Why do so many Catholic priests molest little boys?

It's good you ask. For majority of people are misinformed about this. It's just not in the Catholic Church, in fact, it's more in the Protestant Churches:

- From 1993 to 2002 30% of sex abuse allegations in Christian churches were in the Catholic Church, and 70% were in Protestant churches.

It's even worse in schools:

- The physical sexual abuse of students in schools is likely more than 100 times the abuse by priests.” ~Hofstra University researcher Charol Shakeshaft in Education Week

But it has been in the Catholic Church, but a main issue has been ignored, homosexual priest. Thankfully the Catholic Church is taking actions, and the latest reports show almost no new cases of sexual assaults by clergy. 42% of abusers are unpaid volunteers, as founded by Christian Ministry Resources.

- Pedophilia (the sexual abuse of a prepubescent [prior to puberty] child) among priests is extremely rare, affecting only .3% of the entire population of clergy.

- This problem is ephebophilia, homosexual attraction to adolescent boys

- Out of all the sex abuse cases, 6% of the priest have been heterosexual and 94% have been homosexual.

Less than 2 % of priests have committed pedophilia which is less than the general population. Fathers, brothers, uncles, teachers, Imams, Rabbis, coaches. boy scouts, cousins and others have and do commit pedophilia. This is not exclusive to priests These acts bring on terrible shame to the respective community and to humanity as a whole. Do not however for a single second believe that it is only catholic priests.

Yes I am a Catholic and as a child was involved with priests at various levels and never once had any kind of issue whatsoever - nor do I know of anybody else that was. I left the church for a while but I am so happy to be back.

Actually most (85%) of the boys were post pubescent, so this was mainly a case homosexual molestation rather than paedophilia. The catholic church is now paying the price for relaxing it rules on homosexuals becoming priests in the 70's.

For some reason the Catholics do not allow their priests to get married. This is not Biblical - even in the Bible the priests were married and had children, so I don't know where the Catholics get this from.

Because of all the built up sexual frustration, these men need a release somewhere - unfortunately it ends up being innocent little boys.

I am Christian BTW and our ministers and pastors do get married and have families - it seems only the Catholics do not allow their priests to get married.

Actually, so many don't.

The media makes it seem like that because they tend to only report on Catholic sex abuse.

No one is making light of sex abuse. To point out that it happens at the same rate or a higher rate in other faiths, or in the public school system, isn't to say it is okay for Catholic priests to molest anyone. It is just to help people realize that sex abuse has no religion or specific profile. It is in every culture, every faith, and has been happening for centuries all over the world. This is just a fact. It is always wrong, and always sinful.

As for the fact that more teens were molested than little children, again that doesn't mean it's okay to molest teens, but it does change the facts of the reason for molestation.

We read often of heterosexual teachers who have sexual relationships with teens of the opposite sex. We all understand that this is wrong, even in cases where the teen willingly consented. In the Catholic priesthood, because it is all male, and because of the sexual revolution of the 1960s, many homosexual men entered the priesthood. Many times, these men have molested and coerced teen males. It is wrong...no one thinks otherwise, however it is not pedophilia.

It is actually termed Ephebophilia. It refers to adults who have a preference for post-pubescent youths. As far as psychiatry is concerned this is not a disorder or mental illness. However, the preference can sometimes be diagnosed as a disorder if it results in dysfunction or exploitative behavior.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephebophilia

<<In my family alone there were 4 molested. To all those catholics who make light of it or excuse them you are evil and show how little you care about the victims.>>

I'm very, very sorry for your family. However your experience is atypical. Statistics and facts prove otherwise.

http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/facts/fm...

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/03/19/donohue....

http://old.post-gazette.com/forum/comm/20020303edj...

http://stopbaptistpredators.org/index.htm

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/08/24/opinion/...

Google "sex abuse Lutheran" or "sex abuse Baptist" or "public school system" and you'll find that it is rampant. In fact the largest group of child molesters is fathers and step-fathers. Children are more likely to be abused in their own homes, by family, than by anyone else.

Celibacy has nothing to do with sex abuse. Men who have normal adult sexual tendencies do not develop a preference for children if they abstain from sex. There is absolutely no evidence to back up this ridiculous assumption. Add to that the FACT that more married men, or men in adult sexual relationships, molest children at the highest rate, totally debunks that theory.

So, a few priests screw up and it's national news, but when it happens in public schools and in families no one hears about it. Funny, isn't it? It's called a bias. People report anything they can that will damage the Church's reputation. I don't think you knew that most of those allegations were false, did you?

Why do you think it only happens in the Catholic Church when it's been proven it happens more often in the Protestant churches and even more often in the secular world?

Some people make light of this by saying it wasn't that many or they were that way before they became priests. It was that many. Statistics show over 100,000 boys/teens. To the answerer that clarifies that many were teens, DOES THAT MAKE IT ANY BETTER? Most were boys.

In my family alone there were 4 molested. To all those catholics who make light of it or excuse them you are evil and show how little you care about the victims.

Why Do Priests Abuse

Because the Catholics are of Satan the Devil.