One...smart decision to hold off on the kids thing...and I dont mean that in a flippant way. Ive seen far too many marriages that are simply irreconcilably damaged due to cultural conflicts...
and Two...I know a LOT of Catholics...and Baptists...and school teachers...who arent pedophiles. I dont think the Catholic church advocates pedophilia in their canons...I DO get that they have ignored the problem and thats inexcusable. But I also know of families that are involved with their childrens lives and participate in church and never experience the problems others have. Healthy parental relationships is the greatest safeguard...Catholic church or any other setting..Boy Scouts...sports teams...whatever...it goes a long way to ensuring those children are NOT (as) vulnerable to attack and exploitation.
The issue here is that you are not separating Catholic people from the Catholic Church as an orginization, and I am.
The Catholic Church, as an orginization, covered up pedophilia within their ranks for decades. That is a fact. What the church says in its canons don't mean **** in light of htis fact.
I do agree with you that healthy parenting is the ultimate safeguard. When teh crap with Michael Jackson kept coming up, I often said "What kind of parent allows their child to be around Michael Jackson after he's had all of these accusations?"
I heard many people say the same types of things. They'd say "I'd never let my kid be around that guy."
Well, the Catholic Church, as an
originization, has proven itself far more dangerous to children than even Michael Jackson was. The ****e they've vomitted out ove rthe past few years alone shows me that they aren't really interested in taking ful responsibility for their actions, and that is, for me, inexcusabel AND unforgivable. They haven't done
**** to show me that they've changed. They'd rather try to sweep as much as they can under the rug.
I do realize that, as individuals, the pedophile priests were, most likely, a minority of the total priest population. But that doesn't mean ****. Priests are people who a child is
supposed to be able to trust. And they can't. Not only becasue of the minority that actually commited the acts, but because of the even
more eggregious and disgusting actions taken by the Church to cover it all up when it happened and transfer priests around, trusting that they truly felt remose.
Any orginization that has shown it can't be trusted to protect children from monsters within it's ranks is one that children should be kept away from at all costs, IMO.
IMO, good parenting includes preventing children form being in situations that are known to be dangerous. Being around priests is known to be dangerous. A
big reason that this issue with wanting female priests exists is because of teh vile and disgusting actions of the Church and it's male preists.
Their constant, unremorseful
refusal to end the policies which have made the Church a refuge for pedophiles for
years makes the Church an orginization that is almost on par with NAMBLA, in my opinion.
The Church's actions on this matter are a disgrace to the millions and millions of good Catholics in the world.