102 Irish Priests Suspected of Abuse

[Cheese]

Irish abuse

The Roman Catholic archdiocese of Dublin said Wednesday that 102 of its priests are suspected of sexually or physically abusing at least 350 children since 1940 — the biggest such admission to date in Ireland.

[FireFly]

The Catholic stance on celebacy is stupid. I get that the preists are 'married to God' but obviously God can't fulfill their sexual desires. IMO, that's the biggest reason these things happen. Perhaps it's also that sexual deviants know how easy it is for a pastor to get close to children in their church and so become said pastors, but still. There's a reason you don't get these kinds of large scale admissions in other churches, other churches allow their pastors to marry!

[MolsonInBothHands]

Why can't they just molest each other? Get together at Easter, bring out the sacriment wine, light some candles, loosen the collars, and get it out of their systems.

Otherwise, since they no longer need gonads, submit to chemical castration.

Sheesh...

[Regulator75]

Originally Posted by MolsonInBothHands

Why can't they just molest each other? Get together at Easter, bring out the sacriment wine, light some candles, loosen the collars, and get it out of their systems.

Otherwise, since they no longer need gonads, submit to chemical castration.

Sheesh...

I almost fell out of my chair, that was hilarious!
Post of the day!

[habernac]

Originally Posted by FireFly

The Catholic stance on celebacy is stupid. I get that the preists are 'married to God' but obviously God can't fulfill their sexual desires. IMO, that's the biggest reason these things happen. Perhaps it's also that sexual deviants know how easy it is for a pastor to get close to children in their church and so become said pastors, but still. There's a reason you don't get these kinds of large scale admissions in other churches, other churches allow their pastors to marry!

Great post, couldn't agree more.

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

Come on, you seriously think that child molesters are sitting around going "Hey, I wonder what the best way to get close to kids would be?"
"Hmmm...I know, I'll become a priest".

Seriously there are a lot of easier ways to get close to kids than to devote a good portion of your life to becommnig a priest.

Do some priests molest children? Sure looks that way. But does that mean that's why they became priests? Probably not.

[Weiser Wonder]

They might do it to try and avoid the temptation. If I become a priest then I can avoid sexual temptations and therefore stop hurting people. They see it as a way out, but it only leads to more trouble. Another possibility is they are so sexually opressed that they become that desperate.

[ernie]

Originally Posted by FireFly

The Catholic stance on celebacy is stupid. I get that the preists are 'married to God' but obviously God can't fulfill their sexual desires. IMO, that's the biggest reason these things happen. Perhaps it's also that sexual deviants know how easy it is for a pastor to get close to children in their church and so become said pastors, but still. There's a reason you don't get these kinds of large scale admissions in other churches, other churches allow their pastors to marry!

abuse of children and really abuse of anyone has nothing to do with fulfilling sexual desires. It has to do with power and nothing more.

No one when starts abusing children because they "can't get any".

Now the reason you may see it in the Catholic church is not because of the celibacy per se but because it is the ideal situation for these predators and they know it. The celibacy oath provides a cover for them but celibacy itself has never before and never will lead to abuse.

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by FireFly

The Catholic stance on celebacy is stupid. I get that the preists are 'married to God' but obviously God can't fulfill their sexual desires. IMO, that's the biggest reason these things happen. Perhaps it's also that sexual deviants know how easy it is for a pastor to get close to children in their church and so become said pastors, but still. There's a reason you don't get these kinds of large scale admissions in other churches, other churches allow their pastors to marry!

This is the kind of post I expected it would devolve into, and it's unfortunate. Monastic life is something I approached seriously personally and academically, before deciding it wasn't for me. If you think it's easy to become a Catholic priest, or even get into a position of trust among youth, you are so far off the mark it isn't even funny, and sex has nothing to do about it.

I can't explain why some people would choose to harm children, and I certainly won't stick up for priests who have. What I will say though, is that people who are disposed towards harming youth will always find ways; they might be your priest, your doctor, your guidance councellor, or hell, they could be the cop that busts you for a broken taillight.

I'm not excusing those priests, but lets not paint the Church in a bad light entirely

-Scott

[FireFly]

Don't get me wrong, the Catholic church does a lot of good, I'm not saying they don't. But their rule about celibacy is outdated. In today's world, we are surrounded with sexual images. They're on everything. It doesn't matter if a person is a priest or not, everyone has to be affected by the images in advertising. The world has become sexualized, and the Catholic church has not budged on its stance for how many years? It's not the Catholic churchs fault obviously, but you can't expect every one of your priests to abstain. It's not realistic. Why can't there be marriage? If you get married, you can still be a pastor but not a Bishop perhaps, or something else.... it's an idea, and one that would hopefully allow the Catholic church to avoid this type of situation in the future.

