centuries of catholicism destroyed by pedophilia?

Not that this pedophilia thing is anything new (reports have been surfacing on Catholic etc clerical leaders for years), but CNN seems to have just caught on, and all the lawsuits are starting to become critical. Anyway, the cumulative effect is that I think the church can no longer keep it under the wraps, at least not in countries like the US or the UK.

I think that to say this is the death of catholicism, as one Irish priest said in an interview, is a really Ad-hominem thing to say... I mean, maybe it's the death for the time being of organized Catholicism in Ireland, but if people really believe in the church, then the moral qualms of its leaders shouldn't affect the veracity of the church's teachings, should it? I think that in a perfect world, it shouldn't. Of course, we don't live in a perfect world.

My argument against Catholicism is that celibacy was just never the greatest idea, and it's their own fault if it's backfired. It's not doctrinal. It says nowhere in the Bible that priests need be celibate. It was never spoken by Christ or a prophet. It's probably another one of those Nicaen doctrines they decided at one of their medieval conferences (sorry I know I sound slightly disrespectful... please consider these words with all due respect to Catholicism). But anyway, sex is a biological need. It's driven by *hormones.* And no matter how much people try, they can't really control their hormones. While I think I would be capable of living my life without it, that's not for everyone. If becoming a priest was an entirely self-selective process, it might be okay. But there's a ton of selective environmental pressure put on those guys, so sometimes people become priests who maybe shouldn't have. And then we get issues of people abusing those in our society who are small enough and vulnerable enough to keep quiet (since if anyone found out about the infidelity, that would be the end of that priest's priesthood... or so we hoped until CNN told us that actually wasn't the case in the Catholic church; apparently the priests just got moved when they were found out). Anyway, it led to child abuse is what I'm saying. And really, that makes a lot of sense, all things considered. It certainly doesn't excuse it, but it's just as much an organizational issue of the Catholic church as it is a serious issue of the child molesters in the church who have been getting away with this for years (and who need to be removed from office right away).

I don't know. I just don't think God would ask someone to do something so distinctly anti-human that made him so... unhappy, unless that person really wanted to do it. Which is why I don't believe in the Catholic brand of celibacy. Of course my Mormon brand isn't extremely improved (aka if a Mormon doesn't get married, his shots aren't great either), but it's less restrictive I think and the view of sex is a lot more healthy anyway.

If the reason priests are supposed to be celibate is to keep them from thinking about sex, I really don't think it's working. Look at CNN for evidence.

As for whether this is the death of the Catholic church? I hope not. I mean, if real Catholics do exist, the church will go on even if it's leaders do not. That's the way a real religion should operate. If religions are only dependently true, they can't really be true. They have to have independent truth. That's the point of religion. It stands beyond all human logic. If a tree falls in the forest and nobody's around to hear it, religion hears it.

:-)

That made sense to me anyway.