60s culture blamed for Catholic Church Sex Abuse

Jeanwah · May 2011

A study commissioned by the nation's Roman Catholic Bishops suggests that homosexuality and celibacy aren't at fault for priest sex abuse but the norms of the 1960's might be to blame.

http://nocureforthat.org/?p=865

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzrUL8RpM4o

I couldn't find the actual study, sorry.

Kat · May 2011

Like it never happened anywhere ever until 1960.

(read my mind)
my mind: nice try CathChurch, not buying what you want to sell there.

x

Lizard · May 2011

Kat wrote:

Like it never happened anywhere ever until 1960.

(read my mind)
my mind: nice try CathChurch, not buying what you want to sell there.

x

No kidding!! My 1st thoughts when I heard this.

polaris_x · May 2011

sweet! ... i just knew there had to be a good reason ... now, i can go and continue to make lives miserable for others without having to deal with that messy bit!

SatansFuton · May 2011

Well I think the earliest case in the U.S. (earliest reported) is 1950, and there are many cases that occurred before all the "free love" started. In other countries there are cases from well before the 50's. I think it's time for another study.

ShimmyMommy · May 2011

Are they kidding? Seriously? :roll: Talk about not taking responsibility for actions and enabling it to continue...Hey Catholic Church, it's time you started practicing what you preach.

Cree Nations · May 2011

laughable......all the abuse First Nations in Canada and America suffered at the hands of those bastards doesnt count I guess

ShimmyMommy · May 2011

Cree Nations wrote:

laughable......all the abuse First Nations in Canada and America suffered at the hands of those bastards doesnt count I guess

exactly my point, cree...ridiculous farce...

BinauralJam · May 2011

people need to have sex, it's really just that simple, if they started letting preist get married it would go a long way to fixing this.

SatansFuton · May 2011

BinauralJam wrote:

people need to have sex, it's really just that simple, if they started letting preist get married it would go a long way to fixing this.

I don't know dude. Why aren't they sneaking around having sex with adult women? Or adult men? What about them not being married means that they have to have sex with children? Is there some loophole in the Bible that I don't know about that allows for priests to justify having sex with children while still thinking it is bad for them to sleep with an adult? I'm not being sarcastic, I just really haven't read the Bible and I'm not clear on some of these things.

I think there is a larger problem than marriage, although I'm all for priests getting married. I just think they would still be pedophiles whether or not they were married. The "people need to have sex" part I agree with, but these guys aren't just going out and having sex against the rules of the church, they're molesting kids.

butterjam · May 2011

This is just sad and disappointing. I've been a Catholic my whole life and cannot understand why the church is passing the buck on this one. Its called responsibility. There's a few things in the Bible about it.

I'm a Catholic because of all of the good things it does and the message of Christ to love thy neighbor. I can understand from an outsider's perspective that all they see and hear are the bad things the Church does and so it can be seen as an evil organization.

But the most powerful element of the Church has been and always will be its people. It is up to us to hold our Church and its leaders responsible.

ShimmyMommy · May 2011

SatansFuton wrote:

I don't know dude. Why aren't they sneaking around having sex with adult women? Or adult men? What about them not being married means that they have to have sex with children? Is there some loophole in the Bible that I don't know about that allows for priests to justify having sex with children while still thinking it is bad for them to sleep with an adult? I'm not being sarcastic, I just really haven't read the Bible and I'm not clear on some of these things.

I think there is a larger problem than marriage, although I'm all for priests getting married. I just think they would still be pedophiles whether or not they were married. The "people need to have sex" part I agree with, but these guys aren't just going out and having sex against the rules of the church, they're molesting kids.

THIS^^

BinauralJam · May 2011

SatansFuton wrote:

BinauralJam wrote:

people need to have sex, it's really just that simple, if they started letting preist get married it would go a long way to fixing this.

I don't know dude. Why aren't they sneaking around having sex with adult women? Or adult men? What about them not being married means that they have to have sex with children? Is there some loophole in the Bible that I don't know about that allows for priests to justify having sex with children while still thinking it is bad for them to sleep with an adult? I'm not being sarcastic, I just really haven't read the Bible and I'm not clear on some of these things.

I think there is a larger problem than marriage, although I'm all for priests getting married. I just think they would still be pedophiles whether or not they were married. The "people need to have sex" part I agree with, but these guys aren't just going out and having sex against the rules of the church, they're molesting kids.

I agree with this, but i wonder if the policy toward marriage changed, if it wouldn't have prevented some small amount of these incidents, ironicly my wife asked a Nun once if being a Nun, ment None, and she said it was really more like don't ask don't tell policy.

ShimmyMommy · May 2011

Binaural, just a side note. Not all priests or nuns have to take the vow of celibacy. From what I understand it is an option. I could be wrong. However, I do remember a RC priest when I was young who was married and they had children. He was priest when he married his wife. He told the story in one of his homilies.

BinauralJam · May 2011

ShimmyMommy wrote:

Binaural, just a side note. Not all priests or nuns have to take the vow of celibacy. From what I understand it is an option. I could be wrong. However, I do remember a RC priest when I was young who was married and they had children. He was priest when he married his wife. He told the story in one of his homilies.

So:

= Celibacy/Catholic

= :twisted: /Protestant

Jeanwah · May 2011

ShimmyMommy wrote:

Binaural, just a side note. Not all priests or nuns have to take the vow of celibacy. From what I understand it is an option. I could be wrong. However, I do remember a RC priest when I was young who was married and they had children. He was priest when he married his wife. He told the story in one of his homilies.

