A Sydney priest has got himself into strife, masturbating on a webcam for the benefit of what he thought was a thirteen year old girl but what was in reality a burly NSW policeman. sigh.
The Judge in sentencing him to prison had a go at celibacy.
I don't get it - if there really are thirteen year old girls out there who want to watch lonely middle aged men masturbate on web cams its not through sexual desire, it surely would be only to mock.
But I suspect that there are more hairy legged policemen posing as thirteen year old girls than the real deal inhabiting this seamy side of the of the internet, there for the purpose of entrapment.
How any mature man could fall for this is a mystery to me, as is why he would want to in the first place, celibate or not.
There is another grim tale in the news along these lines - a Wisconsin youth who posed as a girl on face book to trick his schoolmates into providing revealing pictures of themselves - pictures he then used to blackmail them into sex with him. This fellow has been imprisoned for 15 years.
The internet can most surely be a very sordid place at times.
The Judge in sentencing him to prison had a go at celibacy.
"I'm not a Catholic," Judge Fuller said. "I do not regard (that) celibacy (should be) imposed on people. That is because it is a suppression of human instinct. It must be agonising. I don't know why they (the church) don't change their rules. It is archaic. It's cruel, cruel."
I don't get it - if there really are thirteen year old girls out there who want to watch lonely middle aged men masturbate on web cams its not through sexual desire, it surely would be only to mock.
But I suspect that there are more hairy legged policemen posing as thirteen year old girls than the real deal inhabiting this seamy side of the of the internet, there for the purpose of entrapment.
How any mature man could fall for this is a mystery to me, as is why he would want to in the first place, celibate or not.
There is another grim tale in the news along these lines - a Wisconsin youth who posed as a girl on face book to trick his schoolmates into providing revealing pictures of themselves - pictures he then used to blackmail them into sex with him. This fellow has been imprisoned for 15 years.
The internet can most surely be a very sordid place at times.
Andrei, you need to get Sky TV and watch the series ‘To Catch a Predator’. The program makers entrap males enticing underage sex using chat-rooms. These ‘stings’ are a real eye-opener as to how many sicko’s there are using the net – frankly hard to watch and made me shift my 12 Y.O daughters computer into the dining-room so we could keep an eye on her online activities.
ReplyDeleteLink to snippets: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwFr_VcGMKQ
It is sad that ones profession allows someone to get a lighter sentence – we see this happening here in N.Z all too often with name suppressions.
Speaking of suppression – celibacy is cruel and archaic.
See ya.
Paul
Paul;
ReplyDeleteYour link is so depressing, why do you watch such things?
We all know that there are seriously creepy people out there, with warped priorities - perhaps the over emphasis our culture places on "sexuality" is responsible.
Its a thought.
LRO;
εἰσὶ γὰρ εὐνοῦχοι οἵτινες ἐκ κοιλίας μητρὸς ἐγεννήθησαν οὕτω· καὶ εἰσὶν εὐνοῦχοι οἵτινες εὐνουχίσθησαν ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, καὶ εἰσὶν εὐνοῦχοι οἵτινες εὐνούχισαν ἑαυτοὺς διὰ τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν. ὁ δυνάμενος χωρεῖν χωρείτω.
Does that coupled with my previous comment help?
Very good article HERE about priestly celibacy. Some snippets below -
ReplyDeleteIt's remarkable how determined some media and other people are that we priests
should be married. How they sympathize with us over the supposed cruelties of
celibacy being imposed upon us by a Pope who purportedly has no understanding
whatsoever of the compassion of Jesus.
[...]
Isn't it extraordinary, for example, how many of the current spate of articles calling for
abolition of celibacy always chant the same litany about 'freedom of conscience' regarding abortion, sexual activity, receiving Communion regardless of life-style,
marital status, etc.? Everything has become a 'human right' [...]
No one has ever been able to correlate celibacy with sexual abuse. Some sexual abuses have been perpetrated by some priests. That's tragic. But it has not been the fault of celibacy. Some priests are tempted to engage in sexual relations with women. Marriage, it is said, would cure their temptations. Perhaps in some cases. But are no married men tempted to be unfaithful to their wives? Are none of the huge number of divorces in the US attributable to 'sexual incompatibility'? Human nature is weak. Would a priest who married a particular woman never again have 'sexual problems'? That is, would he lose his humanity, hence, his weakness?
But of course, given a priest's training and self-discipline and understanding and sensitivity, one might expect his marriage to be idyllic. Would there be no illness, no poverty, no afflicted children, no drugs, no drunkenness, no boredom, no discouragement? Is that the case? Is it honest to say of a priest who is unhappy because
required to be celibate: 'Only lift the requirement, and he will be happy'?
[...] Priests are no better than millions of married and single people in the world. But we
have made a choice. I don't think many of us are looking for sympathy even from our friends, and certainly we don't need the crocodile tears of the Church's less-than-covert enemies.
Finally, as someone has said elsewhere, he Catholic Church forbids no one to marry. No one is required to take a vow of celibacy; those who do, do so voluntarily. They "renounce marriage" (Matt. 19:12); no one forbids it to them. Any Catholic who doesn’t wish to take such a vow doesn’t have to, and is almost always free to marry with the Church’s blessing. The Church simply elects candidates for the priesthood (or, in the Eastern rites, for the episcopacy) from among those who voluntarily renounce marriage.
Ewwww!
ReplyDeleteMen who cannot handle the requirements of celibacy should not become priests.
Yes, celibacy is unnatural, but in a non-destructive way. It requires real discipline of the mind, as well as a good prayer life. Any even tiny temptations that come up need to be dealt with before they create urges that cannot be controlled.
andreai, I thought we were talking about celibacy, IMF talks about the church not forcing anyone to BE celibate and yet you quote a bible reference to eunuchs. Now TAHT is enforced celibacy.
ReplyDeleteNobody is forced into ordination LRO, its a personal choice.
ReplyDeleteIn the Western Church only unmarried men may be ordained, in the Eastern Church married men may be ordained but in both East and West no Priest may marry. Its part of the deal you accept when putting yourself forward for the Priesthood.
No Bishop may be married and Bishops are always supposed to be celibate.
And of course there are plenty of celibate people, celibate perhaps not through choice but because nobody wants them for one reason or another - sad but undeniably true.
Is that cruel and archaic? If so how should we fix it?