Yog-Sothoth wrote:
Oh yeah, I never considered that. Especially since it seems like most of the children molested were boys, a god fearing individual who believes all forms of lust are sinful, especially homosexuality, would do whatever they can to avoid facing god's wrath, and god would never let a priest go to hell.
So if they really are pedos, then I guess what makes it worse in my mind is the holy factor, they are supposed to be messengers of god and holier than thou, but what they did is far from god's will and far from holy. But that doesn't make it any worse than a pedo becoming an elementary school teacher because I can f***ing guarantee you they wouldn't seek that profession if they never planned on touching any kids.
Hard to say which one is worse. It seems like joining a certain line of work just for that reason is worse, but doing something in your line of work that is against the very reason you joined it in the first place and against everything it stands for is also pretty bad.
It's a common misconception, that. A priest is not a messenger from God. A priest is a person (Catholics and Othodox would say a man, but I'm an Anglican) ordained to a role that involves serving the needs of the congregation. The one key difference between a priest and a layman is that when a priest says the eucharistic prayer, the bread and wine become transfigured into the holy gifts of Jesus' body and blood, and can be shared during Holy Communion. Someone who has been granted that honour has the responsibility of serving Christ and refraining from sin as far as they are able so as not to dishonour Christ, but priests are fallible humans like the rest of us.
However, a priest that violates the trust placed in him by a child (and the congregation whose trust has also been abused) and who fails to repent, confess to God and his supervisor and atone through confession to the police, has in my opinion defrocked himself.
29 Oct 2007, 8:47 am
