Turn the clock back to 1138, but 880 years of tradition will be difficult to erase.

Societies which prohibit the natural progression of the sexes are ultimately failed and distorted societies. (see Islam)

In honesty I have never met a priest or what ever you want to call them in the prody Religion that wasn't Queer. It seems to be a prerequisite for the job for some reason. It seems now so ingrained in the church I doubt very much if you introduced marriage would it be between a man and a woman.

Mark, perhaps you could make the same argument against scoutmasters, coaches, gym teachers, etc. Yes a large number of Scoutleaders seem to have the same problems.

The Boy Scouts aren't even the boy scouts anymore.  The have admited girls and gays.

It truly is a shame that Rome prevailed on the celibacy issue, Tom.  The early converts to the "new faith" considered sexual relations between men and women to be not only natural but a gift from God.  Indeed, can you imagine a world where attraction to another person was absent?  I can't.  It would be a world of robots.

The book I'm reading about 7th century Ireland seems to indicate that those abbots who pushed for adopting Rome's stance on celibacy were quite fond of the young religious men so it may not have been totally for financial reasons but also to provide a convenient avenue for priests to pursue their aberrant behaviour.  I've never been one to favour organized religion (since I became an adult, that is) but watching the catholic church's evolution unfold makes me very glad that I was not raised in that church.

Some years ago I was having my haircut in the barbers and the barber was chatting to somebody and during the conversation the bloke was telling him how his son had just joined the Scouts and the barber said..... my wife won't let my two lads join the Scouts, so I asked him, why not? He said that she thought that any bloke who voluntarilly wanted to spend a lot of time with kids had something wrong with them. Thinking about it, I had to agree. I won't let my wife abandon me with my own grandson for more than an hour, as I can't cope. She can handle twenty kids at a time with consumate ease. It's horses for courses I suppose, as she's pre-programmed for the job. If you want a hole knocking through a wall though, then I'm yer man.

And yet male role models are important for boys growing up, it would be worse if boys only learnt from women through childhood and adolesence. They are using this argument when looking at the crime rate of Afro Americans youth.

It doesn't seem odd here now to see a single woman with 5 children and all have different fathers.

Here you get what they call the baby bonus which is a monthly cheque paid for each child you have. It appears many woman are having babies just for the money and I should mention if you are low income birth control is completely free in all manners and forms.

If women had been allowed to have a more prominent role in church positions and governance, they might have been able to thwart some of the abuse, but with celibacy mandatory, who is to say the women wouldn't have gone the same route.

If women had been allowed to have a more prominent role in church positions and governance, they might have been able to thwart some of the abuse, but with celibacy mandatory, who is to say the women wouldn't have gone the same route. I've heard stories of sexual abuse by them also Shula to both boys and girls. Must just come with the territory.