FIRE THE POPE: Let the priests (and nuns) marry!
It is time. It is long past time. The evidence is mounting that Pope Ben covered up yet another series of molestations when he was a mere bishop. Enough is enough. The Catholic Church has been abusing children for centuries, and they have been covering it up for centuries! Fire those responsible, prosecute them, and allow priests to marry. This celibacy nonsense is arcane and barbaric and has nothing to do with God. It began as an attempt by the church to prevent priests from leaving their personal estates to their wives and children. If unmarried they would be forced to leave their “wealth” to the church. So for those who think that priests aren’t allowed to marry because allegedly Jesus was not married is utter and absolute nonsense. It is and was about money. It is and was about enriching the Catholic Church!
About Post Author
Professor Mike
More Stories
Parlez-vous and Red Roses Too
Roses are a girl’s best friend, or so I’ve been told; at the same time, wondering why I wasn’t my...
Living In A Dead Man’s Town
The following contains extremely violent images some may find distressing. This is Part One of my anthology—you can find Part...
Sacred and Profane: The Complexity of Prison Spirituality
I’ve watched this unfold repeatedly, and I'm struck by the theater of it all each time. The inmates walk into...
MMA Is Saying Goodbye To Politics and Hello To People and Pets
Just in time for Christmas, I am changing our format from politics to just people and pets. Life is too...
The Best Tips On Interviewing Someone for a Job
One of the most essential elements of a recruiting process is to conduct interviews to choose the right candidates.
WTF? Loony Pat Robertson Leads Viewers In Creepy Prayer Against Dr. Ford
https://youtu.be/oyGx40KKO14 by Michael John Scott Loopy Pat Robertson is at the top of the list when you thought you've seen...
I’d love to hear also of other Churches and organised religions! It seems the whole is just about the “Catholic Church”. Is it the most important Church or organised world religion?
As a Catholic who grew up with a very positive experience in the Catholic church, I left the church because I believe that Priests and Nuns need to be married!! As a father now, how can I relate to a priest or a nun who has no idea what it is like to be married or raise a child. Every one of my friends and family has also left the church because of this issue. The Catholic church will not survive unless it changes the 1,000 yr old Canon Laws dictating celibacy. Who is going to support the church financially moving forward? The church will be forced to change these ridiculously archaic canon laws, allowing priests and nuns to marry. That is the only way to eliminate the problems with the Catholic church. Perhaps if the church does this, I and millions of other will return.
I agree with every word Todd. Thanks.
People ashamed of their sexuality may decide to becomes priests so they can avoid it. But you can’t hide who you are. Perverted child molesters may become priests because they know a steady stream of helpless victims is available.
Absolutely right Truth!!
I didn’t grow up in a catholic school, but I did grow up in a southern baptist school, and that’s a whole other set of mental illnesses to talk about there.
I look at it as one of two scenarios. Priests enter the church and become sexually frustrated and take it out on children who are easy to shut up, or they enter the priesthood already predators and join because they have an easy target. Either way, not good.
I’m personally for the complete dissolution of the catholic church, but then I’m for the complete dissolution of all organized religion. I want to live in Star Trek world.
I am also for complete dissolution of all religion Bee and I am all for a Star Trek World! Engage Mrs. Bee!!
We gotta let the nuns marry, too, Mike. Mary Tyler Moore in a “Change of Habit” – I would have definitely done some nice communion with her. NO PROBLEM!!
LOL Will…Yea I remember that … boy do I remember that, and OF COURSE the nuns should be allowed to marry. I forgot that. Thanks buddy 🙂
The Catholic Church is shrinking every day. More and more Catholics are tired of the set ways of the clergy. At one time priest were allowed to marry. It was more of a property inheritence thing than fealty to God and Church that changed that to the celibacy requirement.
I find it difficult to accept marriage counseling or parental counseling from one who has never done either. I have two daughters and I want them to have the same opportunities as my son.
The Catholic Church is backward thinking and has done a despicable job handling the perverts who make it through the seminary to become priests.
Like Holte, I am also Roman Catholic. I’m still a practicing Catholic with no doubts about God. Just doubts about the people running the Church.
It is possible for Catholic Priests to be married, especially in the Eastern Rite, if a potential Priest was married before he was ordained, that’s OK. Stay married, no celibacy.
Thanks for the link Jess. I will check it out.
It gives me great happiness to say….. You and I agree on some things old friend, this is DEFINATLEY one of them:-)
Excellent Chuck.
