How do you justify the sexual scandals of Catholic Priests.?

Question

Im not looking to bash the spiritual leaders of Catholicism. I just want to understand that despite their scandals and trying to secretely cover them up, people defend and still follow them as spiritual leaders and remain loyal to them. I want an explaination from Catholics of thier loyalty to men who deliberately deprive themselves of a woman and act out sexually toward children when it is scriptually okay for a man to marry and have relations with a women and be a minister of God. I am just looking for honest answers for an honest and sincere question.

Wow! lots of good points. In response, to people who said that they are human, (which is true). I would like to add that Any man in any religion that takes the lead has the responsibility of setting a good example. I think that they have done a horrible job at setting the example not just because they succumbed to weakness but tried to hide it. I think the reason Catholic Priests are publicised by the media is because they assume the position of spiritual authority. These men are the leaders of one of the largest if not the largest religion in mankinds history and have failed to uphold biblical truth by not confessing their sins, trying to hide them, and commit other serious wrongdoings such as permitting Gay Marriage, Abortion, Homosexuality all of which are condemned in the Bible. What does this say about thier spiritual leadership?

Answer 1

NOTICE VERSE 3 !!!

1 Tim 4:1 However, the inspired utterance says definitely that in later periods of time some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to misleading inspired utterances and teachings of demons, 2 by the hypocrisy of men who speak lies, marked in their conscience as with a branding iron; 3 forbidding to marry,

Answer 2

I don't justify the scandals or any other form of abuse of children by anyone, Catholic or not, priest or not.

I do not defend the people who committed these crimes, nor the ones who aided and abetted.

However, Catholicism does NOT promote the abuse of minors or anybody else. All these crimes were not only against civil law, but against the laws of the Church. Therefore, I feel just fine defending my faith, because my faith does not condone the abuse of minors.

Furthermore, people who deprive themselves of sex with women do NOT automatically turn into child abusers. The attraction to children, insidious and evil as it is, is not born of celibacy but from some other influence. A celibate priest isn't having sex with ANYbody, minor or not, and the many, many priests who have successfully upheld this vow -- the vast majority of them, 98% or more -- should not be considered guilty of the crimes committed by a few sick and twisted individuals who infiltrated the priesthood purposely to hide their evil intention and gain unfettered access to victims.

It is indeed Scripturally okay for a man to marry and be a minister. At present, it is a discipline of the Roman Catholic priesthood to take a vow of celibacy so that these men will be solely focussed on the work of the Church (administering Sacraments, feeding the hungry, etc.). If there comes a time when more people -- lay persons and priests and religious sisters -- do more of the work, I am sure priests will again have the freedom to marry. Many hands make light work and all that. But now, while the workers are few, they are asked to be focussed.

I used to be a secretary in a protestant church, and I know very well how hard it is to be a married minister -- and how hard it is on their wives/kids. Frankly, our society doesn't do a good job of supporting ANY of these ministers, married or not, and we should all be ashamed.

Answer 3

As a catholic, I do not justify this, and am outraged by the behavior of some priests, and the bishops who mishandled this grave sin.

Having said that, here are some facts for you:

The vast majority of priests, 99.9% are not pedophiles. The incidence of pedophilia is much higher in the general population, somewhere around 6%.

Many of the alleged cases of abuse involved teenaged boys and girls. When I was 15 years old, it would have been impossible for any man to have his way with me. It simply wasn't going to happen. The fact is, many of the alleged victims were willing participants. So the crime is not pedophilia or child sex abuse, but is illegal sexual conduct with a minor.

In addition, many of the law suits against Catholic Churches were based on the actions of lay employees. (That is, the so called abusers were not priests.) In one case, a lay choir director was having sex with a student at a catholic high school. In turn, the "victim" was awarded 3 Million dollars. This sum exceeds many wrongful death settlements!

In California, legislators passed a law that waived the statute of limitations... retroactively! This is unheard of in the history of American Jurisprudence. This means that as far back as 50 years ago, persons could make claims. In some cases, the accused abuser was deceased, which meant that the Church could not make an appropriate defense. Again, this violates basic principles of American Jurisprudence.

