May the wind always be at your back.

[ubet_cha]

In the June of 2003 I was driving my 86 year old Great Aunt Christina from Sligo ( Ireland) to her sisters house in Drumfin when she leaned over to me and said “ You know its sad, all of these molestation cases going on in your country. I think we can expect to see the church change its views on marriage for priests when we have a new Pope. I was

Comments

[gandryyne]

Religious beliefs aside we’ve lost one of the better world leaders we have had in my lifetime.

My thoughts exactly. I may not agree with many of the Vatican's views, but you have to admire a man who forgave his attempted assassin and befriended him. Now ~that's~ enlightened.

[ubet_cha]

Yep. His actions during WW2 and against the Communist State in Poland were also commendable.

to put it mildly

[gandryyne]

Lek Walesa credits the Pope 50% for the ending of Communism.

A bit of family history

[gingy]

When it was decided that priests were no longer allowed to marry and have children, one of my ancestors (a priest and bishop) stood up and said "No." He refused to give up his wife and children, and was thus beheaded. He was the last Catholic bishop in Iceland - now, the overwhelming majority of Icelanders are Lutheran. I believe his name was Jon Arnasson, but I can't be certain as I don't have my family tree with me here (Mom's got it at home in Canada).

Didn't stop my mom from marrying a Roman Catholic. We're the only ones on both sides of the family... I'm only saying that I am, because once an RC, always an RC. Can't just change, unless I convert to something else - which I can't be bothered to do.

The reason the church decided this was to keep priests' estates upon their deaths. A lousy reason, if you ask me. Demanding celibacy has only led to other problems, like the priesthood becoming a cloak to hide sexual orientation (proclivities?) such as pedophilia.

Re: A bit of family history

[ubet_cha]

Family history is great and you just taught me something as I had believed that when the church made its transition to a celibate state that it only applied to the new priests. I’m going to have to read more about it now.

The transitions between religions on a families history is fascinating. One of my great great grandmothers was a widowed Presbyterian in Schull, Ireland. For love or the well being of her children she remarried a Catholic man and converted back to the religion her own forbears had rejected so violently two generations before.

[nilasae]

Well said, I felt sad when I leaned he had died (relieved on the other hand that this man's suffering is over).

[larksdream]

All right, wait a minute, being celibate all your life is unnatural and IMO sad, but it does NOT turn you into a child molestor. There are priests who would never come within a million miles of the thought, and there are married men who molest children. I refuse to let even an ounce of responsibility shift off the shoulders of these people.

As for the Pope, yes, I think our society is very short on people who devote their lives to the ideal of making the world a better place.

[ubet_cha]

All right, wait a minute, being celibate all your life is unnatural and IMO sad, but it does NOT turn you into a child molestor..

Good morning. I wasn’t implying that the priesthood only attracts pedophiles. I don’t think my Aunt was either, however the celibacy rule does dissuade good people who might otherwise serve from even thinking about it and I also think that this past centuries shrinking pool of candidates for priesthood has encouraged the overlooking of suspicious behavior. The too needs to be fixed, immediately, but the underlying factors of how the circumstances exist in the first place need to be addressed.

[orangebunnies]

I agree!