Not just a clever headline but this is the best article I’ve seen on the subject of pedophile priests, as it examines causality and the role that celibacy plays and doesn’t play in the whole mess.
I’ve not been Catholic since I married my current wife (A divorced woman? Yer outta here!) 28 years ago. But I grew up Catholic and was in the seminary from 9th grade through the end of college when my spiritual advisor told me I’d better quit with the women if I expected to move on to the major sem.
I don’t have any horror stories from my 8 years in the sem. Post Vatican II, I had a great time and got a decent education, while getting the hell away from my screwed up parents. But had I gone and been ordained, I think I would’ve gotten into trouble because:
…premature training for the priesthood interrupts psychosexual development and makes young priests susceptible to adolescent crushes.
That has nothing to do with pedophilia, of course, as the article makes clear. But I think I would have had an affair with some young woman I’d been counseling. Had I kept it a secret and remained in the priesthood, I would have participated in the “… culture of secrecy and “denial” among priests, bishops, and cardinals that allows abusers to continue their abuse.”
Hell, I can see how even the prohibition and subsequent guilt over masturbation (is it still a sin? Mortal or venial?) would contribute to this culture of secrecy. I can see myself as a priest saying, “Who am I to judge a pedophilia colleague when I myself can’t go more than a few days without flogging the bishop?”
Another systemic factor: “… the celibacy rule scares away so many applicants that the church can’t afford to weed out its pedophiles.” Solution? “… seminary teachers need to know enough about sex to prepare aspiring priests who can handle celibacy and to weed out those who can’t.” Problem (another systemic factor): aren’t most of those seminary teachers longtime priests?
I don’t think there’s a quick fix to this.