• Pope Benedict defrocked hundreds of priests over child abuse allegations, Vatican reveals
    28 replies, posted
[t]http://imgkk.com/i/jmjf.jpg[/t] [url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25788864[/url] [quote]Close to 400 priests were defrocked in only two years by the former Pope Benedict XVI over claims of child abuse, the Vatican has confirmed. The statistics for 2011 and 2012 show a dramatic increase compared with previous years, according to a document obtained by the Associated Press (AP). The file was part of Vatican data collected for a UN hearing on Thursday. It was the first time the Holy See was publicly confronted over the sexual abuse of children by clergy.[/quote]
I don't understand what it is that makes this many priests so attracted to minors? Is it something about the job? Their training? Is it in the scripture? Has anyone been able to find a correlation?
[QUOTE=Trekintosh;43579806]I don't understand what it is that makes this many priests so attracted to minors? Is it something about the job? Their training? Is it in the scripture? Has anyone been able to find a correlation?[/QUOTE] Do you have any statistics that say they are? Or are you just basing the assumption on how many times you've seen an article about it?
[QUOTE=Trekintosh;43579806]I don't understand what it is that makes this many priests so attracted to minors? Is it something about the job? Their training? Is it in the scripture? Has anyone been able to find a correlation?[/QUOTE] Abstinence, I'd wager.
[QUOTE=Strike 86;43579843]Abstinence, I'd wager.[/QUOTE] I don't think that's the case. There's much more priests that are able to hold to their vows then those that break them.
Priests are not allowed to have wife's or girlfriends. Some how they think having sexy time with young boys is alright
[QUOTE=Futashy;43579861]Priests are not allowed to have wife's or girlfriends. Some how they think having sexy time with young boys is alright[/QUOTE] Generally I have thought of it as a result of internalized guilt. A devout catholic could feel shameful if they had paedophilic (or even homosexual) desires and could join a seminary to allay them. Except that does nothing to actually address the problem and places them in a position where they have authority over the exact people they are trying to avoid. If they were allowed to marry I think the instances of people joining the priesthood for the wrong reasons would decline and the level of instances of paedophilic behaviour would ultimately decline (or it would just become statistically less significant, who knows)
[QUOTE=Trekintosh;43579806]I don't understand what it is that makes this many priests so attracted to minors? Is it something about the job? Their training? Is it in the scripture? Has anyone been able to find a correlation?[/QUOTE] Well, there's no hard evidence to go on off hand for your claim (Attraction of Priests to boys versus Attraction of Whole Population to boys) but some basic psychology of attraction can help. This is a kind of broad theory, so it's not perfect but it seems to me like a good brushstroke to start with. It's conjectured that we develop feelings of affection/attraction primarily for people who are close to us in both a physical sense, and an emotional sense. Catholic Priests tend to be in close proximity to their altar boys a great deal, and these young men tend to have the same beliefs or dispositions as their priests. It's also conjectured that we act on feelings of affection/attraction when we have the ability to do so. You don't ask someone out when you don't have any job, or self confidence or prospects of the future. So, the priest who is the ultimate moral authority in his community as well as the 'boss' of these young men has the means and potential motivation to act on his feelings of affection or attraction. Finally there is the very real fact that the church has gently covered up or in some conspiratorial claims encouraged this behavior. If there was no perceived risk of being caught or it is in fact encouraged, then there's no reason for the priests to suppress their own activity.
Don't quote me on it but the pedophilia incidence among priesthood is still under the average of general populace iirc. It's just massively inflated by the media. According to [URL="http://cara.georgetown.edu/caraservices/requestedchurchstats.html"]this[/URL], Catholic Church had just lick under 40 thousand priests in 2013. Meanwhile, Wikipedia says [quote] Prevalence and child molestation The prevalence of pedophilia in the general population is not known,[4][63] but is estimated to be lower than 5% among adult men.[4] "Most sexual offenders against children are male, although female offenders may account for 0.4% to 4% of convicted sexual offenders. On the basis of a range of published reports, McConaghy estimates a 10 to 1 ratio of male-to-female child molesters."[18] It is believed that the true number of female pedophiles is underrepresented by available estimates, and that reasons for this may include a "societal tendency to dismiss the negative impact of sexual relationships between young boys and adult women, as well as women’s greater access to very young children who cannot report their abuse", among other explanations.[18] [/quote] So if the rate was consistent with what's generally considered as the normal average in the society, the Catholic Church would have as many as 2000 (but probably fewer) pedophile priests at any given time (remember that the priesthood is constantly being refreshed by new members with the old ones dying, so even if you remove a percentage of pedophiles, it will eventually rebalance again). So you have up statistical 2000 people out there, with massively overblown medial interest into them, as well as the fact that they are public figure by principle, automatically get into contact with a lot of kids, and on top of all that, can't bang a cat, even, so any sexual tension they might feel is further graduated by general lack of sexual gratification. There is always going to be pedophiles in the Catholic Church just like in any other human institution with more than few members. The [I]actual[/I] problem was that there was a time when the church as a whole attempted to hide the truth about it's members and protect them from the law, but I don't think that's largely the case, anymore.
Just my speculation, but I think it has to do with priest becoming priests to stop such urges in the first place. They feel deranged or sinful, so they decide to become priest (or maybe are talked into it by relatives) to stay away from temptation of children and live a life of spiritualism and such, but eventually fail to do so along the way. Just me speculating.
