Pope wants to scrap centuries-old ban on priests marrying

I did not say celibacy was invented in the Middle Ages.

I did say the Church’s policy of compulsory clerical celibacy was not widely enforced, implemented, and institutionalized until the Middle Ages as many if not most priest, bishops (and yes a number of the early popes) were married men.

Clerical celibacy was institutionalized and enforce from the 4th century. As a general practice to goes back even further. Your reference to the contrary in the Middle Ages was the result of the general corruption in those centuries and was contrary to what was still the stated law. Even then there were constant attempts, however unsuccessful, by the Church to enforce the then ancient discipline. There are plenty of arguments pro and con about clerical celibacy without having to resort to false history. Such appeals only weaken, not strengthen, your argument.

No doubt there were Church leaders from the earliest clamoring for compulsory clerical celibacy, most notably Damian among others. Some of these Church leaders had issues with women. Some had issues with the mere idea of physical intimacy-—even that between a husband and a wife. A whole cottage industry developed around this ideology including turning Mary into a perpetual virgin even though the Gospel of Luke only states that Mary was a virgin only up to the time of her conception of Jesus. They would have us believe that Mary and Joseph never consummated their marriage and Jesus’s brothers and sisters mentioned in the Gospels were not really his brothers and sisters but rather cousins. It amazes me how far some will go to propagate this ideology around celibacy which I think is entirely misguided and to some extent twisted. The Lord commands us to be fruitful and multiply. Physical intimacy between a husband and a wife is a precious gift from God, not an act of defilement, certainly something the Lord would not have denied to Mary and Joseph.

With respects to the institutionalization of clerical celibacy according to the New York Daily News 7/14/2014:

“Celibacy was optional for priests until it was voted a Vatican rule at the First Lateran Council of 1123.”

Why do you think we need compulsory clerical celibacy? Where IS such a requirement found in the Bible? What IS wrong with the idea of married priests? We have a number of married priests in my own archdiocese. And they do just fine, it doesn’t bother me in the least.

I can't set your argument aside as if it had no merit, but it would have real traction only if the Catholic Church actually had a higher rate of sexually abusive personnel than other religious denominations and professions, which it does not.

In a comprehensive study of more than 20 years of data on clerical abuse, Philip Jenkins, the Distinguished Professor of History at Baylor, and author of Pedophiles and Priests, found no evidence that Catholic or other celibate clergy are any more likely to be involved in misconduct or abuse than clergy of any other denomination. More information on that here:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/3267219/posts?page=107#107

A national survey conducted for the American Association of University Women found that 290,000 public school students experienced some sort of physical sexual abuse by a public school employee between 1991 and 2000. Researcher Charol Shakeshaft (google her!!), basing her analysis on these figures, estimates that "the physical sexual abuse of students in schools is likely more than 100 times the abuse by priests," according to Education Week.

Other studies have found high rates of abuse perpetrated by athletic coaches, Protestant youth ministers, summer camp counselors, -- precisely because abusers gravitate toward professions which will put them in a position of proximity, trust, and authority over kids.

Without a doubt, the Catholic Church has been prosecuted, ruinously, disastrously, more than any other denomination or institution. But why? I would say, three reasons:

Documentation: the Catholic Church archives every letter sent out or received, and keeps therapy notes, medical records, pastoral assignemnts, personnel files, etc. forever. A prosecutor's dream.

Deep Pockets: the Church's assets are largely in parishes, schools, land and buildings. The structure of governance makes it very hard to shield these from looting by ambitious prosecutors.

The Trash Factor: the Catholic Church has such a prominent public stance against perverse sex practices, that there's a real frisson of excitement when a priest is caught with his pants down. It's so much more satisfying to expose Catholic pastors than PSU assistant football coaches...

See what I mean?

There were THOUSANDS of homosexual-pedophile priests in the US and around the world. Thousands of them. There should be none. The Church should be held to a MUCH HIGHER STANDARD. I grant you there are a huge number of pedophiles in our public schools as well. Why do pedophiles like working in schools? Same reason why robbers like robbing banks. That’s where the money is. But public schools are secular institutions. Churches are supposed to be doing God’s work and are therefore held to much higher standards. Even if just one or two bad priests get in, that can have a devastating impact. Compulsive homosexual-pedophile behavior is almost always serial, with many victims involved.

To say that only a small percentage of priests was involved is compared to the general population, seems to me a way of mitigating what was actually a HUGE problem that CANNOT be understated. I know this first hand. My own archdiocese was forced to pay a $660 MILLION settlement with the victims. That is an enormous sum which will impact us for decades. Other archdiocese across the country have been brought to the brink of bankruptcy. Many have been forced to close down a number of churches. It will take decades to fully recover from this horrendous scandal. And the role many bishops and cardinals played, shuffling these pedophiles around from one parish to another instead of promptly reporting them to law enforcement authorities simply made the problem much worse.

I do not claim that the Church’s policy of compulsory clerical celibacy causes homosexual or pedophile behavior. But for many decades it did create an atmosphere, and in some cases a perfect cover, attractive to literally thousands of such individuals and Lord only knows how many victims.

Compulsory clerical celibacy is not God’s plan. Holy matrimony is God’s plan. There is nothing in scripture mandating such a draconian policy. It is a policy which needs to be thoroughly reviewed and explained as to why it is still necessary. It was not part of the early Church tradition nor is it remotely related to anything which can be found in the Bible. What is the purpose of it?

"There were THOUSANDS of homosexual-pedophile priests in the US and around the world. Thousands of them."

This is not true. Of the priests guilty of what is called, generally, "sexual abuse," the vast majority were homosexuals hitting on post-pubescent male youths. This is a damnable sin as well as a crime under law --- deeply harmful, disgusting and depraved--- but it is not pedophilia: it is homosexuals who like adolescents and young men.

I invite you to check the research before you make such sweeping statements.Philip Jenkins is a good place to start.

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