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kmfroggy62
Guest
Being a cradle Catholic; I’ve been taught that the priesthood is a calling from God. Why then are there so many pedophile priests? I don’t believe God would call a pedophile to the priesthood. Please enlighten me.
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Monica4316
Guest
the priesthood is a calling but people still have free will…and can make the wrong choices and get into sin
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twopekinguys
Guest
I don’t mean to sound uncharitable about this, but there are threads about this all over the place. Try looking in the “News” forums.
Speed answers are:
- Good people do bad things.
- Percentage of offending priests is extemely low in comparison to other religions and portions of the population.
- People like this often work their way into positions of authority. Teachers, priests, ministers, police, fireman. They come from all walks of life.
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corsair
Guest
Even though one may be “called” to the religious life, there is no guarantee that your soul and your actions are “protected from sin”. You are, after all still human and subject to the temptations of life and the world. Yes, even priests, Bishops, Cardinals and Popes sin.
We are in continual struggle to reach perfection. We must pray for them.
Back in the early years of the Cold War, there was a communist recruiter named Bella Dodd, who has claimed to have recruited over 1500 young men to the priesthood with the purpose of infiltrating the church and corrupting it. Perhaps some of what we are seeing is the results of her work.
We are in continual struggle to reach perfection. We must pray for them.
Back in the early years of the Cold War, there was a communist recruiter named Bella Dodd, who has claimed to have recruited over 1500 young men to the priesthood with the purpose of infiltrating the church and corrupting it. Perhaps some of what we are seeing is the results of her work.
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Langdell
Guest
Some priests may not have really been called. They only thought they were called, or (worse) falsely claimed they were called.
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choy
Guest
read the Bible, the Apostles and the Prophets didn’t stop being sinners after being called by God. why would priests be any different?
if someone loses the capacity to sin, that means they lose their free will, hence they stop being human. as long as we have our free will, we can choose to do good and do evil.
also, God sees a bigger picture than we do. this pedophile priests will serve a bigger purpose, perhaps will lead to changes that will make the Church on earth stronger
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puzzleannie
Guest
not everyone ordained to the priesthood has a calling, those guiding his formation are fallible and have to take on good faith what cannot be proven or disproven.
not everyone who marries has been called to marriage, the many failures in that vocation make this perfectly clear
the rules make it very plain that no one with a strong same sex orientation, or with a psycho-sexual disorder is a candidate for the priesthood, and therefore cannot say he has a vocation, but that does not prevent fallible vocations directors, seminary rectors and bishops from allowing someone unsuited to the vocation to approach ordination. in the same way someone who is not male cannot say she has a vocation because she lacks a basic prerequisite, male gender. But that state is susceptible to proof, a disorder may not be identifiable until the person acts on it.
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Malleus_01
Guest
Malleus: I too am a cradle Catholic and I too believe that a Religious Vocation is a calling from GOD. But as a Lay Catholic - I likewise believe that I am called to that vocation by GOD as well. So now that we have vocation out of the way - lets address the next separate question. (Since one has nothing to do with the other.)
Why are there so many “Pedophile Priests.” In answer - there arent. Many of the so called “Pedophile Priests” were let in the seminaries under suspect scrutiny in the 1960’s - so did they have a calling to begin with? This issue has since been corrected so its an admission by the Church that for quite a while - the Church did in fact let individuals in to the seminary who didnt have the Calling and in fact serious moral issues.
Secondly - the presence of Heresy. Its obvious that even today - we have serious issues in various seminaries.
Third - the lack of oversight and in fact, the deplorable conduct of many Bishops - who perpetuated the Problem and failed to act to prevent more widespread abuse - allowed a small problem to become a huge problem.
And to address the last question you ask - GOD Calls us to obey the commandments regardless of our vocation. Unles you can make the statement that GOD has called you to be a pedophile - then you cannot say a priest was called to be a pedophile or that a pedophile was called to do anything. No one is called to sin by GOD. they Sin against GOD no matter the vocation.
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Saintlucy
Guest
Paedophiles will always find an opportunity to work with or be where there are children. It has happened on all sorts of situations.
The scandal is that Catholic priests, or any clergymen, are seen to have given a sacred trust to their church, God and those he ministers to. It has nothing to do with celibacy or anything else but a perversion of the worst sort. Not only Catholic priests but people of all walks of life have hidden behind a life of so called vocation.
The scandal is that Catholic priests, or any clergymen, are seen to have given a sacred trust to their church, God and those he ministers to. It has nothing to do with celibacy or anything else but a perversion of the worst sort. Not only Catholic priests but people of all walks of life have hidden behind a life of so called vocation.
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Marie5890
Guest
Jesus called Judas.
How do you deal with that reality?
It’s the same thing. People have free will.
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Adeodatus
Guest
This. It’s the same reason why some sorcerers infiltrated the Church in the Middle Ages. The Church would teach you how to read and write, give you access to libraries (rare things those days) and give you a measure of stature and authority.