I also realize it is difficult for a person to become a pastor, my uncle is one. It's not an easy process, and they do a lot of screening and such. However, if some freak is crazy enough, and thinks the advantages are great enough, they MAY decide to go into just such a field. Again, I'm not saying the church purposely hires pervs. I wasn't bashing the church like that, you don't know me, so try to read less into my posts than that. What I was saying is that there are sickos who would do just that. Again, that's not the churchs fault.

To summarize, the Catholic church should update it's marriage rules. Allow pastors to marry and you won't have so many issues. Put all the restrictions on it you want. Ensure that if your pastors do marry, they cannot go above a certain title or whatever.

As for the 'its about power argument' I also get that. However, I highly doubt these priests are pointing guns at these children. What then would satisfy their lust for power if not fear? Trust, and sexual trust. You can get that from a wife too. A man can have a form of power over his wife as well, especially if they are devout Catholics.

[Vulcan]

Strickly hearsay, but I was told the early church made priests celibate so they wouldn't have offspring to inherit their property. Any estates became the church's. Christianity came from the Jewish faith and they don't require celibacy.

[Cheese]

Originally Posted by Vulcan

Strickly hearsay, but I was told the early church made priests celibate so they wouldn't have offspring to inherit their property. Any estates became the church's. Christianity came from the Jewish faith and they don't require celibacy.

yep...basically correct.

Around the turn of the millennium the papacy issued an edict saying that no priest that was married could administer mass. Why would they do such? The reader should always keep in mind "follow the money." It seems the church was jealous over all the money that these married priests were leaving to their wives and children. Not long thereafter, in 1129, Pope Honorius II officially sanctified celibacy of the clergy via an official synod. Thus, these priests could no longer leave any heirs any money because they were married to the church, so now the church became their legal and natural heir. Thus, it was the church and its greed that institutionalized celibacy of the clergy. It is obvious that the Catholic Church wanted the money that came into the church to stay within the church.

Is it only reasonable to conclude that it was greed that institutionalized celibacy of the clergy. Thus, considering the modus operandi of the Church, is not the pedophilia problem a logical consequence?

and an article from 2002...

More than half of Catholic priests say a gay subculture exists in their dioceses or religious orders, according to a new study commissioned by the National Federation of Priests' Councils. The survey of 1,200 priests found that 55 percent detected some element of a gay subculture, with younger priests finding it more pronounced than older priests.

Gay Subculture?

[Cheese]

Looks like Buddhist Priests have the same vices.....

A Japanese Buddhist priest who was arrested on suspicion of having paid sex with a teenage girl said he was under stress and had given in to lust.
Itsushi Ehara, 73, chief priest at a temple in the western Japanese prefecture of Hiroshima and also head of a nursery school, paid the 15-year-old girl 80,000 yen ($675) to have sex in a hotel in downtown Tokyo, a police spokesman said on Friday.

Using the Buddhist Position

[Displaced Flames fan]

Originally Posted by Bring_Back_Shantz

Come on, you seriously think that child molesters are sitting around going "Hey, I wonder what the best way to get close to kids would be?"
"Hmmm...I know, I'll become a priest".

Seriously there are a lot of easier ways to get close to kids than to devote a good portion of your life to becommnig a priest.

Do some priests molest children? Sure looks that way. But does that mean that's why they became priests? Probably not.

No doubt in my mind that has happened more than once.

[Flames_Gimp]

Screw the Catholics, My Church is the Saddledome!

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally Posted by Cheese

yep...basically correct.


and an article from 2002...



Gay Subculture?

Yeah, umm, why tack on a story about gay priests in a thread about pedophiles?

[Vulcan]

Originally Posted by RougeUnderoos

Yeah, umm, why tack on a story about gay priests in a thread about pedophiles?

Maybe because most of the cases I've heard of, the priests victims are boys.

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally Posted by Vulcan

Maybe because most of the cases I've heard of, the priests victims are boys.

That's true, but does committing a crime against a child have anything to do with being gay? I don't think so.

When you read a story about some greasy male teacher doing something awful to a female child, do you think it's about being "heterosexual"?

[Vulcan]

Originally Posted by RougeUnderoos

That's true, but does committing a crime against a child have anything to do with being gay? I don't think so.

When you read a story about some greasy male teacher doing something awful to a female child, do you think it's about being "heterosexual"?

Probably not in normal circumstances, but we're talking about some people living in a sexually repressed situation that are assaulting boys.

[Cheese]

Originally Posted by RougeUnderoos

Yeah, umm, why tack on a story about gay priests in a thread about pedophiles?

well Mr Red Underwear if ya read the article...

The issue has been a sensitive one for church leaders in recent months, as some critics claimed to see a link between gay priests and sexual abuse.