What do you think of this theory?

Question

Catholicism has gotten quite the bad reputation because of a large number of Priests -- though they are statistically quite rare -- that have been found to be pedophiles.

Common belief (which is quite unfounded, of course) is that this problem is because of the Catholic sect itself. I believe that manner of thinking is backwards.

My thinking is that these men actually joined the priesthood because they already had these compulsions and were repulsed by them. Becoming a Catholic Priest was their attempt to escape their desires, but, for whatever reason, were not able to.

What are your thoughts?

Answer 1

I think you're right, and I'm sure you know the reason they couldn't escape. It has nothing to do with devils or demons, just a persons inner workings.

Answer 2

There are many factor in this issue. I agree this is definitely one of the major contributing factors.

Any organization, especially a large organization, that leaves children in the unsupervised care of adults runs the risk of attracting knowing predators. Similarly, youth groups like the Boy Scouts, YMCA, etc have had problems with this.

In some cases the priests and councilors have pleaded that sought out the work to repay past indiscretions that they were guilty about!

The Catholic church is often criticized for doing a bad job at "policing their own". Any large group like this has their own spin department to handle minor problems and false accusations. Unfortunately, the Catholic Church is a prime target for Litigation Lottery. By the time a real predator is found, the church is already invested in his protection (from him being included in protection from false accusations).

Heck, enforced celibacy itself is a severely outmoded concept. It used to be a voluntary choice. Many priests were family men who taught the virtuous life by example.
Enforced celibacy was a political move to gain money and power by the church - for a while priests could be married as long as they did not have sex with their wife (no children means that all inheritance goes to the church)!

Answer 3

Probably true for some. Since becoming an RCC priest involves renouncing ones sexuality it might be viewed as a way to handle a sexual desire they actually find abhorrent.

For others it may arise from the demands of celibacy. Can't marry so rather than be tempted to leave the priesthood by sex with a woman they redirect their sexual desires.

For others it may be something else. The point is that there is probably no single reason that covers all cases.

Answer 4

Good with the facts there. The priest who runs the retreat in New Mexico the church has for pedophile priests himself said that he did not think more than 20% of the priests are Pedophiles yet the statistics that he gave out about the retreat, on camera, indicated that it was closer to 40%. And many insiders have said, in public, that they think it is closer to 50%. And 875 cases in one boston Arch-dioceses does not make that statictically rare. Love the way your minds work.

Answer 5

I doubt it. It's hard to imagine somebody struggling with pedophilia being attracted to the priesthood.

The Catholic priesthood is an exclusive all male, all bachelor group. There's no question that this makes the priesthood a magnet for homosexuals. I'm not sure if the priesthood specifically attracts those with pedophile tendencies.

Answer 6

I seems to me that the Catholic faith teaches a philosophy of sexual repression, and it's members have a perverted view of sex, vilifying any sexual act that is done for the sake of pleasure, rather than procreation. It is this warped view on sex that causes Catholics to have so many emotional issues, as they are not allowed to express their natural sexual feelings. Combine that with the fact that Catholic Priests are expected to not release these feelings at all, and you have a recipe for psychological disaster. This gives rise to sexual abuse, as those who are expected to bottle these feelings up can only release these feelings with those whom they can manipulate and control into not talking about it. It's not surprising that so many Catholic priests display this behavior, when religious leaders of other faiths rarely display it... Catholics have the most warped sexual values of any of the Christian denominations ,being not only against sex without an imagined bond by a religious ritual, but also being against birth control, any sexual act other than for procreation (if "God" didn't want people to have sex, then why give people a biological need for it, as well as a physical reward for participating?), and being against responsible sexual education for teens, which is an age when we all first feel the sexual emotions caused by the natural biological changes to their bodies. To become a part of the leadership of an organization with such perverted sexual views, one had to have been warped by these irrational ideals already.

Answer 7

Could be truth in that. Probably is true for many of them. My theory is that they are everywhere in society, including priesthood, and while other pedophiles are allowed to marry, which channels their fantasies into a normal marriage in many cases, the priests are not, and they have no normal outlet.

Answer 8

I think these priest or not men of god and should be excomunicated on first offense. The problem is the catholic church because these men were not excommunicated but just moved to a different church aka new hunting grounds for sick f---in pediphiles. think what if it was your child? Would you want that bastard with new parish and not hanging from some ****** tree

Answer 9

Hmmm.

Answer 10

its an interesting theory, but temptation is a deadly game, the devil follows you your entire life nobody is safe from him, these priests who give religion a bad name have been tempted by the devil