Hi Leela,
I think that with regard to the priests who were abusers the problem is not one of celibacy; it is a deep-seated psychiatric illness which prevents them from expressing any love for another human; so they abuse innocent children as some sort of affirmation of themselves.
I am not a psychiatrist but this is how, as a layman, I understand the illness.
The vast majority of priests are normal well-adjusted individuals.
God Bless,
Colmcille.
Colmcille:
Here, in the US, the problem appears to have stemmed from two Seminaries. Some 40 to 50 years ago, a couple of gay-leaning head seminarians were appointed to run them. Stands to reason that gay men would enter the priesthood in order to receive help, particularly directly from God, to overcome their homosexuality. But, simply entering the seminaries was not the cure. Also, as there is now, there was a lot of pressure on the Church to relax its rules on the admission of gays.
Even though it was very difficult for gays to enter the seminaries (and still is, thank God) with the help of at least two pro-gay head seminarians, some did. Many became celibate Priests. Some did not. Over the course of that 30-some years, many of the ardently gay Priests were sent out to Parish Churches. All Catholic Churches have sizable populations of Churched parishioners, which means that such Priests were put into close contact with lots of young boys.
It must be remembered that, according to the Law, only sexual relations with boys 12 years old or younger amounts to illegal
pedophilia. From 13 and up, it is considered homosexual activity, and is not,
per se, illegal, or, at least it wasn’t then, even if some laws have recently been changed, in some locales. Thus, gay Priests had been recruiting gay lovers.
This so-called scandal has cost the Church in America almost its survival. We must only pray that God gives us the continued Grace to survive the onslaught of Satan. Now, there are about 60,000 Priests in America, according to those statistics. About 1 1/2% to 2 % of Priests were causal, with regard to gay recruitment. If we go with the highest number, say 2 %, that’s a total of 1,200 homosexual Priests that have been causal in America.
Causal meaning actively recruiting for illicit behavior.
I can’t speak for the rest of the world, but, these were the numbers I found when I researched much of this years ago. As of about a year ago, the numbers were still holding. I had numerous conversations with
Leela, back then, and gave her many web links to the actual facts.
Another fact is that of the boys that these Priests engaged with were, in the main, above 13 years old. 95% were, in fact! That is the perfect age area that gays like to recruit from. Only 5% of the Priest’s acts were considered illegal
pedophilia. I provided these statistics to Leela a year or so ago as well. Those that continue to trumpet that “homosexuality is not a problem,” are patently wrong.
Taking a look at the secular macro-society, we find that numbers a quite different. The range is from roughly 4.5% up to 10% that engage in illicit behaviors. Actually, the pedophilia rate, in macro society, is more than double the homosexual recruitment rate in the Church. Now I ask you, where would your children be safer? Hmmm? (Rhetorical)
Anyway, Colmcille, I agree that there are deep psychological problems with anyone practicing child abuse.
God bless,
jd
