What Is The Cause Of Priestly Debauchery?

[Gab123]

Why quote St. Paul on celibacy but not on women wearing headcovering in church?

There are many women who do wear veils and headdress at mass because of the tradition of the Church rooted in Paul’s instructions. Do realize that many things that were done away with in the turmoil and abuses which followed in the wake of Vatican II were not officially ordered by the Church, but rather done away with by the local priests and bishops in America, such as communion in the hand, etc. which then spread elsewhere. Interestingly, many things that were done away with over the past 50 years are actually coming back. I know of many churches that brought back the communion rail and providing head veils at the entrance for women to wear which I think is very good. It’s about honoring and glorifying God through the sacred rites of the Church. The problem is when people politicize things and make it about themselves in the spirit of the world.

 

[therese1998]

Not monsters. People. There but for the grace of God, many of us might have gone.

It’s so much easier to write people off as monsters than to realize that no ONE of us knows WHAT we would do without His grace. Personal fortitude is nothing, particularly when it comes to sin…you may as well swing a noodle at a dragon as count on your own self. That could have been you.

I wonder how many are so concerned about the abuse scandal that they have actually responded to Pope Francis’ call by fasting and praying .

If you haven’t responded with prayer and fasting, then stop talking and start praying and fasting.

People often hear it but don’t do it.

People not only don’t hear it, they will try to make a case that it “doesn’t do anything” even as they are living a life made possible only by the prayers and fasting of others…including many venerable saints.

Imagine if the amount of time that people devoted to criticizing and complaining was diverted to prayer and fasting, entire legions of wicked spirits and fallen angels would be vanquished…

That would be amazing!

I can see how an individual fasting could help make that individual an uncomfortable place to dwell in but in what way would me fasting help the Church?

When you fast, you offer up your suffering to Christ and it is united with His on the Cross. Thus, you have a part in the grace that is bestowed on the world through His own suffering.

 

[therese1998]

The root cause is the high number of active homosexuals in the priesthood. They are 2% in the general population and some report as high as 50% in the priesthood.

This is a huge statement with a bit of truth in it, I think. Having a homosexual orientation does not predispose one to sexual offenses against others. Engaging in homosexual acts does not predispose one to sexual offenses against others. Within the LGBT community (which is a pretty loose term), there is a sub culture of risk-taking (infidelity, promiscuity, reckless/dangerous sexual acts, pederasty, pedophilia, etc). (To be fair, this exists among the “community” of heterosexuals as well). There was also, even among the laity, a knowledge of a “wink-wink” attitude toward homosexuality within the priesthood, even an expectation that the Church would have to “change her teachings about homosexuality”. We have also had a HUGE cultural revolution in terms of “accepting” homosexuality as simply an “alternative lifestyle” and not something that is intrinsically disordered. There was (is?) a very well-established culture of homosexuality within the priesthood. Key members of the Church hierarchy were living double lives, and fairly openly. Vetting at seminaries was lax and a small but significant number of sexual predators slipped in, offended and were, in essence, shielded by the Church without any accountability. The smoke of Satan entered the Church. Priests ( who may once have had a genuine calling) struggling with celibacy or with homosexual orientation received frankly conflicting messages regarding both. I don’t think it takes too much connect the dots to realize what happened. Homosexuality is no more at fault than clericalism, than sexual offending, then cultural influence, than lack of prayer and fasting, then abuse of power, then Satan, than loose vetting. It all has a part to play and to assign one cause as THE cause is to risk the same thing happening again and again and again, albeit with different manifestations.

 

[Brendan_64]

And again, it’s not all about sexual release, but the nature of needing to love and be loved. To require strict celibacy is cruel in many cases. Very few humans can just take that in stride.

What has this got to do with molesting children or using one’s position of power to facilitate sexual abuse of seminarians? There doesn’t seem to be a lot of love and be loved going on there.

 

[runningdude]

In IMHO, it would help to require all priests to marry,

Married men rape children at the same rate as unmarried men. Wives sometimes even help cover it up.

Requiring or even just allowing married clergy would do absolutely nothing to stop child molestation. Worse than that, it would distract from meaningful reform, likely putting MORE children at risk.

 

[Lee1]

Just a thought but I wish people would use a small ‘s’ when speaking of the enemy, and a capital G when speaking of Our Father.