Are you sure he wasn't a deacon? Because priests can't be married, but deacons can.

Another thing that I saw on Bill Maher about this topic is that the church also says now that being 10 years old and under would be accounted for pediphilia but not if you were over 10 years old. :shock: I almost fell off the couch on that one...

haffajappa · May 2011

Jeanwah wrote:

ShimmyMommy wrote:

Binaural, just a side note. Not all priests or nuns have to take the vow of celibacy. From what I understand it is an option. I could be wrong. However, I do remember a RC priest when I was young who was married and they had children. He was priest when he married his wife. He told the story in one of his homilies.

Are you sure he wasn't a deacon? Because priests can't be married, but deacons can.

Another thing that I saw on Bill Maher about this topic is that the church also says now that being 10 years old and under would be accounted for pediphilia but not if you were over 10 years old. :shock: I almost fell off the couch on that one...

Um.... what?

ShimmyMommy · May 2011

Jeanwah wrote:

ShimmyMommy wrote:

Binaural, just a side note. Not all priests or nuns have to take the vow of celibacy. From what I understand it is an option. I could be wrong. However, I do remember a RC priest when I was young who was married and they had children. He was priest when he married his wife. He told the story in one of his homilies.

Are you sure he wasn't a deacon? Because priests can't be married, but deacons can.

Another thing that I saw on Bill Maher about this topic is that the church also says now that being 10 years old and under would be accounted for pediphilia but not if you were over 10 years old. :shock: I almost fell off the couch on that one...

Jeanwah, I am 95% sure he was a priest...he had the garb on...but I could be wrong...I was very young.

As for your other point...WTF is wrong with the RCC? NO ONE SHOULD EVER BE VIOLATED REGARDLESS OF AGE, OR FOR ANY REASON, FOR THAT MATTER.
That's almost like saying rape is okay because of the clothes they were wearing.
:shock: Yes, I went there.
This is a ridiculous farce that they are doing to probably hide that it goes all the way to the top.
And Yes.
I went there again.

zarocat · May 2011

Who Princess · May 2011

311jj wrote:

This is just sad and disappointing. I've been a Catholic my whole life and cannot understand why the church is passing the buck on this one. Its called responsibility. There's a few things in the Bible about it.

I'm a Catholic because of all of the good things it does and the message of Christ to love thy neighbor. I can understand from an outsider's perspective that all they see and hear are the bad things the Church does and so it can be seen as an evil organization.

But the most powerful element of the Church has been and always will be its people. It is up to us to hold our Church and its leaders responsible.

I'm also a lifelong Catholic and believe this very strongly. The most meaningful part of my religion has been Catholic social teaching. The real strength is in the people.

This report would be funny if it weren't so sad. The clergy abuse scandal has been very painful for me. It's hard to feel part of a church when I see the hierarchy respond the way it has.

As to the role of celibacy in this, I read something years ago about how it might be partially to blame. Pedophiles are people who are sexually immature. They would be attracted to a profession like the priesthood where they are not expected to marry and have an adult sexual relationship. I can see some logic there but I don't think it's the total explanation. People in the ministry of other churches have abused kids and so have people like youth coaches and scout leaders. Because positions like that provide access to children, they will attract people who abuse children. Which tends to make all of us suspicious of the overwhelming majority of those people who do that kind of work because they genuinely care about kids.

As far as encountering a married priest, there are a few priests who are married. Since the late 70s, priests in the Episcopal or Anglican church who want to convert can become Catholic priests. If they are already married they remain married even though they become Catholics. IMO that is unfair to Catholic priests who are not allowed to marry.

ShimmyMommy · May 2011

Ok, before I get smashed up on here.

I am Roman Catholic. I know it is up to the flock to do the right thing with what we have been taught. However, if the ones who teach us can't take responsibility for their own actions, how can we look to them as mentors? How does that keep the faith going? For the survivors, it becomes something associated with the abuse and then they break from the religion.

We can come up with all kinds of reasons (excuses, really) why somebody violates a child.

Regardless of the reasons it is still wrong. It should have NEVER happen at all.

What I think makes me upset about this whole thing is that the Catholic Church is not looking at the obvious. Pedophiles need access to children to groom them and violate them. What better way to do so than through a trusted profession/calling?

I can see how the Catholic Church is doing what they think is damage control for the image of Catholicism, but they are not dealing with the actual problem...the pedophiles that are using yet another trusted profession to harm innocents.

Pedophilia is not just a Catholic Church issue...it is everyone's issue. The Catholic Church just happens to be a good lightening rod for this because it is a religion.

What makes me upset is that the Catholic Church chose to pass the buck and pin the tail on the 60s. They should be removing the offenders from their positions to show they do not support the abuse of children, even if that means they will to be short on staff. This would then permit the offenders to be prosecuted as they should be. It's for the good of the survivors and the Church. It's simply the right thing to do, and we all know that sometimes the right thing is not always the easiest thing to do.

As for the comment on it not being fair for married priests to convert. I agree. I think any priest from any religion should be permitted to marry. It's not only good for the body, it's good for the heart. Jesus was a human after all, wasn't he? And I am okay with that.

60s culture blamed for Catholic Church Sex Abuse

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