I, too, was raised VERY Catholic, and I'm now in a recovery program ;0) My brother is a Deacon, and his job is to coordiate the Deaconate program in his area. I often ask how many Priests vs Deacons are being ordained...it's about a 1-10 ratio, if not more. For those who do not know, Deacons can be married and have families - they serve in pretty much the same capacity as a priest, but have a few functions that they cannot perform(listening to confession and doing mass w/out a priest present). The church may be dragging their feet on this necessary change, but the lack of interested men wanting to become priests will change it for them.
To answer your question, it's difficult to say if there is a corrilation there...I don't think it's healthy to not have a sexual relationship with another adult - I think that's why so many priests focus on food and liquor...not natural.

Hi Persian! I've seen you around, but had never visited your blog. "Ah'l be bahk." [The Persian shudders.]

Seriously... I was raised in a pietistic Protestant home. Without a diatribe on that, I would just comment that your post was very interesting because you confirm much of what my parents told me about the Roman Catholic practices in our PA community.

My opinion would be similar to yours. Among other things, I do believe that the pressure for mandatory celibacy has created the very atmosphere of pedophilia, adultery, alcholism (as Steve mentions), etc. that is destructive not only to the institutional church but also to people of genuine faith, let alone the priests themselves. I am sure that there are many persons out there who are caring persons of genuine faith who would have made excellent priests and pastors but who said "no way!" and decided to it was "better to marry instead of burn" (St. Paul).

I think on the Protestant side, the prohibition of gays serving as clergy is going to have a similar result. I know of a couple of my blogger friends who are in this category. Churches have lost good pastors because of their narrow reading of the faith. In the words of J. B. Phillips (translator of scripture and theologian), "your God is too small".

Honestly, I don't really have an opinion on this. Which is weird cause I have an opinion on practically EVERYTHING. ;)

I was raised Protestant, and didn't even go inside a Catholic church until last year, to attend a wedding.

I'll leave this discussion up to the other Catholics among your readers.

I am, however, quite sorry to see you take the HNT down...I thought it was quite hot. :)

HUGS....

I don't feel sexual abuse is justified for any reason--whether it because a person can't be married or for whatever reason they may give. However, abuse goes on everywhere and I think because of the institution of religion, more focus has been drawn to the downfalls.
I do however feel that many people are turned off to becoming a priest because of the fact they can't have a family or get married. I can understand the Catholic's viewpoint (I was raised strict Roman Catholic). The reason they give is that a priest's life must be dedicated to God, without distractions. While I understand the reasoning, I don't exactly accept it. I believe a person can be just as dedicated to God alone or with a family. I think that having a family and raising them Christian would be ultimate gift to God.
I'm still a practicing Catholic. Yes, there are many things which I disagree , but that's to be found in any organization. One of my biggest struggles has been understanding why homosexuality isn't accepted--because I firmly believe that we are born this way, that God made us this way. And also excommunication for divorced persons. Somehow they have to examine the reason for divorce and to take in someone who is alone.
Yikes, my comment has become somewhat of a post.Sorry for blubbering.

I'm a non-practicing Episcopalian. Pope Benedict just gives me the creeps. I always like JPII though

I think the whole catholic culture of "despising the body" in order to gain salvation for the soul is conducive to all kinds of horror, from self flagellation to diddling children.
There's actually a rationale:get them communion, and they'l go to heaven, so it doesn't really matter what happens to their body.

It's a perversion of healthy spirituality, and it has damaged many people.

Pope Ratzo is a very sick and dangerous man. His last job was Head of the Inquisition, where he ruined many, many lives ovefr the last 25 years or so.

In my biased, non-religious opinion, the restrictions the church places on its priests and its members will be the downfall of the church. People are most healthy when they can experience all parts of being human, and denying or repressing parts of that experience creates a tension that some (if not most) cannot endure. It is unrealistic to deny priests the ability to marry and have children, and then expect them to counsel married people who have kids.

You look really handsome next to Aunt Linda.

