http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Benedict_XVI#Sexual_abuse_in_the_Catholic_Church

Pope Benedict's role in the church abuse scandal is constantly misrepresented and perhaps intentionally mispresented by the WASP-controlled media. He was one of the people leading the charge against it, but he was met with much opposition and his authority was often superceded. Now that he's the HNIC of the Church, he is able to combat it more effectively.

It's the fact that's he old and he's got dark circles around his eyes.

LOL!

UsaSatsui wrote:

Valdronius wrote: How about they encourage priests to get married? That might help. Yeah, because married men never molest kids. It might help with some stuff, but a person who abuses children isn't gonna stop because he gets some regularly at home. Child abuse isn't about sex, it's about power.

Hey that's a great point, because clearly Valdronius was suggesting that they make heterosexual marriage mandatory for all existing priests. Clearly, he was suggesting that forcing marriage upon child molestors is a solution to molestation. I mean, what else could he mean?

Oh wait, since I'm not a MORON, I know exactly what he meant. Valdronius was suggesting that priest be given the OPTION to marry. Because if priests have the OPTION to marry, men who are married or would like to get married might pursue the priesthood. Hell, if marriage was on the table, I'd become a priest. That'd be a pretty sweet deal. Free food, free housing, free cable, free internet, a free car, a family, and a salary all on the Church's dime? Sounds good.

Well actually, it might have. Not a lot of men, especially American and European men, are entering the priesthood anymore. This has been a problem for several decade, and it's gotten so bad that most of our new priests are being imported from Africa, China, and Southeast Asia. If marriage was an option for priests over the last couple centuries, more men would have attempted to entered the priesthood. With ample replacements in circulation, and perhaps even aspiring priests on a waiting list, the dioceses would have probably been much more willing to defrock abusive priests and let local law enforcement deal with them. As it currently stands, the Boston Arch-Diocese has been forced to close churches because there weren't enough priests to go around.

Catholic priests used to be allowed to marry, a very long time ago. The reason they aren't now is because the Church would give them land based on the understanding that the land would be returned to the Church upon the priest's death. Instead, many priests were willing the land to their families. The Church didn't like very much and thus, the vow of celibacy was born. Under modern laws, the Church could simply rent the land to the priest at $1/month until death, and this wouldn't be an issue.

Well, while we can't know for sure what would have happened if marriage had been allowed in the Church over the course of the last century, we can observe other branches of Christianity where Reverends/Pastors/Wizards are allowed to marry. Child abuse within those organizations is either less frequent, less publicized or both.

And while opening up the priesthood to more people doesn't prevent pedophiles from joining, it does attract more good people.

It is really tough to say what would have happened if priests had been allowed to marry. The moving around of problematic priests wasn't "protecting their own" so much as it was "protecting the Church". Facing declining attendance numbers and declining priest numbers, the Church couldn't afford a public scandal. Had they been in a position to quickly defrock and replace problematic priests, doing so would have been positive PR for the Church. That doesn't nessecarily mean they would have taken that route though. And remember, until 2001, these matters were handled by the regional cardinals and bishops. There was no oversight from above.

The Orthodox and Anglican Church both have hierarchies, albeit much small ones.

Orthdoxy takes their hierarchy pretty seriously. It's just less observable to us because Orthodoxy is not particularly widespread in America. As an example: there are three Catholic churches in Wakefield - a town of roughly 25,000 people - alone. The nearest Orthodox Church serves somewhere between 4-6 communities.

Orthodoxy and Catholicism probably take their hierarchies most seriously as a result of being the two oldest branches of Christianity, both being 1,980 years old, if we take 30 A.D., the year of Christ's death, as the official establishment of the religion.

According to Wikipedia, Jesus died roughly around 30 AD, though perhaps as early as 26 AD, and he could have born as early 6 BC. Meanwhile, Peter is generally agreed to have established himself as Cardinal of Rome in 33 AD with a high degree of certainty.