you think will be coming through that door? How about a young man who is having a sexual identity crisis. He's scared that he might be gay, but he thinks that it is wrong and shameful. Where to go to be delivered from that conflict? The priesthood of course! So now you have people who not only deny their own sexuality, but someone who reads daily, who speaks out daily in front of a congregation that the person he is on the inside... is evil. Add to that he hasn't been laid yet, and you got trouble.

Or what about someone who does have feelings of pedophilia right from a young age? How to live an acceptable life is going to be a big problem unless he sublimates that behaviour. Presto! The priesthood......and a life of daily reminders of his evil nature.

C'mon. It's a no brainer. Celibacy only aggravates any existing problems and will almost certainly lead to the development of some if you don't already have them.

Gary Williams

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