Father Alberto was having some fun on Miami Beach and the overarching Archdiocese relieved him of his duties. What would you do as a man and single if a consenting Stormy Denials shows up on a beach.
This celibacy thing is definitely outdated. I have a great problem with a religion that teaches and tries to practice unnatural living such as celibacy. We humans should work with nature, as going against it will bring disastrous results. Sexual urges were put there by the nature and as long as they are practiced within reasonable rules it should be OK. Celibacy is not reasonable at all, especially when we do not know for sure if Jesus was celibate.
Because of this unnatural imposition of celibacy, the Catholic Church has faced many scandals over the years including sexual abuse of young boys and girls. Which is better, molestation of children or recognition that even priests have sexual urges and that they should be allowed to marry? Removal of such unnatural restrictions will minimize these scandals and may even eliminate them as we do not hear of similar cases among other religions unless they are fanatic sects which is even worse.
It is about time to change the rules to become a priest. Moreover some highly qualified and spiritual people do not make it to priesthood and child molesters do. When will the Pope and the Catholic Church realize this?
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I must have missed this story in the news, this is the first I've heard of it!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you inserted that sentence about "reasonable rules", as the whole thing would not have made sense otherwise.
Still, I have to object to the way you've categorized the church here my friend. We have no way of knowing whether or not the Catholic Church's celibacy rules are behind the sex abuse scandals they are currently plagued with.
My personal theory is that sexual predators are attracted to positions of power. They've been known to get jobs as clergymen (even in churches that allow the clergy to marry), police officers, teachers, etc.
From a practical point of view, can you think of anything that is more valuable to a sexual predator than occupying a position of trust in the community?
These days no one trusts anybody, but it was not that long ago that an accusation of any kind against one's local priest or minister would be dismissed as crazy. These days we're a little more on guard, but the fact remains that it's easier to evade repercussions for one's action froma position of power than any other.
I'm sure imposing celibacy does not help things, but I do not think it is at the origin of the problem.
Fish, thank for your comment. You make many valid points and I appreciate that however here are the reasons why I am opposed to celibacy.
ReplyDeleteI know this gentleman who is very bright. He was priest and then he fell in love with a very lovely woman. He was of course kicked out of priesthood. It was serious loss to church and gain for the society. He has two lovely kids now which priesthood would have deprived him off. He made extraordinary contributions to society and continues to do so and surely his kids will do the same. If this unnatural celibacy was not there church would stood to benefit tremendously from the talents of this man.
Here are other problems with celibacy:
Some highly talented people do not even bother to apply because of this celibacy restriction. So church does not get such good people.
Some predators get into priesthood because of the access they have to children and in the past there was very little scrutiny and accountability.
Parents trusted priests because they were supposed to be celibate and not abuse children, of course that trust was misplace and it is gone now.
Sexual desires are one of the strongest drives in humans and animals and to deny it is playing with nature with disastrous results. Yes in human society we need reasonable rules otherwise society will disintegrate but to suppress it completely or deny it is a grievous mistake.