I was raised strictly Catholic (including all 12 years of Catholic school) and couldn't WAIT to ditch it. That took longer than expected--the scars still showed for quite a while.

We were taught that a married ministry (of course they always referred to it--meaning Protestants and Jews--belittlingly) was inefficient because the priest would have distractions from being part of a family instead of devoting himself completely to being a priest. The massive Catholic paranoia about sex (unless it meant popping little boys in the rectory) wasn't ever mentioned, except to say that sex was only permissible when it was for procreation and then without pleasure, or that the PERFECT marriage was one in which there was love but no sex.

Those people were just so completely sick.

Not that I really care, because I'm no friend of the Catholic church, but, Pope Nazi had better wake up and smell the coffee if he wants the Catholic Church to survive past the 21st century.

If an institution doesn't change, it dies. The shortage of priests should be a wakeup call to him...

As an italian who was raised a Roman Catholic I always as a kid found comfort in the Church. Right up until I became an alter boy or what i now call.."an altered boy" and experienced constant sexual abuse by the priest in the actual church. This later continued into High School where the priests saw fit to innapropriately touch me. SO saying this I have lost all faith in the "institution" of the Catholic Church and instead found my own spirituality.

I honestly believe all religions have a purpose up to a certain point in an individuals life, but there has to come a time where the person as an individual realises they need no intercesor between themselves and their God, in whatever form they choose to have a relationship.

Religions are there as an initial guide. Beyond that they become an institution whereby they indoctrinate and keep people in fear in order that they are the only ones who can "save" them. (sounds like the government).. But Spirituality is upto an individual to foster and acknowledge their place in creation.

Saying all this.. what does it matter if someone is married or not? The laws which govern all this are based on the temptations of man, and sex beyond procreation being an "evil" in the eyes of the church is the main issue here. Sex = Shame = Guilt which all leads to punishment. Again all part of the fear and indoctrination of all Religions.

Wow...you have created quite the stir :)

I had not idea that you were a strong Christian. This is just a problem of religions and their constant battle to be "the only true church". Oh well. I think the restriction on marriage is ridiculous especially if one looks at the bible in its historical context.

Lemuel I am a bit confused about how you can say that pedophilia is a product of a vow of celibacy. You aren’t turned into pedophile because you’ve chosen a life that requires you to be celibate, you either are one or you aren’t. If what you said was true all priests would be pedophiles and they certainly aren’t.

Trigeryogi the current pope that you are referring was a member of the Nazi Youth as child. It was required by the Nazi government however he was not a member of the Nazi party as an adult. So calling him a Nazi is both erroneous and unfair. Heavy on the chai with none of the sympathy as usual, I see.

Time did a great article on the abuse in the church on 2002. One of the things that the article pointed out was most of the men who entered the priesthood were young and immature. They didn’t have any idea of their own sexuality or if they did and were gay they chose to be in a place that was safe for them. If they took a vow of celibacy so they didn’t need to face their own sexual identity. As we all know this didn’t work out so well for them.

The article also said that because most of the victims of the abuse were past the age of puberty the pretests weren’t pedophiles in the traditional sense. Most pedophiles are attracted to prepubescent children. I couldn’t find a link to the article, sorry.

About priest’s being married, remember the Catholic Church still forbids birth control. So not only is there the issue of priest being distracted by having a family there is also the financial burden that comes into play. If a priest were to die young and leave behind a large family they didn’t want those families to become a burden for the church. Priest usually live on a very modest stipend as do nuns, it’s not enough to raise a family on.

There is a great English movie called Priest. If you haven’t seen it I suggest renting it. It’s a young gay priest’s struggle with his homosexuality. It also talks about some of the issues you’ve brought up.

The thing about all of this I don’t understand is why the Catholic Church in the US hasn’t broken ties with Rome. Very few American Catholics have any idea about the doctrine in their own religions and don’t follow it. It’s like when you hear a woman say she won’t get an abortion because she is Catholic, but got pregnant by having premarital sex.

Phoenixboi, I'm so sorry for what happened to you. I hope that who ever did it to you was brought to justice in a criminal court.