[Illbay]

It is like saying a male gynecologist cannot treat a woman patient because he has a different body.

Equating human physiology to human emotional interaction is a false analogy.

I have never been a car, either, but I've fixed engines before. You just follow the diagram, make sure part "A" fits snugly into part "B" as the diagram shows, and it works.

There is no way in my mind that a man who not only doesn't participate, but ESCHEWS familial responsibility as somehow a compromise with our evil natures, is a man who can offer help in such areas.

I have never been a Roman Catholic. I'm not talking from my own experience. But I've heard this said, time and time again, by practicing Catholics whom I've had as friends.

You want a REALLY good analogy? It's like a lifelong hermit being touted as the perfect sociologist, because he hasn't got the slightest idea how humans can or should interact, and therefore he's "objective."

It isn't objectivity that's called for. Actually, quite the opposite.

And lastly, I submit that it is this "standing outside looking in" attitude that has led to the priesthood being considered a "safe haven" for homosexuals, and also the notion that FIRST, the "brotherhood" must be protected at all costs before we worry about the victims.

They're "below the salt" in many ways, and so only worthy of secondary consideration.

[Notwithstanding]

Your hermit analogy sucks - especially after my explaining to you how extremely involved in the lives of young families this pope was as a priest. He talked with them about their marriages ALL the time.

Married men eschew (to use your word) priesthood to get married. Priests eschew marriage to become ordained.

Have you given much thought to YOUR discussing the life of a priest when you yourself have not lived it? If a priest (who grows up in a family, by the way, and hear's the confessions of many married people such that he knows their problems very well) cannot offer advice about marriage because he has not lived it, then you best keep your advice about the priesthood to yourself!