I’d say that there were several factors going on here. You have a lot of guilt being put on children as Mike pointed out. There’s the unquestioned power of the priests and having young boys who would say nothing about the abuse when it happened. My guess would be that many of these priests were abused themselves when they were younger.
Guilt is the darkest of all thoughts Demeur. You are right.
Not all pedophiles are Priests, wonder who is to blame for them being what they are. I don’t want to appear to be defending the nasty behavior of some Priests, they do not need protecting and need to be dealt with in the court system. But all Priests are not pedophiles and all pedophiles are not Priests. It’s amazing you know some of the the Priests I have met were pretty decent human beings.
I can’t disagree with that Alan. I have also met some wonderful priests. I am referring to the paradigm of pedophilia and cover up that is the Catholic church.
Holy schmoley, Mike. Hilarious graphic up top.
LOL Collin. It is actually a picture of the Pope, but I didn’t have time to re-crop it. I think it gets the point across 🙂
Humans are sexual creatures. To deny appropriate sexuality is an open invitation for inappropriate sexuality.
Agreed TC!
Perfectly said.
I would question the thought process of anyone who voluneers to give up that most basic of human needs. Prisoners have no choice, but those who enter the Catholic clergy certainly do have a choice. It’s irrational at the least and insane at the worst.
MyCue…I must echo The Lawyer’s concise evaluation of an earlier post..Perfectly said however, I am not so sure that those who “reside” behind the “walls” of the church have much more freedom, at least emotionally and mentally, than those who reside behind the “walls” of the penitentiary. I think it is just a different type of prison. Both limit freedom and expression of thought.
I too grew up in the Catholic church, 12 years of school, all the regular rituals, we were mocked and taunted by the rest of population, which hardened me against all other cults and sects, England was a very Protestant country then. The priests I was around in those days were great guys, but the less said about the nuns the better. But once out of school it became very easy to shake off, and traveling in southern Europe I got to see the Catholic church in all its pomp and to me religion became a parody of itself. Infidel is right, once baptized a Catholic they claim you forever, but I got news for them.
Alan as I recall the Catholic church had a strong hold on the population of Ireland, with priests often being the law of the land. I doubt that is still true but I believe, not so long ago, that the parish priest was part of family life in Ireland.
I think that those priests who are guilty of pedophilia actually enter the priesthood in an attempt to “cleanse” themselves of those “unnatural” thoughts. They try to deny that they have those feelings and by declaring themselves celibate, they won’t have to face them. There are priests who engage in “normal” sexual relationships. They either end up leaving the priesthood or their affairs are kept quiet. Pedophilia is a psychological illness that I don’t believe is brought about by celibacy. You aren’t taught to be a heterosexual or a homosexual, you just act on your natural feelings. I also don’t believe that those who engage in the sexual abuse of children in the church are doing so because of forced celibacy. If they felt they had to act on a sexual feeling, they would do so with an adult. I know it’s a chicken or the egg argument, but that’s just my thought.
You make some excellent points Michael. Unfortunately there are no reliable statistics to support or not, the number of individuals who enter the priesthood because they are homosexual, or because they are, as you say, hopeful of “cleansing” themselves of “unnatural” thoughts. Sadly, with a few exceptions, primarily in the United States, the “evidence” is anecdotal.
I remember as a youngster the nuns telling us that if we had “unnatural” thoughts we would die in our sleep and the devil would take us. I remember these crows telling us that if we “touched” ourselves in a most “unnatural way” we would develop cancer of the stomach and die a horrible death with the devil poking us all the while.
We were in the 7th and 8th grades. I had a lot of sleepless nights and any number of panic attacks because I was convinced I was going to develop stomach cancer, die in my sleep, and go straight to hell. There is an example of Catholic teaching for you…..
I too am a product of a Catholic school education. There was certainly lots of guilt to go around, but I never really bought into it. I think that the Catholic church ought to look into some serious psychological testing before allowing people to become priests. Of course given the lack of men willing to join the priesthood, I don’t think they ask too many questions.
They are akin to our “volunteer army.” We are recruiting convicted felons because we can’t get enough people to enlist. The desperation is present in both paradigms.
One needs to differentiate between homosexuality and pedophilia. Pedophilia is the problem. If priests were acting like normal homosexuals and having clandestine affairs with (male) consenting adults, it wouldn’t be a problem (even if it violated the Church’s internal rules).
