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One thing I never realized is that it's very normal to move priests around in general. Like, if you're a priest, odds are good you'll get reappointed once a decade or so. This is for a few reasons, such as to meet the current needs of the church, improve your personal development (e.g. being appointed to a parish with another primary language), and avoid parishioners getting overly attached to any specific priests. I've seen a lot of turnaround at my parish. Some evidence for what I'm talking about : http://wdtprs.com/blog/2014/05/ask-father-moving-priests-every-6-or-12-years/ http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=4493 So bishops are often accused of re-assigning people as cover-up for their nefarious deeds, but it should be kept in mind that re-assigning priests is a matter of course. I'm not sure celibacy is relevant, since a lot of child abuse is committed by men (and women) who have not taken a vow of celibacy. I have heard it said that there are more instances of abuse by teachers than in the priesthood, and much more amongst the family, especially the father, but a cursory look at Wiki makes it seem the numbers reported by studies are in huge variance. As for the invulnerability of the Church to the law, a priest is most likely to self-report this sort of crime during confession, and confession is held to be a sacrament with an inviolable seal. The Church cannot allow any government to monitor confession, and any priest who violates the seal is considered instantly excommunicated. In the past, priests have been martyred over this issue.
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Jun 17, 2015 11:08
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I actually think the answer is more celibacy. I'd like to think this is the direction the Church has taken it since the scandal. By this I mean, no more ordaining priests who are caught engaging in any sort of outward sexual behavior during their time in seminary, or have a recent history of lots of sexual activity. I know about the Confessions of St. Augustine, but even he had mostly overcome his unruly lusts long before the time he was converting. Priests should be an elite class of people with high standards, not an "all are welcome" sort of thing. Similarly ordained priests should be defrocked if they are caught breaking their vow of celibacy, or any other significant violation of their position. There's just no excuse, it's totally unacceptable for a priest to be doing that. Go be a taxi driver.
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Jun 17, 2015 11:32
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Skeesix posted:That sure is a reasonable and pragmatic plan for a church that's already hurting for priests (not in the least BECAUSE if you ordain in this day and age you can expect lots of questions about your proclivities towards children from lay people). idgaf about the declining number of priests. That is not a good reason to not hold priests to a very high standard. The shame is that a bunch of losers were ordained in the first place. Also there's nothing wrong with shuffling priests around, it's good policy.
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Jun 17, 2015 23:29
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Priests have to be MGTOW or they will be corrupted by the influence of the devil.
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Jun 18, 2015 01:10
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