Do you think if the Catholic Church allowed Priests to marry, some of the sexual problems would go away?

Question

Sex is a normal human urge. Not allowing them to release that urge might be what is getting some in trouble.

Answer 1

Yes. Also, do you expect your followers to relate to a permanent state of singlehood without family and intimacy if they marry themselves? If you are Baptist, you have a Reverend for marital advice. If you are Buddhist, you have a Minister who can marry. If you are Jewish, you have the Rabbi. None of these religions have the same rate of exploitation and there is no denial about any instances. It doesn't appear much. The Vatican helps to create situations where this will happen.

Answer 2

Priesthood doesn't create pedophiles. I believe that most of these deranged people entered the priesthood hoping that the sacrifice would stop the unnatural urges they were experiencing.

The problem is that the urges don't stop and then they are put in positions of authority, where they have continual, unsupervised access to kids. Its like making a drug addict a pharmacist.

The Catholic church really has a responsibility to pinpoint this problem during the seminary and then seek help for them. Right now they just get their theology degrees and are thrust on an unsuspecting parish. Many of the cases that the church is struggling with right now have examples of other priests that said it was obvious there was a problem in the beginning.

If you encouraged pedophilia priests to marry, you would only be adding to the problem

Answer 3

FYI. There are a few Catholic priests who ARE married. They were Angelican (?) priests who were married and we accepted into the Catholic faith and priest hood with special permission of the Pope. As of this date, NONE of them have been charged with any kind of sexual abuse of children or others of their church.

If a man has a wife, he can not go sneaking off without someone wondering where he is. If a man has a wife, he as some means of "relief" that is totally legal. If a man has a wife, quite likely he has kids and kids talk to kids. Many a child molestor has been caught when a molested child confides in another.

Most of the Xian churches allow their ministers to be married and they do not have anything close to the sexual problems that the RCC has.

Also, how can the RCC deny their priests the opportunity to fulfill the FIRST Commandment God ever gave to man? Genesis 1:28. "God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number."

Bottom line, yes, I think if the RCC would allow their priests to be married, they would have have less problems.

Answer 4

Having sex with kids is not an urge, it is a sickness. These priests would not be any different if they were allowed to marry. People rape others for a feeling of power, not for self gratification. I think that the priests have been overly portrayed due to the media. There are probably the same amount of instances in any other religion but for some reason people have centered around the catholics who commit these crimes. Sexual abuse occurs in ALL religions.

Answer 5

The problem rests in the requirement that priests cannot marry women which basically excludes men from the priesthood who are interested in women. This leaves men who are not interested in women or, another way to put it, are willing to forego sexual relationships with women for the rest of their life. If you would study a large group of men who are willing to give up sex with women you will find a larger number of homosexual men in that group. Therefore, the catholic priesthood, as it now stands, is predominantly homosexual and thus the recent headlines of priests abusing boys. You are right when you say sex is a normal human urge but this no marriage policy just about eliminates straight men from the priesthood. The Bible says that men ought to avoid marriage to serve God but if they can't deal with the sexual urges, they ought to marry. The catholics have unreasonably interpreted this scripture causing unnatural consequences. The victims are young boys who love God and want to serve Him. This must change.

Answer 6

I think that the priests know what a life of celibacy means. It is their sacrifice to God,and a personal choice that they made. If they want to do that, then that is fine. As for the sexual problems - not all priests violate their vows. If someone molests a child, they are going to do so regardless of whether or not they are a religious leader in a community. It would have happened either way to some other child. It has nothing to do with the practices of the church, and everything to do with the mind of the pervert.

Answer 7

It might, because what if some Priests are homosexual? They can't get married to a man...remember gay marriage has not been allowed in the United States...they might have to do what Elton John did, get married in England,which might not happen so they might have to keep their realationship on the down low...I should know cause my cousin is gay and she wants to marry her girl but she can't and she doesn't have enough moeny to get two plane tickets to England so she can marry her and be happy for the rest of there life. But heres something, what if the sexual problems don't go away? What then? Think about it

Answer 8

It would be safe to say that some of these problems would be released, yes. I would be awfully narrow minded and judgmental to disagree.

Yes, it is a part of nature to have such urges. It is stronger in some people than others, so not everyone can make a decision for everyone else. If the ruling changed and even one case were to be prevented, it would be worth the paperwork.

True it is a traditional understanding and a promise made to God, but our flesh is weak. We cannot always follow our better judgments everyday regardless of our position, since we are ALL sinners.

Answer 9

Well, sexual molestation is generally not about sexual urges. It is about power and/or trauma that has happened in someone's life. Much like many child molesters are married (even happily), I believe the same priests who would be child molesters while single would be child molesters while married.

It isn't about your sexual relationships, but about a mental illness that leads you to these inappropriate behaviors. It really is quite separate from the normal sexual disposition and situation of the individual.

Taking the people with these problems out of positions of power and/or situations where they may be alone with vulnerable individuals like children would be the best way to solve the problem.

Answer 10

Yes, although admirable for someone to remain pure and save themselves for God's service only it is very difficult for many and when faced with the temptation many fall. This kind of commitment should be given much thought and if it proves to be too difficult they should be given an opportunity to step down with no guilt and no shame and perhaps some job training or placement so that their time in the service of the church is not waisted years and leave them with no skills otherwise.

I am not catholic so I do not know what the procedure is but I believe this may be a solution for some.

Kathy

Answer 11

YES! I wish Catholic priests could marry. They used to be able to be married, back in the old days. But I think what happened was the Church didn't want the priest's money/inheirtance to go to the wife when the priest died, they wanted the money to be cycled back into the church.

Also, why is masturbation a bad thing? It's simply a release....