Celibacy and Crisis Question for the EO

~Anastasia~

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I think one thing also to consider, and a monk told me this, is celibacy and marriage are callings. so the one that is best is the one that you are called to do, and if you tried to do the other, you will fail (or, at best, suffer a lifetime of a heavy cross). and this monk even said that if he tried marriage, it would not have worked for him because the celibate life is what he is called to do.
This - makes a LOT of sense.
 
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Markie Boy

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This - makes a LOT of sense.

Makes perfect sense! One of the things drawing me to Orthodoxy is it doesn't make my head hurt.

Much of the Catholic perspectives I feel like I need those funky 3D glasses to see it how they see it, and even then it don't work - it looks the same just red and blue.
 
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fat wee robin

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I would be correct in saying murder in your own church is not common practise right?

When observing the RCC multiple violations of children spanning many many decades we are treating it as a serial killer of defenceless children and not mere isolated cases.

Your comparison of an isolated case in your own church as compared to the common practise over many many decades in the RCC throughout its institution is not a fair comparison at all. You are trying to compare an isolated case to a global pandemic that has gone unchecked for many many decades, half century to known record thus far.

The legal system needs to establish whether this common practise is some sort of hidden ritual that requires all priests to participate in. To know for sure Vatican City needs to be put in lock down and searched inch by inch and any evidence and witnesses or potential suspects interogated to establish underlining common facts that will explain if this pandemic is some sort of ritual with children. The free world needs to do this for the sake of protecting children as Jesus would expect the free world to do and to act upon immediately.

This is a pandemic rape murder global incident that has been continually committed over half a century and involving children and so the biggest Cluedo Game needs to be undertaken where the board game needs to start in Vatican City.
There has been no murder !!!!!
 
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fat wee robin

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I am sorry that no one has mentioned that marriage is not only about SEX but about intimacy and close companionship ,and about the personal growth which comes from being able to be yourself with someone who will try to truly understand you.
The loneliness of many priests is untenable ,and the fulfillment which comes from the balance of the sexes in their complementary roles ,is denied them .Over time it becomes unbearable .

When naturally good instincts are misdirected for long enough ,perversion is the natural order of things . Lay people who put the burden onto priests to stay celibate are part of the problem .
 
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Markie Boy

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I always thought if I could just share the right information, the right way, Catholics may be open to thinking differently.

Even when differently falls within their own teaching - which allowing married clergy is - I still have not luck. I give up.
 
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prodromos

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I always thought if I could just share the right information, the right way, Catholics may be open to thinking differently.

Even when differently falls within their own teaching - which allowing married clergy is - I still have not luck. I give up.
When clerical celibacy is the norm for 99.95% of the Catholic Church, it probably shouldn't surprise you. Eastern Catholics make up less than half of one percent of the Catholic Church.
 
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Markie Boy

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I guess so. It's just so odd, I can't believe they can't see something so obvious. In the last 60 years 25,000 priests have left the priesthood in the US - there are about 41,500 priests in the US today.

With numbers like that you'd think they'd listen. It's amazing, for an organization where everyone has a Masters degree, they are not too quick to figure stuff out. They need a few more uneducated fishermen today to run the show.
 
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Markie Boy

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I find the stance quite surprising since the first Pope (Peter) was married. One would have thought he would have been taken as a template.

You would think so - blows my mind.
 
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E.C.

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So I'm feeling less comfortable as a Catholic, and more at ease in Orthodox perspectives.

With the crisis in the Catholic Church, I am amazed at how almost nobody is considering mandatory celibacy as part of the problem (just part, not all).

I feel it's a major part for multiple reasons, both scripturally and simply human/socially.

I respect you all here, which is why I am asking. Am I way off base in my thinking?

I feel until they change their perspective on the celibacy rule, the problem simply won't go away. From my reading, celibacy has be rejected in practice in so many ways since it was made the rule.
At the risk of being a "thread jumper" there's a few things about this that must be addressed.

Married clergy in the Roman Catholic Church would not have prevented the mass pedophilia that's taken place. These are two VERY separate issues. Solving pedophilia with clerical marriage would be like trying to treat cancer with a splint for a broken leg.

There have been individual cases within our own Orthodox Church of married priests being abusers of children. The differences are that our cases are generally isolated to a handful and the priests are defrocked instead of transfered and forgotten. Sometimes they are even sent to jail.

The two biggest reasons for this problem within the Roman Church are failure to report, and, failure to address. People did not report it to the media, nor the police. If they reported than they reported it to the bishop only for the bishop to move the priest(s) in question to different parishes hoping that the problem would simply "go away". It clearly did not. Many times it multiplied.

One factor that has not been considered is the old minor seminary system. Before Vatican II, minor seminaries were boarding schools that were like high school level seminaries. Teenagers who wanted to become priests would first go through a minor seminary, then after graduation they'd go to a major seminary, and, after graduating there they would go onto being priests. I wonder how many abusive priests were or could have been abused themselves while in the minor seminaries.
 
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Mary of Bethany

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I do think that requiring celibacy for priests exacerbates the problem indirectly by greatly restricting the pool of candidates, and perpetuating the current culture of homosexual activity, as well as what appears from the outside to be a "vow" of celibacy when there is no intention of honoring it. I read a blog post recently (I'll have to see if I can find it) alleging that priests - whatever their sexual attraction - had actually re-defined celibacy within their ranks as just meaning "not married", thereby justifying their actions.
 
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Robin Mauro

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I agree. The Bible does not tell leaders to be celibate, unless it is their calling; just to be married.
Changing the word, adding rules that are not there, causes many problems. In the case of sex, it can become the forbidden fruit; then someone winds up with a twisted sexuality. They should allow marriage, and always should have.

So I'm feeling less comfortable as a Catholic, and more at ease in Orthodox perspectives.

With the crisis in the Catholic Church, I am amazed at how almost nobody is considering mandatory celibacy as part of the problem (just part, not all).

I feel it's a major part for multiple reasons, both scripturally and simply human/socially.

I respect you all here, which is why I am asking. Am I way off base in my thinking?

I feel until they change their perspective on the celibacy rule, the problem simply won't go away. From my reading, celibacy has be rejected in practice in so many ways since it was made the rule.
 
Upvote 0