[QUOTE=lapsus_;43580214]Just my speculation, but I think it has to do with priest becoming priests to stop such urges in the first place. They feel deranged or sinful, so they decide to become priest (or maybe are talked into it by relatives) to stay away from temptation of children and live a life of spiritualism and such, but eventually fail to do so along the way. Just me speculating.[/QUOTE] My dad always figured this to be the case.
To become a priest most would of had to of lived with catholic families which try and suppress pubescent sexual urges as shameful. I reckon for some of them this comes back to bite them, however it manifests as pedophilia. Most don't pick this, it's incredibly unfortunate and society will continue to propagate this until met with large social change. Just an idea.
[QUOTE=Trekintosh;43579806]I don't understand what it is that makes this many priests so attracted to minors? Is it something about the job? Their training? Is it in the scripture? Has anyone been able to find a correlation?[/QUOTE] considering many of these aligations come from greatly homophobic regions of america, I'd surmise they were gay, then were convinced they weren't and that the lord their savior was the only way to not go to hell, then years later they start acting on repressed urges, but I'm no psychologist so I'm only speculating...I mean I've heard probably from 4 or 5 priests why they joined and a couple of them just didn't fit in with normal life so they turned to the church
[QUOTE=Trekintosh;43579806]I don't understand what it is that makes this many priests so attracted to minors? Is it something about the job? Their training? Is it in the scripture? Has anyone been able to find a correlation?[/QUOTE] A priest is quite an easy profession to get into. It's also a profession that allows you to have VERY close contact with children, which is why many people probably joined. For most jobs with close contact with children(eg Teacher), you need to pass some sort of background check/test but priests didn't. So yeah, people who are into kids probably looked at the priesthood and said "I can get into that + no one will say anything cause I'll be a priest".
if he also told the police he will have reached the minimum standards for a decent human being. i mean, it's impressive compared to every other pope ever, but still, not very impressive.
[QUOTE=Trekintosh;43579806]I don't understand what it is that makes this many priests so attracted to minors? Is it something about the job? Their training? Is it in the scripture? Has anyone been able to find a correlation?[/QUOTE] Celibacy. A practice enforced by the catholic church in the feudal age to force the priests to give their lands to the church instead of their children. Still in practice today because [nonsense explanation].
[QUOTE=Trekintosh;43579806]I don't understand what it is that makes this many priests so attracted to minors? Is it something about the job? Their training? Is it in the scripture? Has anyone been able to find a correlation?[/QUOTE] It probably attracts them because of the authority it gives them over children. I don't think not having sex drives people to raping children.
Problem with Priests being child molesters isn't its recurrence (it's actually a fairly rare thing to happen), it's that for the longest time the Vatican were doing their darndest to hide it from the public eye. Usually when a child molester is found guilty it's a massive public outrage and everyone knows about it, but some priests managed to slip past the media for the longest time and when it finally blew into the light it caused a huge uproar.
[QUOTE=Ganerumo;43582874]it's a massive public outrage and everyone knows about it, but some priests managed to slip past the media for the longest time and when it finally blew into the light it caused a huge uproar.[/QUOTE] Thousands of children is alot.
Defrocking is nice, prosecution is better
[QUOTE=MatheusMCardoso;43582444]Celibacy. A practice enforced by the catholic church in the feudal age to force the priests to give their lands to the church instead of their children. Still in practice today because [nonsense explanation].[/QUOTE] So before that roman catholic priests where allowed to have wives and make children? News to me. But I know it's one of the big reasons why Martin Luther started the Protestant Church If I remember correctly he was a catholic monk that ran away with a Nun. (who he then later married?)
[QUOTE=Gordon Frohm;43583851]So before that roman catholic priests where allowed to have wives and make children?[/QUOTE] Yes.
[QUOTE=MatheusMCardoso;43584183]Yes.[/QUOTE] [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clerical_celibacy#First_century[/url] The more you know.
[QUOTE=Lonestriper;43579939]Generally I have thought of it as a result of internalized guilt. A devout catholic could feel shameful if they had paedophilic (or even homosexual) desires and could join a seminary to allay them. Except that does nothing to actually address the problem and places them in a position where they have authority over the exact people they are trying to avoid. If they were allowed to marry I think the instances of people joining the priesthood for the wrong reasons would decline and the level of instances of paedophilic behaviour would ultimately decline (or it would just become statistically less significant, who knows)[/QUOTE] The one thing that's great about Eastern Orthodox and Catholics is that our priests are allowed to marry.
[QUOTE=Trekintosh;43579806]I don't understand what it is that makes this many priests so attracted to minors? Is it something about the job? Their training? Is it in the scripture? Has anyone been able to find a correlation?[/QUOTE] I think its the other way around, I think some people become priests because they are attracted to little kids, and priests have power over people.
There's the fact that they're unable to take a wife, along with the fact that they're in a position of power over the kids.
Did like half of you skip over Awesomecaek's post? The whole thing about priests being child molesters is a lot of BS mostly inflated by the media.
Yes, but they have estimates. And you could say the same for the Catholic Church. You cannot tell if they are above or below the average. You can only tell from the actual incidents relating to it.
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.