My mother who is 64 told me that her father used to tell her as a child to beware of priests that want to touch you. My grand father was Roman Catholic and a son of Italian immigrants. I think if he knew a lot of people knew. He wasn’t the type of person to keep his opinions to himself. Are there similar stories of communities being aware of priest’s pedophilic tendencies, but having kept that information private within the community and away from the media and world at large?
I think the stereotype has always been there. I know there are medieval texts that talk about the problem of homosexuality in monasteries. But it makes sense if you think about it. Priests have a pretty good job, they don’t have to work terribly hard, received education for free, lots of free-time, and so on. The only problem is that they either can’t have sex or, perhaps more realistically, can only have sex clandestinely. For most people, that is a huge problem. So huge that is would give a person great pause before accepting such a position. However, classically for homosexuals and still presently for pedophiles, their sexual activities have to be clandestine. So it is no change from their present circumstance and it provides a good life. For the pedophile it also provides easy access, making it all the more tempting.
Throw on some guilt and a tendency for human beings to overcompensate and precisely what you’d expect happens.
Yeah, but why do they have clandestine sex with children? Why not women or other priests?
It is about enriching populations. For a normal person, only being able to have sex clandestinely is a huge problem. For a pedophile, it is the only way they can. So being a priest doesn’t have the disadvantage for them that it does for other people.
There are a number of stories of communities in Ireland and Scotland, where people knew of such behaviour, but did little about it. In some cases, no doubt parents did warn children, in others parents no doubt believed ignorance was bliss, indeed in extreme cases the priests would be defended to the hilt. The Catholic community was very good at looking after its own.
To what degree should we assume the circumstances create the behavior, or the behavior seeks out the circumstances? Do self-aware pedophiles become priests to increase their access? Or is it the struggle for chastity that causes priests to seek ‘unnatural’ outlets for their desires?
I think self aware pedophiles are often attracted to the Priesthood, not because it increases their access but because they want to remain celibate. And fail. There are probably some gaming the system too.
Plus such a negative view on sex can’t help but infantalize the individual to some degree. It is like two kids playing doctor, but one of them isn’t a kid anymore. So, sure, the situation does probably contribute to deviant desires.