The Irish bishops have said a priest who leaves ministry after fathering a child must be financially supported by their diocese
The bishops’ instruction has been welcomed by Vincent Doyle, founder of Coping International, a support group for the offspring of Catholic priests and Religious.
Doyle, who is a psychotherapist, discovered when he was 28 that his godfather, Fr John Doyle, was actually his father.
He said the issue of priests fathering children, despite their vow of celibacy, is “a lot more common than you might think”.
“Priests having children is inevitable,” he warned and argued that the “remedy” is married priests.
According to Doyle the pressure placed on women in a relationship with a priest and the children conceived to remain silent is “effectively coercive control, which is a crime”.
He warned that even today, religious orders and dioceses continue to try to impose secrecy through confidentiality deals when making settlements. “It infuriates me that people think this is ok,” he said.
https://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/15193/p...-supported
The bishops’ instruction has been welcomed by Vincent Doyle, founder of Coping International, a support group for the offspring of Catholic priests and Religious.
Doyle, who is a psychotherapist, discovered when he was 28 that his godfather, Fr John Doyle, was actually his father.
He said the issue of priests fathering children, despite their vow of celibacy, is “a lot more common than you might think”.
“Priests having children is inevitable,” he warned and argued that the “remedy” is married priests.
According to Doyle the pressure placed on women in a relationship with a priest and the children conceived to remain silent is “effectively coercive control, which is a crime”.
He warned that even today, religious orders and dioceses continue to try to impose secrecy through confidentiality deals when making settlements. “It infuriates me that people think this is ok,” he said.
https://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/15193/p...-supported
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"