Are there any pedophile priests? Yes, and they deserve to be defrocked and sent to prison for a very long time. Did some Bishops mishandle this grave matter, and quite possibly aid and abet criminal behavior? Yes, but I believe most of the bishops' sin was negligence and ignorance, and most dioceses have implemented policy and procedures to prevent even the semblance of child abuse.

To suggest that all catholic bishops actively conspired to cover up and protect pedophiles, and such a conspiracy involved the Vatican, is ridiculous.

Answer 4

The Roman Catholic Church has set the priests to serve contained in the placement of Christ. interior that framework, the Church has chosen to forget approximately approximately and canopy up many years of abuse via the priests. Matrimony isn't the answer to the priority. Justice and incarceration are the solutions and could have been some time past. jointly as Protestant ministers could be responsible with equivalent frequency, they're seen via their congregations in much less divine words, and are not commonly sheltered via the denomination leaders. The mere actuality which you're responsive to those abuses is a demonstration that they don't look to be being lined up. priests accused years in the past are nevertheless contained in the shadows. i'm not condoning the strikes in the two case. yet, you asked the alterations.

Answer 5

Sexual scandal is not just a Catholic priest problem. It is every denomination clergy's scandal.

I am sorry to mention this but, according to statistics the Baptists are the worst and they CAN marry. I do not understand why if Jesus said "his kingdom is not of this world", why everybody insists on judging his priests by this world's standards. The idea that people MUST have sex all the time is just diabolical. It is not a mandatory thing in life. It is not like air, food, and water. There are several biblical inferences that allude to the Priesthood remaining chaste.

Let's not forget that the priests know what the rules are going in too. It is not like somebody holds a gun to their head.

Answer 6

The sexual misdeeds and abuses of any person, especially in a position of Christian leadership, are NEVER justified. These predators exist amongst Protestants as well as Catholics, married as well as single, but you probably won't see that in the news.

Why anybody would cover up such a vile act, and move a predator on from one parish to another, is beyond me! That was a problem within the heirarchy itself, and not within the parishes.

There are MANY godly men who serve, both married and single, who never do such vile things. The predators simply get more press!

Answer 7

I cannot justify it. People are human. People are sinners. People break vows. The fact that some (a tiny fraction) priests have done some terrible things does not change my religion.

I have said it before and I will say it again: Any psychiatrist or police officer will tell you that child abuse is not exactly about sex, it is an abuse of power. Priests take a voluntary vow of chastity, which does not and cannot cause anyone to become a child molester.

As for your statement that it is scripturally OK for clergy to be married, we will just have to agree to disagree.

Answer 8

It is a false religion like so many others. You can tell if it is a false religion by what the people do who belong to that religion. First they practice pagan customs by celebrateing the holidays. Then there is the lie about Santa clause.
The Easter bunny. 1 timothy says 3;2 that a spiritual leader should have a wife. 1 Timothy 4;2 says to stay away from religions forbidding men to marry. Then they lie to protect pedofiles.
The Evangelists are no better rich self serving con artists and the people watch them and send them money.
They are telling them send me money and god will make you rich. So the people are no better they do it hoping to get rich.
Then buy a lotery ticket and gamble to let God make them rich. It is all a con game.
People are really stupid.
But look at the muslims? Those guys tell some young boy to strap on a bomb and blow his self up and he gets virgins in heaven. Dumping the 4 wives he has on earth.

Answer 9

Very few priests (in terms of percentages) were involved. Those men will have to answer to God (and I wish they could answer to the legal system).

But we are all sinners, and while I know all priests are sinners, I still respect them as men of God.

I will not leave Peter because of Judas.

In terms of arguing for married priests, I will skip that - it should be its own question.

But consider... if you chose to forgo sexual relations, would YOU become attracted to children of the same sex? I wouldn't.

Answer 10

I don't whether you've noticed this, but Catholic priests are human. Humans of all descriptions, creeds, professions and national origins engage in behavior that is outside the accepted bounds of the society in which these particular people live.

The fascination with Catholic priests' scandals is based on the bias held by the protestant churches against Catholics combined with the interests of these prurient people in sexual misbehavior generally.

Do you have any curiosity about anyone else's sexual scandals? Or is it just Catholics? Have you asked yourself the reasons for this narrow focus?