It may be that a few pedophiles join the Catholic clergy for whatever reason, but the patterns we’re seeing suggest that what’s happening much more is that protracted existence in the celibate clergy turns what used to be sexually-normal men (whether homosexual or heterosexual) into pedophiles.
I think Infidel, this may be a result of learning. We become what our environment provides. In other words, molesting children appears to be the norm, as opposed to the exception in the Catholic Church. Therefore, new priests learn from old priests and act accordingly.
Thousands of individuals are sent to prison every year. The vast majority would never consider a homosexual lifestyle. In prison it is the operative paradigm and exists, for hundreds, within the confines of the “walls.”
Once released inmates return to their original heterosexual lifestyle, until of course, less than 2 years later they re-offend and return to the joint, where they take up their old patterns of institutional behavior.
Mike,
I just don’t believe that you can teach an adult to be a pedophile when there are clear options available to them. In prison, there is no option. Do you think that inmates given the option of sex with a woman and sex with a man would chose the latter? I don’t think so. As I said, there are many instances of normal sexual relationships taking place between priests and women as I am sure there are examples of normal homosexual relationships. Priests do not live in a bubble that includes only priests and young boys. Those who molest children are chosing to do so. The reasons may be many, but I don’t believe it’s because of “learned” behavior.
Throw Pope Palpatine in the Slammer! How about using the RICO act because of conspiracy?
I think it is a question of jurisdiction.
Here is Rico (from Wikipedia):
Under RICO, a person who is a member of an enterprise that has committed any two of 35 crimes—27 federal crimes and 8 state crimes—within a 10-year period can be charged with racketeering. Those found guilty of racketeering can be fined up to $250,000 and/or sentenced to 20 years in prison per racketeering count. In addition, the racketeer must forfeit all ill-gotten gains and interest in any business gained through a pattern of “racketeering activity.” RICO also permits a private individual harmed by the actions of such an enterprise to file a civil suit; if successful, the individual can collect treble damages
Where is our dang lawyer when we need him? 🙂
I think that it is long past due that the Catholic church allow its priests to marry. I also think that it’s long past due that the Catholic church allow women a more prominent role, inlcuding allowing them to become priests. I don’t think, however, that allowing priests to marry has much to do with the cases of child molestation. Celibacy does not lead to pedophilia any more than homosexuality or heterosexuality does. The impulse to have sex with children is clearly deviant sexual behavior. A married person is capable of harboring such thoughts, just as a celibate person would be.
It is time for the Catholic church to move forward in their thinking, but let’s not link celibacy to child molestation. The problem is that the church has provided a safe haven for these sick and twisted individuals and allowed them to prey on the innocent young children for far too long. The church needs to bring those people to justice. They need to bring those responsible for allowing it to go on to justice. They need to empty the catholic church of those individuals who would pervert their positions of authority in order to fullfil their sick sexual desires.
I think that if the Catholic church did allow its clergy to marry, a lot more people would probably chose to become priests. Perhaps then they would not feel the need to hold on to the ones they have, regardless of their sexual proclivities.
Sex is a natural human drive. Celibacy flies in the face of that drive and fills those who practice it with an unusual and awful guilt if they violate the rule in any way, and this includes what the church calls “unnatural thoughts.” The celibacy rule implies that sex is unnatural. Therefore priests who have sexual thoughts feel that this is unnatural and they are now “labeled” as being unnatural.
It is just one more step to fulfill the label, whether it be to have sex with a woman, or, even easier, with a young boy. Since they are unnatural they are now acting out the label and attaining a self-identity that is destructive to them and others.
I agree that celibacy and homosexuality are not cause and effect, however in a closed society such as the Church of Rome, a group that vigorously protects its own and provides ample opportunity, it may become attractive to those who may be inclined to criminality.
But pedophilia in the Catholic clergy is such a pervasive problem, it’s clear that there must be some basis for the correlation.
It seems plausible to me that years of celibacy could distort a person’s sexuality. Dam up a river and allow it no exit, and it will burst forth in some other direction, perhaps disastrously.
Clergy celibacy was imposed by the Catholic Church in the 11th century, very likely in order that priests would leave their property to the Church rather than to offspring, as Mad Mike says.
