Is celibacy the cause of the abuse scandals?

Vatican denies celibacy at the root of abuse
The Vatican has denied that its celibacy requirement for priests was the root cause of the clerical sex abuse scandal convulsing the Church in Europe and again defended the Pope?s handling of the crisis.

Suggestions that the celibacy rule was somehow responsible for the "deviant behaviour" of a few priests have swirled in recent days

If they swirl, they should swirl here. What do folks in here think? I for one would say that the combination of sexual deprivation and power that is contained in priesthood in the Catholic Church is stressful for anyone but those with an iron determination. So if a Church can be sustained with only strong-willed people, then there shouldn't be a problem in the future. But how do you pick only the strong-willed?

 

Um...God's guidance?

Wait, that's what got us into this mess. Never mind.

 

I'd say it's significant that other sects of Christianity that don't have a prohibition on marriage seemingly don't have issues like this.

 

I have noticed that as well.

 

No, I think being celibate doesn't make you a paedophile, I think if you're a paedophile you get into a position where you can abuse kids, hence all the jokes about Scoutmasters etc with a little ring of truth in them

 

Priests being pedophiles is the cause of the abuse.

Bishops hiding what the priests did is the cause of the scandals.

 

Is celibacy the cause of the abuse scandals?

No, because being celibate would mean they weren't having sex, young boys included.

What you mean is "Is celibacy the cause of pedophilia?"

Answer: No, and that is an even stupider question than if homosexuality causes paedophilia.

 

I think the celibacy question is actually valid. See, the question is, "Is celibacy causing priests to channel their sexual desires elsewhere," and since pedophiles aren't typically homosexual, I'd say it's fairly likely.

 

Yeah, but if you're gonna break the celibacy, why always go for young boys?

And I find this interesting... Catholic priest caught with an adult woman? Thrown out. Catholic priest with molestation charges? Shifted around internally. Why aren't there more stories of this fashion?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/11/miami-priest-photos-kissing-woman

 

Re: 'Why go for young boys?'

I think going after young boys serves a purpose: see, these people are corrupt, but in their eyes they are still practitioners of god and as such they probably see abusing young boys as less evil than breaking their vows to the church. Or at least that's how I think they're seeing it. It's stupid either way and a little crazy, but they're sick and twisted so their motivations are likewise tainted.

 

The choice for young boys is fairly obvious, they're the closest targets and they're meek.

Support your argument please, instead of saying 'stupid'.

 

Celibacy isn't the cause IMO, pedos tend to go where there is alot of children. So it shouldn't surprise there is cases of abuse in the Catholic Church, since there all boys catholic schools, alter boys etc.

 

I'm currently a celibate man and I've never once wanted to molest a child. You want more proof than that, you should be the one to start proving otherwise.

 

There's always going to be someone in any class of adults dealing with children. I've seen grade school, junior high school, high school teachers charged with abuse of boys, of girls, I've seen cases of protestant ministers and youth pastors, youth sports team coaches, juvenile detention guards, etc., and so on.

I'm not saying celibacy doesn't have an effect, just that it cannot be the sole cause. If there is a living organism or inanimate object, there is a man out there who appropriately or inappropriately, legally or illegally wants sex with it. There's a recent documentary about a man who died trying to copulate with his horse.

I'm tempted to call "victimless crime" on that last one.

 

"And by 'the Earth', I mean my DONG."

 

I look at it like this: assuming that pedophilia is more common among Priests than the general population, is that because:

A) Celebrant lifestyles lead to increased incidence of deviant sexual behavior.
B) People with tendencies towards deviant sexual behavior are more likely to take up celebrant lifestyles, potentially in the hope it will help them resist temptation.
C) Some combination thereof.

 

I think this is the crux of the question. Is this a reasonable assumption to make? My understanding is that it is not something one can assume. I don't have facts and figures at hand but my understanding, at least in Australia, is that the majority of known or convicted peadophiles are not priests and therefore come from the general population who have taken no vows of celibacy.

 

Just because the majority of pedophiles are not Priests does not mean that Priests aren't more likely to be pedophiles. If 1/10,000 Priests is a pedophile and 1/100,000 is a pedophile in the general population, then there is an unusually high instance of pedophilia in Priests.

 

Of course that is true if that is the case. But is that the case? That was kind of the point I was trying to make.

 

Ah, I think that I just misinterpreted what you were saying, and that we're in agreement.

 

I'm not sure it's wise to compare priesthood with the common populace when it comes to the abuse of children. After all, priests have a flock and ordinary people don't, and priests are bound to celibacy where most ordinary people are not. So priests are in a unique position. The best comparison, as DB said, would be a a ratio comparison between different religions.

 

If priest were any good at their job and religious repression they wouldn't get sexual desires, and certainly not for children.

These people are just messed up, followers of an outdated system led by a warped old man.

 

Nevermind all the charitable work they do.

Look there are 50,000 LDS missionaries at any one time that are celibate fro two years, and a small percentage of them break their "vow of celibacy" but I've never heard of them doing it with a young boys. Sure it has probably happened, but as they don't have ready access to children it isn't something that even comes up. According to this theory at least some of those sex crazed celibates would be driven to children.

 

I agree that there's more to it than just the celibacy.

I think it has every bit as much to do with a megalomaniacal sense of power, of being the "conduit to God" for a parish of hundreds, sometimes thousands of people.

 

Espy, maybe it would have been less of an affront to you if I'd put 'Is celibacy in Catholic priesthood the cause of...'. That was the angle I was going for - sorry if that was unclear. I readily admit that that's the only type of celibacy that I know.

Are imams celibate?