500 Irish priests 'having regular sex with women'

[emad]

500 Irish priests 'having regular sex with women'
By Tom Peterkin, Ireland Correspondent
(Filed: 21/01/2006)

At least 500 women in Ireland are conducting clandestine affairs with Roman Catholic priests, according to the leader of a support group set up to look after those in forbidden relationships.

An indication of the extent of illicit sexual relationships within the church was given after it was disclosed that Fr Maurice "Mossy" Dillane, 73, had fathered a child with his 31-year-old girlfriend.

Bishop Pat Buckley said an extremely conservative estimate was that one in 10 of the 5,000 Catholic priests in Ireland enjoyed regular sex with women and some even referred to their clerical collar as the "bird catcher".

Studies had shown that 80 per cent of priests had broken their vows of celibacy on at least one occasion, he said.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/01/21/wpriests21.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/01/21/ixworld.html

[GCP]

1. Good for them

I'm sure Jesus would approve. Some asexual or deep-in-the-closet-gay must have been the intigator of the chastity rule for priests. It's abnormal and wrong to keep healthy men from one of life's greatest pleasures.

[xchrom]

4. how about a misogynist

someone who simply believed women ''unclean'', and so on.
but was straight -- there's a good deal more of them than asexuals or the much maligned ''deeply closeted'' fellow.
there are simply not enough actual gay folk to blame for ali the evils they do get blamed for.

there's more than enough scripture to go on for that simple conclusion.

[GCP]

8. Well, it must have been a misogynist

Who came out with the "women are unclean" position, so you're probably right.

[xchrom]

13. a gentleperson and a scholar.

[htuttle]

15. I think they SAY it was Saint Augustine who inspired all that

...but in reality, priests were forbidden to marry at the Council of Nicea, 100 years earlier (325 AD).

It had a lot more to do with keeping the Church/Empire's property inside the Church (no heirs, ergo the Church inherits everything), than it did with spiritual matters.

[CarbonDate]

19. Not as I understand it.

From what I've heard, priests used to be able to get married, but then they ended up leaving their houses and such to their families instead of keeping them in the church. As with all things, it stemmed from financial reasons.

[opiate69]

25. Actually..

the celibacy rule came about because of property/wealth consideratoins.. when priests were allowed to marry, they of course would invariably wind up having children..then, when they died, their wealth and property was bequeathed to their sons.. so, the Pope (sorry.. dont recall offhand which)decreed that priests couldn't marry, and thus any property would wind up going to the church.. increasing it's wealth and holdings dramatically.

[BlueEyedSon]

2. Thank god its not perverse, weird, deviant sex (it's only regular!).

[joeybee12]

3. My thoughts, too...however, regular sex is just so boring!

And maybe there's 500 more have irregular sex? That would certainly boost the totals.

[Christa]

5. I always had this deep desire

to seduce a priest O8)

[rzemanfl]

6. Priests have young "trophy" girlfriends just like businessmen

have young trophy wives? Go figure.

[smirkymonkey]

23. But businessmen are rich, usually, which is how they are able to

get a "trophy wife" in the first place. I can't understand what the pull is with priests. Not at all.

[rzemanfl]

24. Probably a variant of the type of women who wants to make gay

guys go straight. Besides, with confession, the Priest don't have to waste any time with women who are poor prospects for an affair. (Was going to say "who don't put out" but that kind of thing always gets me a feminist flame from somewhere.) Probably will for this too, but at least now I am showing I am sensitive to the issue despite the fact that my formative years were spent during unenlightened times.

[enlightenment]

7. Interesting article on this general topic,

here.
"Celibacy in the Catholic Church
Peter Berresford Ellis looks at the politics and philosophy behind the Catholic church's rules on marriage and celibacy"

http://www.irishdemocrat.co.uk/anonn-is-anall/celibacy-in-the-church/

[Cassandra]

9. Can this be considered an "up" statistic?

Pun intended.

[NC_Nurse]

10. Hypocrisy in the Catholic church????

I'm SHOCKED! Shocked, I tell ya! :D

[boobooday]

11. But . . . but . . . abstinence works!

:eyes:

If these guys with their solemn religious obligations can't maintain a vow of chastity, what does that say for the liklihood of success of the abstinence movement in general?

[CarbonDate]

20. Hey, I've been abstinent for the past year and a half.

Of course, that hasn't been by choice, but still.... :argh:

[boobooday]

22. Maybe you should be like Jared

And offer to give testimonials, and then, when you got the spotlight, use it to advertise for a partner!

:evilgrin:

[CarbonDate]

26. What, the Subway guy?

Nah. I'll just wait until I get to Guam.

[Botany]

12. Top of the morning to yee.

When Irish eyes are smiling ....... :rofl:

[rpannier]

14. At least what they're doing doesn't violate the law. n/t

[rooboy]

16. How long does it take to become an Irish Catholic priest? n/t

[Dover]

17. Still?

Nothing new about that is there?

[catbert836]

18. Irish priests

They weren't even required to be celibate until the reign of Henry VIII, because up until then, they were mainly Druids gone Christian. They just politely ignored Rome's demands to control themselves that way, until Henry forced them to. It's no surprise that some of them still don't follow that rule.

[CarbonDate]

21. I may be an atheist....

...but I'm opposed to priests having sex when I'm not. I'm also opposed to extra-marital affairs on the same grounds.

Don't be such greedy hogs. Share the wealth.

[FM Arouet666]

27. So, you want to have sex with a priest?

:evilgrin: