Sex abuse in church

[Catty1]

But Wom - isn't that like saying the pedophiles among us can choose to marry, and therefore won't prey on children?

I think the one point made was that the Catholic clergy is attractive to pedophiles because they don't have to hide behind a marriage...and they have a lot of access to their victims.

I agree that there likely are affairs of all kinds in the Catholic church, but I bet pedophilia is of a higher incidence than in other churches, or the public at large.

Churches that welcome pastors with families will attract that element. Less so for pedophiles!

[Marigold2]

Why are priets not allowed to marry? The truth will surprise many, it's not because they are married to God and are suppose to be pure of thought. Hundreds of years ago priets were allowed to marry, I believe 39 Popes were.
It had to do with the church wanting to keep more money for themselves and not wanting to support the priest and his many kids, mistress and more kids. Money, money, money it's all about the money.

[king2005]

Why are priets not allowed to marry? The truth will surprise many, it's not because they are married to God and are suppose to be pure of thought. Hundreds of years ago priets were allowed to marry, I believe 39 Popes were.
It had to do with the church wanting to keep more money for themselves and not wanting to support the priest and his many kids, mistress and more kids. Money, money, money it's all about the money.

I hope I don't upset anyone with "my personal opinion"

Todays Church (I cannot speak for the past as I HONESTLY don't know it) is nothing more then a money hungry Cult. Thats how I see it.

I am no longer religious as it was forced down my throat by crazy teachers & crazy church goers. The ONLY person who was on my side was Fr. Sebastien. He never tried to cram it down my throat, never got mad if I didn't pay, pray or believe. He said the ONLY thing that was important, was for me to be a good moral person... & to this day, that is the rule I live by.

I am a strong believer that the lack of marriage plays a huge part in the molestation/rape issues. How many priests have been caught for paying hookers? I've heard of several, how many aren't caught? ALL mammals have a huge drive for sexual relations, esp males. Its all related to hormones.

Take elephants for example. Take an intact male & keep him penned up alone from the females.. What dose he do out of sexual frustration? He humps anything he can get on top of (cars, toys, different species, etc)..

Horses will do the same thing
Dogs will do the same thing
Monkeys & Apes will do the same things
& so on...

Human males are no different. After a while their sexual frustrations are going to cause them to snap & do crazy things.. which in our society is illegal.

Maybe neutering (not a V.) Priests is the way to go. It generally solves other male mammals from getting sexually frustrated, as there are NO hormones to cause it. Seriously... What do Priests need them for anyways?

[blue]

The Catholic Church isnt infallible. For all of its faults the church still helps more then it harms.

[wombat2u2004]

The Catholic Church isnt infallible. For all of its faults the church still helps more then it harms.

It does....but first it helps itself.

[Marigold2]

I feel for all the good Catholics who go to church and put their faith into their priest and pope. This is very painful, it goes to the very root of your upbringing and family tradion.
However the church is a business, and it runs on money, greed and sexs.
I agree with many posts, not allowing priests to marry is not how humans are wired.
God made us sexual creatures. One problem that I have seen is the vast number of gay catholic priests. In fact I can't remember a straight one in years.
Here is a place the gay can hide, hide and live their lives amoung other gay men.
Why wasn't Frances interested in girls as a teenager his very devote parents wondered, but now they are so thrilled he wants to be a priest.
Bingo. It's a perfect cover and yes it can lead to sexual frustration and secert shame, it's all so horrid.
One of the worst things about sexual abuse is the life long mental problems victims suffer. When they do speak of abuse 20, 30 40 years in their past the tears flow and the pain is raw and bleeding.
They lose their innocence, trust, hope, joy, happiness. It is not just the physical act that haunts them but the gulit and shame that they suffer all their lives. It is a death, a death of the soul.
I have a dear friend who's daughter was molested by her uncle and he also molested his two daughters. I have three cousins who were molested by their father and another family member who also was molested by her uncle.
These young women were changed, changed profoundly. Every vice you can think of they did afterwards. Drugs, abuse to family, thief, prostitution, you name it and these girls did it, jail time. It runied families, it ruined lives. Sex abuse is a lifetime of mental pain.
Lets do what we can to stop this.

[Miss Z]

Maybe neutering (not a V.) Priests is the way to go. It generally solves other male mammals from getting sexually frustrated, as there are NO hormones to cause it. Seriously... What do Priests need them for anyways?

Now you mention it, routine castration has been part of many old religious divisions even up to the early 20th century, if I recall correctly. Perhaps they had it right in the past! It certaintly would be a rather fitting punishment for these priests, or indeed any serious sexual predator.

[king2005]

Now you mention it, routine castration has been part of many old religious divisions even up to the early 20th century, if I recall correctly. Perhaps they had it right in the past! It certaintly would be a rather fitting punishment for these priests, or indeed any serious sexual predator.

I think getting it done beforehand is the way to go. Once a priest has been a priest for 5yrs, its mandatory to have your nads removed.

I truly believe most of those priests never planned on harming anyone. Raging hormones will cause you to do sick evil things, EVEN if you are a good person.

Take my dad for example... he was starting to go down a very bad path before I was born, but luckily he saw what path he was going down & sought help right away. He saw a shrink to help, then had some surgery to help (after my sister was born) & went on medication to lower his drive greatly.

Please note, he didn't commit any crimes (no humans of any age were involved)s, but he was damn close. To this day it has haunted him. & because of what didn't happen I was subjected to horrible evils when I was 14yrs old. Its sooo much fun being lured into a room & then have 2 adults (mother & CAS) try to force you to say "daddy touched me"... If I wasn't a level headed stubborn child I would have caved & said whatever it took to get them to stop yelling at me. Sorry not gonna lie about something like that... but how many scared kids would?

