[Sara28344]

I’m curious: Do Catholics think the rash of pedophilia among priests might be related to the celibacy that is required of them?
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Name : Sara28344, Gender : F, City : Oakland, State : CA, Country : United States, 

[Elizabeth25333]

The celibacy required of Catholic priests is not necessarily the cause. Because celibacy is required of priests, the priesthood has always attracted people with problems with their sexuality – those who are not sexually mature, or have had some sort of arrested development in their sexuality. Often the celibacy is used as a way for them to avoid dealing with their sexual malfunctions – a way to hide them. Sometimes this works. In the case of pedophile priests, obviously it doesn’t. In the past, the Catholic Church has not done a very good job of dealing with this situation. I’d like to think it does a better job of it now, especially after the last couple of years.

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Name : Elizabeth25333, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Catholic, Age : 32, City : Cincinnati, State : OH, Country : United States, Occupation : Office Manager, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[ShirleyAvery]

From what I’ve read, Catholic authorities do not correlate the two. Pedophilia is not limited to Catholic clergy, but I’d be willing to bet it’s much more prevalent in Catholic clergy than non-celebate clergy. It’s not normal to suppress sexual desire, esp. for men. But it’s a chicken and egg thing. Do sexually disturbed Catholic men enter the priesthood to avoid a healthy heterosexual relationship or does celibacy lead to unhealthy sexual practices? My guess is that it is both. Just Curious

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Name : ShirleyAvery, Gender : F, Disability : none, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 52, City : st. louis, State : MO, Country : United States, Occupation : writer, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

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