do you think catholic priests should be studied to help us understand paedophilia?

Question

its now a joke in comedy clubs about catholic priests ,seems obvious to me that repression of a natural base instinct leads to perversion of the sexuality ,,could we learn anything from why such a big percent of priests become pedophiles? shouldnt there be civilised discussion not ignorance .

Answer 1

Yes and there should be a lot of discussion about the scandals that the Catholic church has covered up over the years. I was brought up Catholic and in my parish in the seventies we had a paedophile as a priest. People didn`t seem to react to it then as they do now , but the catholic church itself reacted by sending him, and others like him to some kind of "naughty boys rehabilitation" centre that they had in the south of England. Then they went back to practise as priests in another parish.No prison, no namimg and shaming, no thought for future victims.In Ireland and America there were thousands of cases too.
Your point about a serious study of how the suppresion of sexual urges may lead to this kind of behaviour is interesting. I don`t know if it`s been done at all.(certainly not by the catholic church) It may be an idea to investigate this and see what light it sheds on the subject to help us protect all our children.

Answer 2

meg m wrote
>>>>A big percentage? Only 4% of Catholic priests and deacons in active ministry between 1950 and 2002 have been accused of the sexual abuse of a youth under the age of 18<<<<
daver wrote
>>>>>For one, we can learn that the percentage is not as high as you think it is. Only 6% of priests are suspected of pedophilia.<<<<

seems to me someone is pulling statistics out of some orifice or other. perhaps you two should get together and come up with a joint figure

daver wrote
>>>>>>>You might want to check the ratio between the percentage of Catholic priests who are pedophiles and the percentage of non-clergy pedofiles.<<<<<

surely you cannot suggest 6% of the population OUTSIDE the catholic clergy are paedophiles??????
if so, i would like to see some evidence for that

daver wrote
>>>>>>It never ceases to amaze me how quickly the secular crowd throws a bone to a pedophile when it happens to be one of their own. "It's not their fault. It was the result of a poor upbringing", they say.
BUT, whenever a Catholic priest is found to be a pedophile, suddenly, the same people who are so "compassionate" to their own, attempt to make it appear as if every Catholic priest is a pedophile?<<<<<<<

oh yes? you see people being compassionate to paedophiles all the time, do you?
in a word.... B0llocks!!
the only paedophile apologists I hear about are the ones in the catholic church hierarchy

daver wrote
>>>>>>That's nice. Instead of extending some compassion towards the victims of clergy sex abuse, they too become part of ill-conceieve comedy club acts?<<<<<

the clergy are the Joke, the church is the joke. the heirarchy who seek to cover up their mess, and always look to the bottom line (how can we minimise compensation?) are the joke
the victims of the clergy are not the joke.
but it doesn't surprise me that a paedo priests apologist would seek to turn that around to deflect attention towards the victims and away from the clergy

daver wrote
>>>>>>Seems obvious to me that the uninhibited sexual expression so blatantly exhibited and promoted by society has done more to pervert sex than anything a priest could do. In fact, it can be argued that this sexaully permissive society of ours has something to do with eroding the moral where-with-all of some of the Catholic clergy.<<<<<

You seek to blame society for the sins of the priesthood. Hmm...

daver wrote
>>>>>so long as there is ignorance, there cannot be civilized discussion.<<<<<

so long as there are apologists, who are totally accepting in
their faith, there cannot be civilized discussion

Answer 3

I think maybe a more important question is: how is it possible that a pillar of society, preaching about the sixth and ninth commandment and trying to interfere with people intimate life has been able to stay scot-free such a long time. They knew about the problem and condoned it. It was widely accepted as a safety valve for the sexual energy of the priests. Even Pope Pius IX was a well known paedophile.

Answer 4

So what percentage of priests is it that become paedophiles? I'd say you have absolutely no idea and I am certain that there are no official statistics. Priests are people too and the vast majority of them are not and never will be paedophiles. I thinkit is realy sad that you are willing to make such a strong accusation on no grounds whatsoever.

Answer 5

It's pretty much common knowledge that - in the case of priests - it's all about access.
access to children, choir boys, etc
denial of access to normal, mature females
ability to manipulate children with use of religion / threats of hell, etc, which may not be so easy with mature women.

I dont think studying priests could spread any light on why people who are living in the wider world, would turn to paedophilia

Answer 6

There is no basis what so ever. Percentage wise the Catholic Church is the safest place for kids. Only through the media has this been profaned to the levels it is at. Other institutions or organization unfortunately have a higher ratio of this happening. It is a sad and unfortunate situation all around. Pray for the healing of the victims and the faithfulness of our beloved Priest

Answer 7

>>could we learn anything from why such a big percent of priests become pedophiles?<<

A big percentage? Only 4% of Catholic priests and deacons in active ministry between 1950 and 2002 have been accused of the sexual abuse of a youth under the age of 18. 40% of the youths were 14 or older at the time of the first incident (pedophilia involves those 13 or younger), so we are actually talking about a very, very small percentage of priests who been accused of engaging in pedophilic behavior.

>>shouldnt there be civilised discussion not ignorance.<<

Yes, there should, and you can start by getting your facts straight.

Answer 8

I can tell you with 100% certainty that a lack of sex does not make a person become a pedophile. I know this because, I am not a pedophile.

Those priests were pedophiles to begin with.

Answer 9

I think Catholic priests should be allowed to marry even if the are gay. I believe this would cut out all the abuse in that church. Just my opinion.
BB
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Answer 10

Paedophilia and repression are two different things
To be sexually repressed does not mean that you have to target children.
Many paedophiles infiltrate certain organizations because they are often easy targets,
But not any more, there is a much tighter screening put in place
Please don't tar the Catholic church with the same brush