Why are so many catholic priests pedophiles?

[Jazzy]

Do you think the seminary caused these disordered sexual orientations, or it most likely unintentionally attracted the disordered people?

 

[Albion]

The seminaries seem merely to have tilted in that direction in recent years because of the underlying problem--the Roman Catholic's Church's thousand-year-old policy against allowing married clergy (except under very rare circumstances).

 

[Josiah]

I'm not aware that the PERCENTAGE of Catholic religious are more likely to be pedophiles. Certainly, some were/are.... but then that's true of Protestant ministers, school teachers, sport coaches, etc. too.

The bigger issue in that whole horrible chapter for the Catholic Church was the "cover up" - the way the Catholic Church and her bishops handled this. While it was horrible to think these people were monsters to these little innocent Catholic boys and girls, we all knew sin exists and horrible things happen; what was shocking was how the RCC dealt with this. This is why the RCC was sued rather than individual priests. MUCH good was learned from this horrible, terrible chapter - not only by the RCC (which today probably protects kids better than any other institution) but also by other churches, schools, youth organizations, etc. ALL of them took a good look at how they handled these situations and how they protected kids.



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[tango]

Do you think the seminary caused these disordered sexual orientations, or it most likely unintentionally attracted the disordered people?

I suspect it's a simple matter of attracting the wrong types of people. If you have an unhealthy interest in children you'll naturally seek out roles that give you access to children. If you're in a role where you can claim some kind of divine privilege, or where people are reluctant to believe you could even consider doing such a thing to children, so much the better.

Priests, scout masters, choir directors, teachers, youth workers, sports coaches - all sorts of roles exist out there that involve getting close to children and spending time with children. Most of them increasingly discourage spending time alone with individual children as far as possible so the people who have inappropriate interests in children will naturally seek out roles where one-on-one time is more likely to happen.

As Josiah said the much bigger issue was the ongoing coverup. If a member of church leadership knows a priest has abused children but instead of rooting out the evil they just keep quiet and shuffle the problem off to a different parish that member has to bear some responsibility for what is done to children in the new parish.

 

[Albion]

I'm not aware that the PERCENTAGE of Catholic religious are more likely to be pedophiles. Certainly, some were/are.... but then that's true of Protestant ministers, school teachers, sport coaches, etc. too.

I'm not sure that this is the case. Across North America, there have been whole Catholic dioceses quietly go out of existence because the number of these crimes coming to the surface have simply exceeded the diocese's ability to pay off the lawsuits. And many times, it's not just that there was pedophilia, but that there was also the matter of the "cover up" you referred to.

I would guess that some of those suits may be suspect, but the development is still very significant. Meanwhile, the number of Protestant (and I would hope to keep the focus on mainline denominations, not referring to every TV huckster and insignificant cult as part of the "Protestant" landscape) examples appear from what I've read to be much more isolated.

The bigger issue in that whole horrible chapter for the Catholic Church was the "cover up" - the way the Catholic Church and her bishops handled this. While it was horrible to think these people were monsters to these little innocent Catholic boys and girls, we all knew sin exists and horrible things happen; what was shocking was how the RCC dealt with this. This is why the RCC was sued rather than individual priests. MUCH good was learned from this horrible, terrible chapter - not only by the RCC (which today probably protects kids better than any other institution) but also by other churches, schools, youth organizations, etc. ALL of them took a good look at how they handled these situations and how they protected kids.



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[Ammi]

I think pedophiles are attracted to positions that put them in contact with children through trusted and authoritative roles. I also believe that cults that practice SRA/MK Ultra are a hidden problem in our society. I recall when President Trump tried exposing this evil, the resistance he faced. And more recently, look at the resistance to the movie, "The Sound of Freedom."
America is said to be the #1 consumer of child sex in the world. Look at the push to have compassion on the minor attracted persons, aka MAP. These people are child abusers and are among the most heinous criminals in the world. And yet protesting this often results in arrest. This is coming from the top down. Most people have no idea of the evil that routinely goes on in this world.
I am aware of a few cases in my town where church leaders were exposed as pedophiles, and they were not Catholics. How I wish it wasn't true. But the Lord is faithful and does not change, even if we do.

 

[wrecked]

The Catholic Church has cleaned up its act. Now it's those outside of Catholicism that are the main problem.

 

[Albion]

The Catholic Church has cleaned up its act. Now it's those outside of Catholicism that are the main problem.

The Church has responded to the many lawsuits by selling off a lot of its property in order to raise the money necessary to meet those judgments, and she has also denounced wrongdoing itself, but what exactly do you have in mind when saying that "The Catholic Church has cleaned up its act?" What facts should we know that substantiate this claim??

Ammi:

I am aware of a few cases in my town where church leaders were exposed as pedophiles, and they were not Catholics. How I wish it wasn't true. But the Lord is faithful and does not change, even if we do.

The question that arises when this kind of response is given is this: Do we not notice that what "a few" (or even more than a few) have done is not the equivalent of a denomination ignoring it for decades and/or even taking measures designed to hide it?

 

[wrecked]

The Church has responded to the many lawsuits by selling off a lot of its property in order to raise the money necessary to meet those judgments, and she has also denounced wrongdoing itself, but what exactly do you have in mind when saying that "The Catholic Church has cleaned up its act?" What facts should we know that substantiate this claim??

Check out the Roy's report. There are violations everywhere in Christian Churches. Catholic's have cleaned up most of their issues - but they are getting worse in Protestant and other Christian Churches.

 

[Albion]

Check out the Roy's report. There are violations everywhere in Christian Churches. Catholic's have cleaned up most of their issues - but they are getting worse in Protestant and other Christian Churches.

Do you have an answer to the question, though? What specifics would cause you to assert that the Catholic Church "has cleaned up its act?"

 

[Josiah]

- but they are getting worse in Protestant and other Christian Churches.

Proof please.



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[Ammi]

The Church has responded to the many lawsuits by selling off a lot of its property in order to raise the money necessary to meet those judgments, and she has also denounced wrongdoing itself, but what exactly do you have in mind when saying that "The Catholic Church has cleaned up its act?" What facts should we know that substantiate this claim??



The question that arises when this kind of response is given is this: Do we not notice that what "a few" (or even more than a few) have done is not the equivalent of a denomination ignoring it for decades and/or even taking measures designed to hide it?

I can't understand covering it up, unless they also are pedophiles.

 

[Albion]

I can't understand covering it up, unless they also are pedophiles.

Well, I assume that the reason is that the higher-ups want to shield their church from a loss of credibility and also from the lawsuits.

We can understand that urge, while not approving of it, but the worst of it may be the moving of priests who are perpetrators from one parish to another in order to remove them from the scene (and the victims), thereby inflicting these perps upon a different and unsuspecting parish.