It is a long-standing law of the Catholic Church that their priests and bishops must remain celibate. ... This paper will examine the history of the marriage and celibacy among priests in the Roman Catholic Church and how the Church’s beliefs are outdated. Forcing their priests to remain celibate has caused some of them to go astray in their sexual frustrations as is seen in the recent uncovering of the many sex abuse scandals in the Church. The forced celibacy in the Catholic Church is causing sexual frustration among priests and thus sexual abuse of young children by priests. This paper will examine the history of the marriage and celibacy among priests in the Roman Catholic Church and how the Church’s beliefs are outdated. ... Thirty-nine Popes were married during this time, and many more priests and bishops, too. Six of those popes were sons of popes and nine were sons of either bishops or priests (Swenson 38). ... There was nothing the Church could do to make a priest choose celibacy, but he was hardly tolerated if he chose to marry, especially in the centuries closer to the eleventh century. ... A decree is not a law, rather a “doctrinal or disciplinary act of the ecumenical council” (“dictionary”) The Council of Toledo in 633 made its so a bishop’s permission was needed if a priest wanted to marry. In the eleventh century, Pope Gregory VII said, “the church cannot escape from the clutches of the laity unless priests first escape the clutches of their wives” (Horan 26). ... The end of the married priesthood became official in 1139 when Pope Innocent II and The Second Lateran Council declared mandatory celibacy for all priests. ... This rule had remained unaltered until 1981 when the pope signed a “pastoral provision” that allowed married Episcopal priests to be ordained into the Roman Catholic priesthood (McGinn 34). ... Starting back in the third century it was required of all married priests to abstain from sex the night before Mass. ... [Emphasis added]” This is the same today; priests who are celibate and who would otherwise be married are being forced to abstain from sex all the time, and thus they are forced to take out these sexual frustrations on children. ...
In the past two years there has been a huge uncovering regarding priests and sexual abuse of children in the Catholic Church. ... First, the most obvious problem is that there are priests sexually abusing children. Secondly, there is proof that Cardinal Bernard Law and other church officials knew about various priests problems yet did not remove the priests, instead the leaders just relocated him or put him on “sick leave” to get counseling. ... Nation wide, this past year, over three thousand priests have been put on leave on suspicion of sexual abuse. ... Law, along with over three hundred other representatives from over one hundred and seventy dioceses in the United States, attended a conference to establish a policy on sexually abusive priests. (Burge) For married priests who sometimes were shunned upon for their choice to marry see this whole scandal as a bitter irony. A former Boston clergyman, who left the priesthood to marry in 1968 notes that “It is ironic that, over the years, the men who fell in love with women were looked upon as abject failures, while the men who abused children were protected” (Lombardi)
In June 2002 America’s Roman Catholic Bishops met in Dallas to draft a policy regarding sexually abusive priests and the actions they would take to deal with cases of abuse. ... It would be a win-win situation for everyone if the Church just allowed clerics to marry. ... On the other hand, there wouldn’t be as many or possibly no sex abuse cases because priests would be married. Priests and bishops have only a physical building, the Bible, and a Church to base their love on, not another human being. ... One of the changes allows for Church tribunals to hear the cases of the priests who maintain their innocence. ... Silvia, president of the National Federation of Priests Councils, praises the article saying “it is a good, strong, and I think, effective policy that protects our children but also is clear about due process and rights for those who are accused. ... The revisions increase priests rights, even though bishops claim their main goal is still to remove any priest who has ever abused a minor. ... By allowing priests to marry, the Church would have a happier, freer, and more sexually satisfied priesthood. ... They want sexual abuse eliminated, and by allowing priests to marry this would reduce the risk of sexual abuse occurring in the future.
The Catholic Church as a whole is facing a big problem with establishing these new rules with abusive priests. ... So, how can the Church establish rules for priests that are essentially contradicting the original beliefs of the Church? ... This is a huge moral dilemma that the Church is facing right now, and a decision needs to be made as to whether the Church is going to allow forgiveness to their priests in instances such as sexual abuse. Another problem is that in the past before there where any rules about sexual abuse priests were given second chances, but they failed again.
We have already examined the history of celibacy and recent sex abuse scandals of celibate Catholic Priests. ... The Pope, The Roman Catholic Church, its bishops, priests, lay people, and all the followers of the religion are bound by the code of Cannon Law. ... The reason for this partially has to do with Cannon Law # 843 which states that “priests have been ordained for life with the obligation to say Mass and administer the sacraments” (“rent” sec. 4) Under this law there are over 25,000 married Catholic priests in the United States who are serving a parish. ... There are fewer than 50,000 celibate priests in the United States, so one in three priests have left the celibate clerical life to simply become a married Roman Catholic priest.
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