-- Pope Benedict XVI on the cases of sexual abuse of children inside the Catholic Church; the Pope said the abuse crisis had brought "shame" to the churchWe have to ask ourselves what was wrong in our preaching, in our entire way of configuring the Christian being, to allow something like that to happen.
I'd submit there's nothing wrong with the actual preaching. There something seriously wrong, however, with requiring celibacy for clergy. No, I'm not at all saying that celibacy causes child abuse. I'm saying that a celibate vocation may seem attractive to people who know there's something wrong with themselves sexually and are hoping that celibacy will cure them or at least settle the issue.
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What the Church did wrong:
ReplyDeletea)require celibacy - yeah the Church saved money by not having to support the priest's wife and family, but look at how much they had to spend in consequence. And married clergy would have much better empathy with the problems of their flock and would give much better advice to their parishioners.
b)allow gay clergy to overwhelm the priesthood rather than having a more equal ratio of hetero- and homosexual clergy.
c)not rooting out the pedophiles in their ranks and allowing known pedophiles to serve in capacities where they are allowed access to children.
d)hiding and protecting the pedophiles, thus exposing ever more children to their predation.
e)acting surprised when pedophilia cases come to light.
I can no longer believe in a Church with these policies...