kwigibo

(sorry if this has come up before)

Are the priests in question joining the clergy, at least in part, because of tendencies towards this behaviour, or is it a result of the repressive environment fostered by catholic doctrine (of course most other denominations are more liberal in restrictions on the clergy, but does this exempt them?).

So is it more likely that the priest was a pedophile when he entered the seminary, which makes it even more horrible IMO. Or do they just start to get the wrong ideas after hanging around the altar boys too much? I know in my home state these cases have been coming out from both the anglican and catholic churches over and over again for close on 20 years, and some of these criminals appear to have been all too prepared to take advantage of the congregation's trust.

So, does the institution help make them this way, or merely give them an outlet? I believe neither is inexcusable <img src="graemlins/banghead.gif" border="0" alt="[Bang Head]" />

Peregrine

My take.

I believe the pedophile priests were pedophiles before entering the priesthood. Through guilt and a knowledge of the wrongness of the illness, they joined the priesthood with hopes that celebasy and religion will keep them on the right path. Ooops.

mibby529

That seems most likely. But it's made worse by the fact that the church has tried to cover it up for so long.

My suggestion to cardinals: Keep a good intelligence network going. If you must, install hidden cameras in your churches. Hell, we can affectionately refer to them as Grigori. Chandley's pedophilia, for example, was public knowledge. (Chandley's story was featured in TIME [or was it Newsweek?] Whoever it was, they pointed out that he had publicly questioned age-of-consent laws in gay magazines.)

[ August 19, 2002: Message edited by: mibby529 ]</p>

Corwin

I'd have to guess that they were beforehand.

Let's look at the clergy, shall we?

What we have here is a group of people who are held up as an unquestionable, inviolate moral authority... that's trusted implicitly in all situations. Someone who you leave your valuables or children with without question.... without even really THINKING about it. 'If they're not safe with a priest than who ARE they safe with?'

Does it really surprise anyone at all that this job is magnetic to pedophiles? It's a freakin smorgasbord for them. Plus... word gets around. I'm sure it's been common knowledge for some time among these slime that the church would cover its collective ass if they ever got found out.... and in doing so would cover for the pedophile.... giving them a change of scenery and a fresh crop of victims at the same time.

The very structure of catholic clergy is a win-win situation for pedophiles, and there's no way to change that without a dramatic restructuring of the entire organization.