But the question remains, why do so many highly educated, presumably spiritual and dedicated men, part of a 2000 year old organization dedicated to morality and virtue, wind up like this? That observation begs for a causal mechanism of some sort.

It’s sort of like finding a Wiccan coven at CERN.

You’re right that statistics are hard to come by, but from what I’ve gathered so far it seems that abuses by priests are no more common as a percent of that group than abuses by other groups. Teachers, for example.

I don’t think celibacy has anything to do with it. Nor, from what I’ve read, does homosexuality come into it, although one has to ask the question where the line really is if a male adult abuses a sixteen-year-old boy.

For some pedophiles, they are emotionally retarded adults. They fantasize about the girls or boys at the age of their puberty. …and that is where it ends. They are stuck…but of course it goes even deeper than that. Control is always been a pat answer to rape. Perhaps it is. If so then control is also a deeper issue that I am aware of. Inadequacy comes to mind for me.
I think the priesthood is a dark corner for already determined homosexual pedophiles. For them it is a self-flagellation of sexual denial. If they serve God…then these desires will subside. But they don’t, they fester.

Does the church (being celibate) tend to attract people who are pedophiles? Or does the celibacy of the priesthood tend to create pedophiles? I left it up in the air. For all I know, it might be one or the other, both, or neither.
Maybe its a selection effect, clerical pedophiles simply attract more publicity than secular ones.

As far as the detailed statistical study, it’s not likely to happen if the Church authorities are doing everything they can to cover up the data.

As for the Irish question, I’ve never heard a better justification for “sell weapons to both sides and nuke the survivors”.

To be honest…I have had relationships with both.

The pedophile never *acted* on his impulses…but I was afraid on so many levels. I bolted as fast as I could when I finally connected the dots. He was paranoid about gays though.

The homosexual is one of the kindest gentlest people I know.

Then again, If you bring protestants anywhere near Catholics, there’s gonna be trouble. Northern Ireland has taught me that.

It is as if the Church has decided it has diplomatic immunity within every country and every priest is an ambassador. They handle it in-house.

Confession: I was raised RC. Never had a priest do anything un-cool. In fact, the last priest I had the opportunity to converse with was a very interesting (he grew up behind the Iron Curtain)and spiritual person. Excellent and intelligent conversationalist. He was deeply saddened by the crimes and the response to those crimes.

What I have loved about the Church is its sense of Community and its reverence. When I enter a Catholic Church, there is no sound of laughter and visiting as if you were at a Sunday Social like they have at most Protestant Churches. When you enter, it is a time for prayer and reflection, to be with God. That’s how I used it.

When you needed anything, the Community was there to help you. Much more so than most Protestant Churches in my experience.

I detest the direction the Church took almost immediately after its founding. I’m awaiting the resurgence of the True Church which may come out of the Catholic Church or it may come in some other way but it will go back to the original principles, teachings of Jesus.