Page comments Comment by 'jim' on Celibacy, sexual abuse and the Catholic Church very good article makes u think. many people do not no that when the catholic church started (about 2000 yrs ago) priests were allowed to get married! my understanding of the reason for the change is the priests would leave the church property to their families so the vatican had to change that. i think celibacy has nothing to do with pedophilia. (look at the child molesters who r married) but the crime is the cover up of these monsters who should have the book thrown at them. and they r not above the law in solidarity jim Thu, 22 Apr 2010 20:24:16 -0400 jim Comment by 'Lenny Sanmartino' on Celibacy, sexual abuse and the Catholic Church Also, the sex abuse was caused by four percent of priests (in the U.S.) but in 95 percent of the parishes. Way less than four percent of men are child rapists, or even potential child rapists. The 95 percent number speaks to the huge cover up that actually promotes the abuse. 95 percent of bishops were presiding over parishes where child rape occurred? Very bad. Also, everyone talks about the good work they do. If you want to give kudos to the Catholic Church for the good work it does in poor communities, then you have to be consistent: talk about all the good done by Hamas, for example. Sure, they're crazy theocrats who want to kill of the Jews, but the provide breakfasts to kids. The Nazis built the autobahn... The pope would have a good knowledge of that point Wed, 21 Apr 2010 13:13:14 -0400 Lenny Sanmartino Comment by 'Lenny Sanmartino' on Celibacy, sexual abuse and the Catholic Church It seems to me that advertising a job where you are forced into celibacy might attract a certain type of person who feels a bunch of guilt about certain tendencies. Then, when they come into that job and find out that such tendencies are, if not encouraged, at least shrugged off with a wink and a nod, you're creating a problem. Wed, 21 Apr 2010 13:04:59 -0400 Lenny Sanmartino Comment by 'detectivetom' on Celibacy, sexual abuse and the Catholic Church The belief that allowing priests to marry would cut down on the child sex abuse may be well intended, but false. What about all the stories in recent years of high school teachers and coaches (of both genders) having sexual relations with students? How many of these teachers lead a celibate life? A majority of child sex abusers they themselves were a victim of abuse. I've noticed in ALL the stories written in the media about the abuse no one has ever written anything about the victims receiving any type of counseling. These people should be helped and all the money in the world will not make their life better unless they can live with themselves. Thank you for noting the work of the Church. They have been working with the poor of the Chicago Hispanic community for years. While most politicans talk a big game, and ignore the working class, they were there to help. Wed, 21 Apr 2010 11:02:17 -0400 detectivetom Comment by 'Luke Matthews' on Celibacy, sexual abuse and the Catholic Church Just a quick point: it's not that "many claim" that the church's hierarchy have covered up abuse scandals; it's proven fact. Dioceses across the country are going bankrupt because they've had to pay huge settlements to their scores of victims, and in some places, like New York City, the Catholic Church has led efforts to stop the enactment of laws that would lift the statute of limitations on child rape. Their argument? If such laws were to be enacted, the church would go bankrupt. The abuse has been documented, proven, around the word: the government of the Republic of Ireland issued a report in 2008 or 2009 confirming that more than 10,000 kids were either raped, tortured or put into forced labor by the church's officials. And there is documented evidence that the bishops knew about this and covered it up. Actually, "covered up" is the wrong expression; the bishops enabled the pedophilia. When they found out that priests were diddling kids, they moved them to other parishes--where there was a fresh crop waiting. And it's been shown that in at least one case, Benedict XVI, when he was Joseph Ratzinger, did the same thing; he moved a pervert priest out of his parish, into "therapy" and then back to another parish. On a different note: priests are not actually banned from marrying, condemned to celibacy, throughout the Catholic Church. The pope actually wears three hats (an ironic metaphor, of course): he is the Bishop of Rome, the Patriarch of the Latin Church and the Holy Father of the universal Catholic Church. The Latin Church is one of the churches--and the most well known--in full communion with the pope. It is the church that most of us think of when we think of "Catholic." The celibacy rules apply to that church, a division of the universal Catholic Church. There are about 22 other churches, with their own patriarchs, that are loyal to, and in communion with, Rome. They generally mirror other Eastern Christian Churches that broke with Rome during the schism, or after; the Eastern Catholic churches are the sections of the old church that remained within the folds of the papacy. They are somewhat self-governing (suis juris), and many of them have priests who marry. The upshot: there are married Catholic priests all over the world, just not in the Latin rite churches. (As a side note, as a way to lure conservative Anglicans into the Catholic Church, Benedict just created an Anglican rite in the Catholic Church; the priests there are also allowed to marry.) The point of all this is that it's not even universal Catholic doctrine, it's not an article of faith, that priests can't marry. It's simply the hangup of a few old men obsessed with celibacy. It wouldn't even be a hugely revolutionary change to allow priests to marry. It would be good if the pope said, "No more pedophiles, and let's let those western priests marry!" But what can you expect from someone, one of whom's main obsessions is with keeping condoms away from AIDS-ravaged Africa? Wed, 21 Apr 2010 01:56:08 -0400 Luke Matthews