It’s difficult for me to understand how Christ would expect all his vicars to be celibate for life.For periods of time,like Eastern Rite priests,absolutely...but not lifelong.And I believe that celibacy is at least indirectly responsible for the sex abuse stuff because it largely closes off the priesthood to “normal” men who,being normal,wouldn’t want to spend their whole life without the companionship of a woman.
Sexual Abuse of Children by Protestant Ministers
Sex Abuse by Teachers Said Worse Than Catholic Church
Factor in childhood sex abuse by camp counselors, Jewish rabbis and Muslim imams ... and the list grows much larger.
As for your initial comment It’s difficult for me to understand how Christ would expect all his vicars to be celibate for life
Jesus never married. Paul was not married. And, for all we know, the only apostle who ever married was Peter and that was before he met our Lord. Paul even goes on to make a case for preferring celibacy to marriage: "Are you free from a wife? Do not seek marriage. . . those who marry will have worldly troubles, and I would spare you that. . . . The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord; but the married man is anxious about worldly affairs, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided. And the unmarried woman or girl is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit; but the married woman is anxious about worldly affairs, how to please her husband" (7:27-34). Paul’s conclusion: He who marries "does well; and he who refrains from marriage will do better" (7:38).
Celibacy is not the Problem Homosexuality and Pedophilia is.
If Celibacy were the problem ,normal straight priests would be having sex with heterosexual women not little boys.
The problem is that the word got out to pedophilic Homosexuals that the Priesthood was a target rich environment for them. The Church’s wrongful way they sent them away and hid them for a while and then brought them back, still in the priesthood was taken as primo facie evidence that the Church was allowing them to get away with it. As they were.
I know I will catch it from the flamers for this , but-——Bishops are picked from the Priesthood, and if you have pedophiles in the priesthood, there are probably a few Bishops who arent all that straight either.Perhaps this was a part of the problem of why these people were hidden.
In other words, you got bored with the New Testament after the first four books. You'd be suprised how often this happens. And most priests are not considered "vicars" in the original Christian faith. You're confusing Catholicism with Anglican/Episcopalianism. They're similiar, but Catholicism decided not openly embrace homosexuality.
And I believe that celibacy is at least indirectly responsible for the sex abuse stuff because it largely closes off the priesthood to “normal” men who,being normal,wouldn’t want to spend their whole life without the companionship of a woman.
In other words, you've missed the point or priesthood entirely. This, too, happens all the time. What part of "Catholic Priests are less likely than the male population in general to abuse someone" are you having trouble with? This whole "scandal" has been trumped up for years by a liberal media that hates the Church for being at the forefront of most socially conservative causes. BTW, pedophilia/perversion rates are also no higher (and generally a lot lower) than among the clergy of any other religion you can think of. The world is full of twisted married men.