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To: marshmallow

Genesis — 18 God said, “It is not good for man to be alone”. [...] 24 For this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife [...]

I am a Protestant (partially because of this disagreement with Catholicism). I do not think God intended men — even priests — to be alone.

And, while I think the “celibacy leads to pedophilia” charge is WAY overblown — I think there may be something to the thought that priestly celibacy tends to lead men with homosexual tendencies into the priesthood.

If a faithful Christian man were struggling with attraction to his own gender, the priesthood is a good place to go where his marital status, lack of dating and/ or sexuality will likely not be questioned. This is obviously not universally the case — but I would bet the percentage of priests with homosexual urges exceeds the percentage of the general male population with homosexual urges.

SnakeDoc


6 posted on 12/14/2009 2:47:15 PM PST by SnakeDoctor ("Talk low, talk slow, and don't say too much." -- John Wayne)
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To: SnakeDoctor
I think there may be something to the thought that priestly celibacy tends to lead men with homosexual tendencies into the priesthood.

That's not a problem with celibacy per se, but with the Church's failure to properly vet candidates.

7 posted on 12/14/2009 2:50:17 PM PST by Campion ("President Barack Obama" is an anagram for "An Arab-backed Imposter")
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