Abolish the Priesthood.

Karlysymon

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Mar 18, 2017
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"My five years in the priesthood, even in its most liberal wing, gave me a fetid taste of this caste system. Clericalism, with its cult of secrecy, its theological misogyny, its sexual repressiveness, and its hierarchical power based on threats of a doom-laden afterlife, is at the root of Roman Catholic dysfunction. The clerical system’s obsession with status thwarts even the merits of otherwise good priests and distorts the Gospels’ message of selfless love, which the Church was established to proclaim. Clericalism is both the underlying cause and the ongoing enabler of the present Catholic catastrophe. I left the priesthood 45 years ago, before knowing fully what had soured me, but clericalism was the reason."

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/06/to-save-the-church-dismantle-the-priesthood/588073/
and
https://jaysanalysis.com/2010/04/19/what-has-happened-to-the-catholic-church-in-one-easy-article/

The Atlantic piece is a long read but is abolishing the priesthood the best option at saving or reforming the Catholic Church and possibly stemming the endemic paedophilia?
 

Axl888

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Jul 29, 2019
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If you reform the catholic church according to the Bible, it wont be called catholic church anymore (for the better).

I say abolish the catholic church instead, but I am afraid it is not going to happen until the second coming of Jesus Christ.
 
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In reality the priesthood has already been abolished. Christ put a complete and total end to their authority, 2000 years ago. But to this day, the priesthood has done their utmost to ignore this reality and have defiantly and stubbornly refused to acknowledge the truth.
 

Todd

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Apr 16, 2017
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The same problem exists in many (not all) protestant churches as there is still a distinction between clergy and laity. They just use different titles rather than priest. Of course Jesus specifcally taught against any form of hierarchial leadership, so this topic of discussion should apply to any and all Christian denominations.
 
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mecca

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Mar 13, 2017
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"My five years in the priesthood, even in its most liberal wing, gave me a fetid taste of this caste system. Clericalism, with its cult of secrecy, its theological misogyny, its sexual repressiveness, and its hierarchical power based on threats of a doom-laden afterlife, is at the root of Roman Catholic dysfunction. The clerical system’s obsession with status thwarts even the merits of otherwise good priests and distorts the Gospels’ message of selfless love, which the Church was established to proclaim. Clericalism is both the underlying cause and the ongoing enabler of the present Catholic catastrophe. I left the priesthood 45 years ago, before knowing fully what had soured me, but clericalism was the reason."
This is a very good, important quote. It shows the inherent problems with hierarchical, authoritarian systems.
 
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