However, many priests are not celibate. It is dependent upon the vows they have chosen to take and permission given.

The Catholic Church [and am not defending it] have had paedophiles lurking within its structure over the years; as have many families, extended family members and other [paedophiles]roaming for long periods in our communities.

Yes, I agree Suzeonline that of course the Catholic Church should be scrutinized; however shortly there wont be any priests to observe closely as it has almost died out [ie no more Priests to investigate]as in the case of Nuns dying out [can hear you sigh with relief Suze]: I had my share of great Nuns and a couple of cane and ruler Nuns for a few years lol.

I see the Catholic Church turning the corner soon and following the Anglican way in terms of having Priests marry if of course the Pope or a new Pope agrees. I have personally known some wonderful loving highly principled Priests and the odd one [twice in my lifetime] wondered about after the media brought out recent stories.

Many people sitting on an alter though should be closely observed; not only Priests.

I am a very senior citizen, a lifelong member of the Anglican Church.

I have many friends who belong to the Roman Catholic Church, at times over the years I have been tempted to embrace the Catholic faith. I have visited the Holy Land and worshipped in the biblical places denoted in Christ's teachings. I consider myself to be a Christian. Not a demonstrative Christian but a quiet believer.

In my many discussions with my Roman Catholic friends I have come to believe they are quite immune to some of the obvious shortcomings of their faith, one could almost say uninterested. This lack of questioning of some of their archaic beliefs as expounded to them from their local church pulpits and reinforced by their religious teachers, this almost blind belief in the teachings of their religion as expounded by the average parish priest, is both the cause and the effect of what is wrong with the RC Church today.

It is well beyond time that the catholic laity started to question
some of the unrealistic religious edicts issued by their clergy, which appear to be unrelated to Christ's teachings but still expected to be blindly accepted by the catholic congregations with perhaps the extreme threat of excommunication or exclusion from partaking in Holy Communion rites if these beliefs are questioned.

Divorce Doctor I truly am deeply sorry for what you suffered and understand why you feel as you do.
The anger is just and in truth not something you should leave behind.
But if we take your lead this thread a vital one, would not have been seen.
I Just missed out, rightly so,as Suz had beaten me to it no two threads on one subject should run together.
But we must see change must see an end to this, you are wronging saying what would we know.
My post history tell of a 13 year old who was raped by her dad, a relative I rared in prison ,for pedophilia.
My social background has given me the SADNESS of knowing more victims.
I can not bring my self to ever forgive anyone who does such things, in our efforts to be Christian/forgiving we are saying its over let us forget , such as you never can.
We must never forget, I will never forgive, this isn't just the Catholic Church's problem.
They however claim to know God, Satan maybe not the God I once thought was true.
A new pope now new direction now or no catholic church in 30 years.

Foxy,

Sorry to learn you have been unwell if this is the case.

mjpb,

I don't think critics see the Bishops, as sleeping on the job, rather they are alleged to cover things up. If so, they should be charged with obstruction and more serious charges if the "transferred" priest offended again.

Regarding the Confessional, the Pope could dictate that the mandatory penance for paedophilia is to go to the police and hand oneself in. If someone confessed to be a serial of clergy killer, I suspect that the priest hearing the Confession would instist that the criminal surrender to authorities ASAP.

Perhaps, courts should not respect the Confessional in the cases of murder, kidnap, child molestation and treason. The needs of society outweights the rite of Church.

Is time for a change. I think that lay Christians should really be pressing clergy on this in fight mode not flight mode. March on the Cathedrals don't leave their Church (if they are beleivers).

Jack from Bicton,

Perhaps the Christian churches generally should better recognise history. That Faith was institutionalied because of the activities of Jews in response to Hadrian, the writings of St. Paul and Constantine, long after Jesus was dead. There was plenty of morphing and cherry-picking theology over that time.

Even with the Anglicans the final say on the 39 Articles of Faith were approved by Elizabeth I. There were 42, initially. Before, true nation states people followed their monarchs with regards to the form worship: e.g., Spain and England. People really didn't make free choices. Had the Spanish Armada (1588) succeeded, you would in high likihood now be a Catholic.

I think you might find that Confession and Exorcism are known to Anglican theology but rarely practised.

Allowing priests to marry would create a different community of practice, closer to the Anglican one. Less like a police or military brothehood, and, more like a typical community with typical relationships.

Foxy,

Thanks for that. I have no idea where I have buried my copy. It must be around somewhere. It is good to hear you have recovered. What happened?

The comments of the Judge in that article I linked to indicate that the Pope demonstrated strong leadership both in his former and current roles on the issue. The irony is obvious so I won’t spell it out.

Belly,

People can be strange so it is impossible to know what they believe. However the natural suspicion is that they were predators on children who sought a position of trust back in the days when noone would believe that a Catholic priest would do such a thing as Suzeonline’s friend’s experience clearly demonstrates.

As regards those who ‘covered it up’. That is more complicated.

There was a recently reported case where the Vatican was accused of inaction for failing to defrock a priest. The abuse occurred up to the 70s. In the 70s it was reported to Church and police but neither did anything effective. The police didn’t prosecute. The Bishop didn’t take any type of Church action. The local Bishop didn't inform the Vatican until 1996 and the priest died in 1998 while the matter was still under enquiry after living in seclusion. A Bishop involved had an out of court settlement with his gay lover who sued him. In that case there would be intense suspicion regarding the Bishop but as they say only God knows.

In most cases however where the Bishops referred the priests to mental health professionals and then reassigned them when they were ‘cured’ it is more likely that the Bishops were believers. However their weakness and delegation of duty to secular customs of the time is apparent.

I believe the orthodox view is that God is willing to forgive anything no matter how atrocious. I am sorry to say that given your statement as I would rather that you did believe.