In a just world, the future policy of the Catholic Church would not even be an issue. Its uniform and documented policy of hiding and helping pedophiles for decades, all over the world, shows that the Catholic Church is nothing but a huge organized-crime ring. Its operations should be shut down, its leaders arrested where personal involvement in the cover-ups can be shown, its assets — up to the very Vatican itself — should be seized and liquidated to pay compensation to the victims. In a world, the Catholic Church as an institution should be put out of business and cease to exist. Anything less is not justice.
Agreed! Every word. Unfortunately there are 1.1 billion Catholics in the world. They would never allow global prosecution, despite the ample justification.
1.1 billion? Really? I know they claim that, but they count everyone who has ever been a member except for the few who formally resign. And even among those who remain nominally Catholic, I suspect in many cases it’s in name only. The Church used to be supreme in Ireland, for example, but its authority is imploding in the wake of the scandals.
I agree that it won’t be done in the foreseeable future, but I think that the Catholic Church’s supposed power is largely a paper tiger, and that they do not in fact have so many real adherents as the generally-cited statistics claim.
There is no church-wide census, and there are various criteria for determining membership. However, the Roman Catholics in the world are estimated to be about half the total number of Christians and make the church one of the largest religions in the world, with more than 1 billion adherents. This is the sum of my research on the numbers and I suspect you are right with your “paper tiger” comparison.
Michael H., I agree with you that celibacy does not indicate pedophilia. Infidel, I disagree with you… the correlation is more on the barrier between priests and others… that barrier is one based in fear and loathing. Catholicism has remained lucrative throughout the last 2 thousand years because of it’s duality: with one hand it gives and with the other it condemns (and follows through violently on that condemnation). “The Church” has demonstrated a power of life and death from the theological to the practical and infused the human psyche with a instinctive fear damnation, hell, retribution and sickness more than any other ‘biblically based theology’. And one speculates as to why pedophiles would seek harbor within it’s metaphorical walls? Wake up PEOPLE! I have discovered true healers and kindness wrapped in habit’s and cassocks … but more over I’ve experienced cruelty and punishment for free thought within it. I’ve witnessed physical abuse and deeper psychological terrorism from the ‘church’. Karma has found the front door of St. Peter’s. May it pound heavily and bring the whole thing down…
Is anyone actually thinking about the issue here? Hundreds of years of terror and physical abuse by the minions of ‘the church’ systemically all across the globe! It’s an ATROCITY! AGAINST CHILDREN~!
Gods,
people still pass it over. Don’t see the horror of it. Dismiss it to protect themselves.
The resignation of thousands of Catholics per month for the last few years is leaving St. Peter’s flock in fiscal panic… hell, they even tried to invite Henry’s Angelicans into the fold… for their part, the English have distanced themselves from Catholicism as far as they can. In America, the Bishops’ conclaves have convinced the Vatican (as of the beginning of 2009) to invest an official Inquisition into the broader personal freedoms among the ‘women of the church’ or the orders of nuns, primarily academics whom have made larger contributions to the upward mobility and personal responsibility of nuns… these women are openly appealing this process and condemning it… at the cost of their ‘discommunication etc.’ The Catholic Church is on it’s way to dissolution…
with any cosmic justice.
I do feel strongly in the matter.
The psychological implications of celibacy within the Catholic Church has been studied and documented for the last three hundred years, repetitively. Overwhelming conclusion is that pedophilia does not stem from celibacy. Cassocks provide wonderful disguises and dismissal for crime. It always has. That’s the friggin issue right now.
I agree that celibacy does not cause pedophilia as I mentioned earlier but celibacy is unnatural. It denies human sexuality which is a drive as great as hunger. Bottom line: The Church of Rome is FUBAR.
Great response as always Gwen!! I agree with every word…
Ta MM… I hate to admit this, but what exactly does FUBAR mean?
I really don’t know. Gee.
FIRE THE POPE
Screw that. The scumbag needs to be arrested and stand trial as an accomplice to multiple felonies. These people need to learn that they are just as accountable to the civil law as anybody else who does the same things. We didn’t let Warren Jeff’s FLDS cult deal with him by internal mumbo-jumbo, we locked him up. Same thing.
Apparently Infidel you and I were thinking alike. I had forgotten to add the “prosecute” line and went back and did it. Then your comment…..most excellent indeed!
Brilliant ideas and reporting! Bravissimo. Do the same for those wolf-parents who feast on their DAUGHTERS, SONS, NIECES AND NEPHEWS, then you’ll have accomplished a better rendication of our society’s evolution!
God bless U!