PEDOPHILE PRIESTS IN PURSUIT
OF PERVERSION
by Timothy Rollins, Editor and Publisher
In what has become an increasing black eye on the Roman Catholic Church in America,
more and more priests are being “outed” by diocese officials as pedophiles and
referred for prosecution – not so much in the name of justice as in the name
of damage control in a vain effort to keep from making more seven and eight-figure
apologies than they already have. Some of these priests have track records for
molesting children – usually boys – as far back as 40 years and beyond, but
the statute of limitations only go back so far – in some cases, like New York
State, where the statute only goes back five years.
American Catholics are justifiably upset. What I don’t understand is that the Church and its policies regarding the priesthood as a vocation sets itself up as a breeding ground – even a magnet for pedophiles. It’s as if the Archdiocese of New York had an ongoing ad in The New York Times actively soliciting pedophiles for the priesthood that would have read very creatively were it actually placed.
Think about it for a moment. In no place of scripture does it state the Lord’s servants should be unmarried. From the King James Version of the Bible, we read in 1 Timothy 4:1-3:
1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
3 Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
Time and again it states throughout scripture as well as the history books of problems that go when men are placed in positions that are blatantly or patently unnatural, and forced lifetime celibacy is one of these. With the Roman Catholic Church having instituted the forced celibacy of its priests in approximately 1074, all of a sudden these men no longer had an outlet for legitimate sexual expression.
Do other churches or religions have laws of chastity? Of course they do and there is legitimate merit and substance to them – especially in this day and age of AIDS and host of other social diseases. However, they do permit and promote legitimate sexual expression within the bounds of marriage whereas the Catholic Church says if you become a priest or nun, you have to give that up – completely. And they want to know why they are now having to deal with all these rogue priests and their predilection – no, make it their insatiable lust for young boys?
Because of the complete intransigence of the Catholic Church over their refusal to allow priests to marry and have children of their own – not to mention allowing them to have a normal and healthy life – to include legitimate and normal sexual expression, the Catholic Church – in America at least, now has a situation that has surpassed the crisis level as it pertains to the molestation of young boys. I’m sure it goes on in other countries as well; it’s just that in America, we have a more open society where these things are discussed and made public in order that we may address these issues and make corrections where necessary and permissible both by public policy and under the law.
As for lifetime forced celibacy: Somehow, it just does not compute that one has to forsake God’s first command to multiply and replenish the earth to serve him as a member of the cloth when both can be accomplished with dignity and honor. Ministers of other faiths, in both a full-time as well as in a lay capacity are able to accomplish this in a dignified manner with class and style without racking up a slew of molestation charges that seem to attract themselves to Catholic priests like bees to honey.
.jpg)
With
problems in Boston and Los Angeles (among other places) having come to light
and a record number of priests having been both relived of their duties as well
as being referred to the District Attorney’s office for prosecution, and the
Vatican having called Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston (right) in for consultations,
perhaps the first step will be taken to making remedies to an age-old problem
within the Church. After all, there are nobler purposes to church funds than
damage control and seven or eight-figure apologies, and the money could be better
spent furnishing the priests a stipend that would allow them to marry and have
families of their own.
This would accomplish several things. First, it would open the floodgates of the priesthood to qualified, suitable applicants that are presently put off by the Church’s stance of prohibiting married priests. This would better allow the Church to weed out potential pedophiles and put the Church in a position of strength to choose who they want as priests instead of whomever comes along. It would also allow priests to better serve the needs of their flock in that that they could better identify with their parishioners who are having problems with various areas of their lives.
There’s no time like now to make changes and it’s never too late to do it, and while the Vatican may be an old institution, it’s never too late to teach an old dog new tricks, for if any institution is to survive, grow and progress, it has to keep with the times while not sacrificing its core values, and forced celibacy is not a core value. It’s nothing more than a financial convenience for the church that has turned out to be penny-wise and hundred-dollar foolish with current and pending litigation because of an institution that with the noblest initial intentions, promoted the moral high road of purity only to fall on its face due to its own myopic view of the realities of life in a modern society.
Here’s hoping the Catholic Church works its way through this mess and solves this quickly by instituting long-term measures that will protect its most vulnerable members – children, those least able to protect themselves, and the priests, who not only seek to serve God, but who are also seeking a sense of balance and a normal life at the same time. ***
© 2002 Timothy Rollins
COPYRIGHT © 2002 BY THE AMERICAN PARTISAN. All writers retain rights to their work.
Home | About Us | Archives | Forums | Links | Resources | Submissions | Contact Us | Privacy Policy | Disclaimer