I'm so happy about latest Catholic priest sex scandal!

[HamdenRice]

High ranking priest, Msgr. Eugene Clark, was forced to resign from St. Patrick's and his archdiocesan offices, as a result of a sex scandal, here in New York.

http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/manhattan/ncy-prie0812,0,4374946.story?coll=nyc-manheadlines-manhattan

Rather than being outraged, I'm kind of thrilled because at least it was a consensual affair with an adult woman, rather than abuse of a little boy!

See! There are a lot of normal priests.

[ChiciB1]

1. As A Defector From The Catholic Religion...

There were THREE main reasons I left them. The first was their policy on birth control!!! I didn't want 10 children and they "rhythm method" is a JOKE. The second one was my consternation about just HOW it was that MARRIED couples were sent to a Priest for marital counseling when in my view it was hard for me to understand just how much good they could do, especially since THEY couldn't marry. Since the church has changed so many of their other doctrines, such as allowing one to eat meat on Friday etc., you would think they would realize that regardless of how stringent they are about priest or nuns marrying, perhaps they could RETHINK some of THIS doctrine. And I must say, my family was sooooooo Catholic and it took me a very long long time to stop looking up thinking I was going to be struck by the hand of God when I spoke of my leaving the church. If you are taught from your earliest indoctrination into religion, I think the Catholic church does a tremendous job of instilling a massive amount of guilt!

An example of this would be my absolute refusal to engage in sexual activity until I was married! Due to peer pressure, I felt a need to let others "think" I wasn't a virgin and that the man I married was my first.

And my third was, and I'm sure a bit trivial, was the fact that they stopped saying mass in Latin. As a young girl I always enjoyed the "Pater Noster" in Latin for some reason. Can't say why, maybe it was because it was drummed into my head by my Catechism teachers that the Catholic Religion was the only TRUE religion, thus the Latin was a boost to that notion!

Since I left the church BEFORE all the scandals started surfacing, it now seems there was a lot more that I didn't know.

I now follow more of the American Indian and Spiritual philosophy because it makes much more sense to me. I'm an animal rights type person and an environmentalist so for me this was a natural path to go down.

[BOSSHOG]

2. I stopped going to Mass because I got sick and tired

of hearing the priest bad mouth those he did not approve of (liberals, activists judges, secular humanists). It got real old, real fast and I did not think that talk belonged in Mass. I still consider myself a Catholic but I don't need an earthly being to maintain my religious relationship.

I was an altar boy a million years ago and we said the Mass in Latin. That was neat. I kept my grades up and was allowed to serve funerals, sometimes going to the Cemetary during school hours. We usually got $5.00 each from the family. That was a lot of money in the early 60's. As best I can recollect, I was not abused by any of our Priests.

[DanCa]

4. You guys walked away they threw me out .

However once I found a home in the episcopal church I found out that the lifers did me a favor.

[LibDemAlways]

3. Priests getting involved with women is

not unusual. At the parish I attend a steady stream of young assistants to the pastor eventually left the priesthood to marry, or were reassigned because of their relationship with a woman. One of them was made pastor of his own parish and began an affair with the married choir director there. She divorced her husband for him and the two eventually married.

This isn't anything new either. Back in the 70s a young priest in the parish where I taught eloped with a nun. That caused quite a stir.

And, over 40 years ago when my parents moved to California, their parish priest was an enthusiastic, friendly young man. Several years later he left the priesthood to marry. He now operates outside the official church but still performs some priestly duties like weddings. In fact, he presided over the wedding of Hugh Hefner and his now-estranged wife Kimberley.

While the pedophile scandals have rocked the church (and rightly so) what's been less publicized is the fact that these men have a hell of a time with the "celibacy" vow and find it impossible to keep.

[AlCzervik]

5. i'm glad it doesn't involve children this time.

My husband is a lapsed catholic, we grew up in Boston and after the abuse started to come out in the media he walked away.