Think of it this way: if a person is a sorcerer or a pedophile (or a pederast, which is what we’re mostly dealing with in the Church) then they’re not a scrupulous person. They’re an opportunist and probably cynical. And maybe they even hate God. So they’ll jump at the chance to get what they want and hurt the Church while they’re at it.
The main mistake the Church has made (among many!) in this regard is to treat these people (pederasts and the like) as wayward children, rather than as agents of the enemy. But then again, I think quite a few Communists and homosexuals have infiltrated the Church, so to a certain extent you’ve got the fox guarding the hen house.
None of which applies to Pope Benedict XVI, of course, who has done a lot to clean house in his time. It is tough because the papacy and even the curia have so much responsibility, but really not that much power to act decisively. It’s not like you can just have Vatican soldiers go out and behead somebody like you could in the old days.
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Mrs_Sally
Guest
It is very true that not all priests have had a true calling. In the past, many Catholic families assumed that at least one child would become a religious (priest or nun). So it was common for the youngest, the studiest, the quietest, etc. to be pushed into a vocation. Religious life and especially the priesthood was considered to be a good life. Most of those men did fine and became unexceptional priests, some few were highly unsuited to the priesthood in various ways, one of which could have been pedophilia.
And in the same way not all vocation/formation directors are highly gifted to discern a real calling. In 1947, who would have argued with son 7 out of 10 of the O’Shea’s or Bertillino’s going through seminary and becoming a priest?
And in the same way not all vocation/formation directors are highly gifted to discern a real calling. In 1947, who would have argued with son 7 out of 10 of the O’Shea’s or Bertillino’s going through seminary and becoming a priest?
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mick321
Guest
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mick321
Guest
What better way for enemies to strike a blow against the Church than to infiltrate and corrupt the ordained priesthood from within. Weather by incompetence or design, the result is the same: an appearance of impropriety that taints the entire ordained priesthood. Diabolical indeed.
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ProVobis
Guest
Yes, as in the old adage: God has a purpose for everyone on earth, even if to serve as a bad example.
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choy
Guest
and perhaps there is also a mission for the pedophile priests, a purpose
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Like
Guest
So much for Judas’ free will IF the Father & Jesus had a mission for Judas!
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mick321
Guest
I admit that I was not unaware that Our Lord specifically selected a pedophile to be part of his personal entourage. But what do I know?
Jesus knew that among his twelve hand-picked apostles was a devil, who would betray him. At the Last Supper, Our Lord reveals that Judas will be the one who betrays him. Judas did not lure Jesus into the Garden and then ambush him there. Jesus expects the betrayal and arrest, does not personally resist, and instructed his security detail to stand down.
If Judas had lost his nerve for betrayal - and instead, initiated the attack on the Sanhedrin’s forces - would Christ have been grateful for Judas’ loyalty or angered that he derailed the salvation of mankind?
Certainly, Judas had no duty to betray Christ. Or did he? Was he called to play this role? If so, by whom? The Sanhedrin? Satan? Pilate? Freemasons? SSPX? Christ?
Just askin’.
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Shin
Guest
From what I have read, the percentage in the priesthood is actually generally less than many other professions.
Which makes sense as it’s a restricted lifestyle. At the same time, it also is one that provides opportunities for predators that they don’t have elsewhere, despite all that.
The devil is hard at work to corrupt people in authority in the Church, and sin and free will allows that to happen.
Yet so, the reason why it seems like ‘so many’ is because there are ‘so many’ newspaper stories about the ones in the Church, and not about the ones in the school system, police force, family down the street, etc.
It’s good to force responsibility, and I hope that the forcing to take better responsibility goes all around. But some of the news stories are badly done, and show an agenda to just attack rather than report the truth and help make that responsibility taking happen.
Generally the predators are actually homosexual males preying on teenage boys, this is where the largest percentage of abuse is from.
Zero tolerance used to be in force about them. It should be again.
Which makes sense as it’s a restricted lifestyle. At the same time, it also is one that provides opportunities for predators that they don’t have elsewhere, despite all that.
The devil is hard at work to corrupt people in authority in the Church, and sin and free will allows that to happen.
Yet so, the reason why it seems like ‘so many’ is because there are ‘so many’ newspaper stories about the ones in the Church, and not about the ones in the school system, police force, family down the street, etc.
It’s good to force responsibility, and I hope that the forcing to take better responsibility goes all around. But some of the news stories are badly done, and show an agenda to just attack rather than report the truth and help make that responsibility taking happen.
Generally the predators are actually homosexual males preying on teenage boys, this is where the largest percentage of abuse is from.
Zero tolerance used to be in force about them. It should be again.
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Marie5890
Guest
Considering that kmfroggy never came back, perhaps they really werent all the sincere about “dying to ask” and more about stirring the pot of controversy.
It happens.
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