Celibacy In The Roman Catholic Church

The Practice of Celibacy Produces Sexual Predators in the Roman Catholic Church, and therefore should be changed. The act of Clerical Celibacy is not a church indoctrinated order, rather it is a discipline and therefore can and should be changed. The act of sexual abuse amongst priests has risen in recent decades and many believe this is due to celibacy in the Catholic Church. Celibacy is the act of abstaining from sexual intercourse, especially for reasons of religious def. ) The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: " All rdained ministers of the Latin Church, with the exception of permanent deacons, are normally chosen from among men of faith who live a celibate life and who intend to remain celibate " for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. " Called to consecrate themselves with undivided heart to the Lord and to " the affairs of the Lord", they give themselves entirely to God and to men. Celibacy represents this new life to the service as a Church''s minister and thus, being consecrated; accepted with a Joyous heart celibacy radiantly proclaims the Reign of God. (Catholic Church 2280) Celibacy s much-debated topic in the Catholic Culture today. This is due to rising reports of sexual abuse by priests on parishioners'', who have mostly been reported as being children under their spiritual care. These reports that have recently come to light in the media stem as far back as 1940''s. However, in the past sexual abuse was covered up by not only these predator priests but as high as Bishop''s and some speculate even the Pope had knowledge of these acts.

Although, celibacy has been in practice in the Roman Catholic Church for centuries it seems that is becoming more of a urden and curse on the priests in which it was intended to glorify. Celibacy has been considered as a marriage between the Priest and the Church. It is believed that priest''s who are celibate are able to devote more time to ministering. The problem with allowing priest''s to marry seems to be too much for the Catholic Church. The annual salary of a priest is roughly in the range of 20,000. If a priest had a wife and children there would be no way that he could support his family on these wages.

Therefore, the Catholic Church would have to raise the pay of priest''s or there would e fewer recruits wanting to be priests due to the pay issue. Many arguments have been made against celibacy and one Biblical truth is behind it. The fact is that Jesus did not require his apostles to remain celibate. Many of Jesus apostles married and some even had children. Yet, these men were still productive ministers and spread Christianity to far parts of the world. Some also argue that celibate priests cannot relate to marital problems and therefore cannot minister properly to marriage issues.

The Roman Catholic Church is the only order that requires celibacy amongst their lerics. They also allow Anglican converts who become priests in the Catholic Church to marry. Another reason many are calling to end the act of celibacy is that there are less and less Catholic priests being ordained. Many blame celibacy as the reason that fewer men who want to take up the cloth and become Catholic priests. In todays lax society the idea of remaining celibate is being less appealing even to the most Catholic of men. This is causing a huge problem because there are more people becoming Catholics and less men becoming priests. According to the Vatican earbook, between 1975 and 2010 the world''s Catholics increased by 59% from 709. 6 million to 1. 96 billion, buth the number of priests increased only 1. 8%. " In 1975 there were 404,783 priests worldwide compared to 412,000 now. Forty-six percent of the world''s priests are in Europe but only 24% of Catholics live there... and the number is diminishing. " It seems her view may "In 1975 there were 404,783 priests worldwide compared with 412,000 now. Forty-six percent of the world''s priests are in Europe but only 24% of Catholics live there and the number is diminishing.

It seems her view may be supported by a majority of American Catholics. According to a survey of American Catholics by the Pew Research Center taken after Pope Benedict announced his resignation, 58% of congregants favored allowing priests to marry. Even so, the figures showed the divisive nature of the debate: Of those who attend Mass regularly, only 46% supported marriage for priests while 66% of those who attended less regularly supported marriage. The fact that celibacy is only a law not a doctrine that could easily be changed by the Pope, also calls into question the mportance of it.

The fact that 32 Pope''s had children out of wedlock leads supporters against celibacy to find a fault in its practice. If the Pope historically has not followed his own law then how can others some question. The even bigger argument is that celibacy leads priests to commit horrible sexual assaults in their own parishes. The media has been a blaze with these reports in recent times due to the numbers that are being reported. Although, many of these abuse claims stem a decade ago they are Just now coming to light.

The reasons behind this stem from the fact that when ictims would speak out and tell someone many could not believe a priest could do such things. The priest was supposed to be a symbol of God as the father here on Earth in his parish. He was like a shepherd tending toa flock of sheep, not as a wolf amongst innocent sheep. Due to this the sexual abuse allegations were hidden and subsequently forgotten about. In the past, priest who were found guilty of molestation were simply moved to another parish without the new parishoners ever knowing of his miss deeds.

The problem with this was that he would go ahead and ontinue his predator ways in many instances. The church now has issues because the victims of the past are no longer children. They are adults and they are many with the same complaint on the priests. The amounts of allegations are now forcing the Catholic Church to do something. The act of merely moving these priests are no longer an option and have also been demonized because the abuse could have been stopped if only they would have been addressed. That is why now more than ever before the Pope and the Catholic Church are being forced to reevaluate the law of celibacy.

The pedophile priests have used celibacy as a reason they were forcing themselves on to children. They say that they are becoming sexually frustrated and depressed because of their lack of personal relationships, some becoming plagued witn mental issues. These priests say that they resort to molestation ot innocent children because these victims are easily accessible and in most instances easy to influence and keep quiet. There is also some thought that pedophiles are attracted to the priesthood because of celibacy and their close interactions with young children.