Celibacy is in no way required by the Christian faith. Most churches do not practice it. Orthodox Christian priests are usually married, as are Protestant. In fact, Martin Luther married a former nun in 1520 or so and had a ton of fun with her, producing a lot of kids. Marriage is a good thing. However, there are plenty of Protestant, Jewish, and Orthodox religious leaders who have molested children and done other immoral acts.
It’s time to abandon celibacy.
Not that much of a radical - still wants women to be babymakers and not have any authority or ordination in the church.
One of the big reasons for celibacy was so that priests wouldn’t divert church resources to their spouses’ families and to their offspring. That’s not so much in play now.
But the article still seems screwy – the main way, imo, that the celibacy rule makes the church perverse isn’t so much unrelieved sexual tension as that it preferentially attracts people to the priesthood who have some kind of serious sexual hangup. (Well, yeah, that and the patriarchal authoritarianism.)
So were talking Czech-mates here?
Altar boys across the Czech Republic are issuing a collective sigh of relief.
… a possible change by calling a meeting of Amazon bishops for next year and decreeing just this week that their final document could become part of official church teaching.
Bezos’s next step toward world domination?
I thought it was to harness the alchemical power of coitus reservatus and coitus interruptus.
FYI there are married priests in the RC church. http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-pope-married-priests-2017-story.html
The theological basis for a celibate priesthood is that Jesus commanded his disciples to abandon their families and follow him. This command, however, was given by a man who himself was awaiting the imminent arrival of the Messiah and needed followers who would assist him in preparing the Jews for the arrival. Today, while the Church awaits the second coming of the Messiah and needs a priesthood to prepare the world for the arrival, a celibate priesthood is no longer required
I would argue pedophilia in the church has very little to do with sex or sexual urges. Rather it seems to be about domination: power and control. The intense patriarchial domination of the church, and of the priesthood, leaves individuals with virtually no personal freedom or expression. This is an unnatural human situation and it seems we should expect aberrant behavior from individuals.
I’m glad to see the Roman Church addressing celibacy, but it will do little to mitigate sexual perversions amidst the clergy.
I think this is true, but I think that the catholic church’s general demonization of sex and the celibacy rule help the abuse along. At least some people who have severe sexual hangups of some kind will be attracted to religious orders in the hope of controlling their urges, and other people whose sexuality is perfectly normal will be trained to despise themselves for it, which can’t help but come out in bad behavior against those they have power over.
On the other hand, pretty much every religious denomination that puts a really strong emphasis on patriarchy and the power of the clergy does seem to have an abuse problem, so maybe the celibacy part is indeed irrelevant. Dunno how you would do a study…
This tragedy in the RC church is not only that children are being abused but also the lame response of the hierarchy. Parenthood often brings a quantum leap in the sense of how precious children are. Celibates have not experienced this. Lajcha realized this:
To make his point, he gives the example of the night he invited several men from his parish to watch a movie about a father who sacrifices his son to save the lives of passengers on a train. After some of the men were unable to hold back tears, Lajcha said he realized how harmful his celibacy had been for him, since he was only able to grasp “a small idea” of what it was like to be a father.
So there is an argument to be made that the response would have been stronger if there were parents among the the priesthood.