Kinda makes you wonder how many false cases there really are out there...

My point is, is that my dad IS a good man, he's not a predator by far, but his hormones were going to make him one. So this is why I believe hormones control us more then we'd like to think.

Also look at a lot of the Priests that are doing the crimes, they are fairly old, no? & been trapped in a raging hormonal body for decades with no release, no? Ticking time bombs.

Doesn't the same sort of thing happen to many dogs that are tied up all their lives? After several yrs of nothing but confinement & isolation, the once friendly dog is now a raging psycho path.

Lets also look at Zoos. What happens when you put wild animals into small boring pens? They loose their minds & do abnormal things.

Lets look at circuses. What happens when you confine a wild animal to a tiny pen & force it to do stupid retarded things all its life? They loose their minds & become milling machines.

yes yes yes, they are very different situations, but just look what hormones & confinement & isolation does to a wild animal. Humans are animals, we ALL react very very similar & when we snap or go nuts, watch out, because we are also very smart animals, so we are good at hiding things.. kinda like a sick cat I suppose.

[pomtzu]

Being the civilized people that we are, I think that most people would find physical castration to be barbaric. I know that I would! Chemical castration however, is something to be considered. It is already in practice in some instances, but who has the power to decide: who-what-where-when and why. I don't see it becoming a routine practice to be used on sexual offenders - real or potential - any time soon - if ever.

[wombat2u2004]

Being the civilized people that we are, I think that most people would find physical castration to be barbaric. I know that I would! Chemical castration however, is something to be considered. It is already in practice in some instances, but who has the power to decide: who-what-where-when and why. I don't see it becoming a routine practice to be used on sexual offenders - real or potential - any time soon - if ever.

But what do we do with women who are guilty of the same abuse ????

[wombat2u2004]

No, you can't neuter people because of the situation they are in.
Not unless they consent to it.
Where would you draw the line ????
The answers to the whole problem are simple..........
1. Allow priests and nuns to marry.
2. If individuals of a particular church are beyond the reach of the Common Law, then change that to ensure those who default are subjected to the same laws as everyone else in the community.
3. Increase the penalties for those who are found guilty of such crimes.
4. Ensure that the church pays adequate compensation to the victims.
(If the Catholic church has to pay out big bucks for every compensation case, then they will soon change their minds about protecting their own.)

Easy peasy !!!!

[pomtzu]

No, you can't neuter people because of the situation they are in.
Not unless they consent to it.
Where would you draw the line ????
The answers to the whole problem are simple..........
1. Allow priests and nuns to marry.

I think that you and I are the only ones here that see this as a very real and simple solution to eliminate a great deal of the problem in the Church.

[Asiel]

No, you can't neuter people because of the situation they are in.
Not unless they consent to it.
Where would you draw the line ????
The answers to the whole problem are simple..........
1. Allow priests and nuns to marry.
2. If individuals of a particular church are beyond the reach of the Common Law, then change that to ensure those who default are subjected to the same laws as everyone else in the community.
3. Increase the penalties for those who are found guilty of such crimes.
4. Ensure that the church pays adequate compensation to the victims.
(If the Catholic church has to pay out big bucks for every compensation case, then they will soon change their minds about protecting their own.)

Easy peasy !!!!

The only thing I can agree with here is No.1.

As for applying No.2 you can change the laws all you want and make them subject to the same laws as the community but it wouldn't change a thing because the churches would still protect them and the families of the abused would end up the victims again and again. I've been a witness to a few families who tried to seek justice and the threats they received from their church were unbelievable. And did you ever see an abused child decide to finally confide in his parents but cry and scream not to say anything because he was threatend to be cut up with a knife if he told?

No.3 doesn't apply because there are no penalties. the only penalty a guilty priest has ever received was to be changed from that parish to another where he continued his vile practices. and on and on.

No.4 might apply to a few priests but the ones who get off scott free outnumber the ones that are nailed and the little compensation the family receives is laughable considering those boys are scarred for life

In the area we live in there are numerous Catholic churches that have been sold because of lack of attendance, you can't keep a church open with no people supporting it.
We used to be faithful churchgoers until the lid blew off the whole thing. So they not only harm children but they destroy a lot of peoples' faith. Most of our relatives and friends don't attend church anymore.

Really don't know what the answer is but maybe letting nuns and priests marry would be the first step to take.

[Cataholic]

2. If individuals of a particular church are beyond the reach of the Common Law, then change that to ensure those who default are subjected to the same laws as everyone else in the community.

Here, in the US, priests are NOT beyond the reach of the common (or statutory) law. I think most abuse statutes are now codified, rather than simply a result of the common law.

[Cataholic]

I am a strong believer that the lack of marriage plays a huge part in the molestation/rape issues. How many priests have been caught for paying hookers? I've heard of several, how many aren't caught? ALL mammals have a huge drive for sexual relations, esp males. Its all related to hormones.

Human males are no different. After a while their sexual frustrations are going to cause them to snap & do crazy things.. which in our society is illegal.

I believe that research has shown, time and again, that rape is NOT a sexual issue.

Molestation is not a sexual issue...it is a deviant mindset.

Being gay does not make someone a pedophile. There is simply no relation to one's sexual preference and molestation. Gays like men or women....pedophiles like CHILDREN.

Allowing or disallowing priests to marry doesn't alter the deviant mindset of molestation. Molestation is NOT caused by some pent up sexual frustration.

Wacked is wacked...whether you are married or not.