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would you say most priests actually believe in god?

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  • 18-07-2020 7:03pm
    #1
    pgj2015
    Registered Users Posts: 8,926 ✭✭✭


    A bit of a mad thought but something that crossed my mind today. you would assume they all do but id say we would be surprised, I reckon some just see it as a handy number or have another reason for becoming a priest.


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    #2
    howamidifferent
    Registered Users Posts: 1,817 ✭✭✭howamidifferent


    Twas a way to hide the fact they were gay. Doubt any really believe the rubbish they spout in mass.


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    #3
    One eyed Jack
    Registered Users Posts: 23,656 ✭✭✭✭One eyed Jack


    Nah, but it’s a great way to meet like-minded individuals -


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pGcE7IvCTs


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    #4
    pgj2015
    Registered Users Posts: 8,926 ✭✭✭pgj2015


    howamidifferent wrote: »
    Twas a way to hide the fact they were gay. Doubt any really believe the rubbish they spout in mass.



    if they were gay could they not just stay single?


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    #5
    howamidifferent
    Registered Users Posts: 1,817 ✭✭✭howamidifferent


    pgj2015 wrote:
    if they were gay could they not just stay single?


    Today yes, in older times past it was probably an easier option to avoid gossip.


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    #6
    Bobblehats
    Registered Users Posts: 4,707 ✭✭✭Bobblehats


    I think most of them probably are do-godders, yes


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    #7
    Ted_YNWA
    Registered Users Posts: 71,799 ✭✭✭✭Ted_YNWA


    This would be an ecumenical matter.


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    #8
    pgj2015
    Registered Users Posts: 8,926 ✭✭✭pgj2015


    howamidifferent wrote: »
    Today yes, in older times past it was probably an easier option to avoid gossip.



    Thats a really extreme way to prove you are straight. such a backward world they lived in older times.


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    #9
    PsychoPete
    Registered Users Posts: 8,572 ✭✭✭PsychoPete


    The least favourite child got sent away to become a priest


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    #10
    Beechwoodspark
    Registered Users Posts: 15,281 ✭✭✭✭Beechwoodspark


    Some of the campest men I’ve ever met have been priests

    It was a safe haven for gay men in Times past


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    #11
    pgj2015
    Registered Users Posts: 8,926 ✭✭✭pgj2015


    Beechwoodspark wrote: »
    Some of the campest men I’ve ever met have been priests

    It was a safe haven for gay men in Times past



    And did they just stay celibate then?


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    #12
    RandomViewer
    Registered Users Posts: 6,191 ✭✭✭RandomViewer


    PsychoPete wrote: »
    The least favourite child got sent away to become a priest

    Up until the early 80s it was considered a big thing to have a priest or nun in the family, lots pushed into it,


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    #13
    Beechwoodspark
    Registered Users Posts: 15,281 ✭✭✭✭Beechwoodspark


    pgj2015 wrote: »
    And did they just stay celibate then?

    All sorts went on

    In the seminaries and then when they were made priests and lived in parochial houses


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    #14
    Beechwoodspark
    Registered Users Posts: 15,281 ✭✭✭✭Beechwoodspark


    Lot of nuns would be butch lesbians also


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    #15
    RandomViewer
    Registered Users Posts: 6,191 ✭✭✭RandomViewer


    Beechwoodspark wrote: »
    Lot of nuns would be butch lesbians also

    Would have been quite a few which would've been referred to as "Civil" as well


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    #16
    Conall Cernach
    Registered Users Posts: 1,926 ✭✭✭Conall Cernach


    Surely there are loads of them that don't believe it though. Many are highly educated with advanced degrees and doctorates in scientific areas. They're not all like in Father Ted.


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    #17
    pgj2015
    Registered Users Posts: 8,926 ✭✭✭pgj2015


    Conall Cernach wrote: »
    Surely there are loads of them that don't believe it though. Many are highly educated with advanced degrees and doctorates in scientific areas. They're not all like in Father Ted.



    That would be very tough to be an atheist and a priest at the same time. I don't know how they could do it.


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    #18
    howamidifferent
    Registered Users Posts: 1,817 ✭✭✭howamidifferent


    pgj2015 wrote:
    Thats a really extreme way to prove you are straight. such a backward world they lived in older times.

    pgj2015 wrote:
    And did they just stay celibate then?


    Probably played a lot of soggy biscuit at parties


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    #19
    lalababa
    Registered Users Posts: 1,726 ✭✭✭lalababa


    Depends on what you mean by God.
    A not so secret way a priest can communicate that he does not believe in the Catholic doctrines potrayal of God is to say he 'believes in the word, and the word is God'. You'd hear it alot at weddings as he is reaching out to non believers. Both the word and the faith are practically euphemisms for believing in the 'spirit of God', or the 10 commandments. Defo not an all powerful being in the sky.
    And all priests have had years of education behind them....so no.
    But sure ya have to keep the show on the road.🙄


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    #20
    John Hutton
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,301 ✭✭✭John Hutton


    Do any of you know actually know any priests?


    Or just ignorantly speculating?

    I do, and I don't know how they could do it if they don't believe, or never believed.

    It's a very tough life. It's ain't just saying Mass for a half hour on a Sunday.

    Burials, weddings, confessions, counselling, school boards, visiting the sick and dying, administration of a parish(financial and just plain organisation, communions etc), spiritual direction, dealing with headcases moaning because the priest changed a mass time, multiple masses everyday sometimes over 2 parishes, loneliness (for some, more now because in the past priests didn't live alone), last rites to people splattered on a road at 3am, etc. etc. It goes on and on. Plus a significant proportion of society thinking you might be a pedo, and a vocal minority loathing you.

    All for 24k a year.

    They wouldn't do it if they didn't believe in God.


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    #21
    cj maxx
    Registered Users Posts: 13,357 ✭✭✭✭cj maxx


    pgj2015 wrote: »
    if they were gay could they not just stay single?

    They did.! How would they earn a living, place to live and still be accepted into the community .


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    #22
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 13,712 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    lalababa wrote: »
    Depends on what you mean by God.
    A not so secret way a priest can communicate that he does not believe in the Catholic doctrines potrayal of God is to say he 'believes in the word, and the word is God'.

    Lol, eh buddy the word is The Good News and that's the theology of Christian belief, the knowledge of God.


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    #23
    NIMAN
    Registered Users Posts: 32,984 ✭✭✭✭NIMAN


    To he honest I couldn't imagine someone living life as a priest if they didn't believe in their God.

    To have to say so many masses over and over and over......would be hard to do as an atheist even with the free house and car.


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    #24
    John Hutton
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,301 ✭✭✭John Hutton


    Frankly bizarre that people seem to think that one of the main reasons people became priests in the past was because they were gay.

    It's not that long ago that priests were hunted down in Ireland. Look at poor Oliver Plunkett.

    Much of western history and development was based on religious belief.

    Do you really think that all the ruins around the country, round towers, churches, monasteries, etc. we're all built because people were gay and wanted to live in a gay community?

    Step outside your own atheistic beliefs for a moment and accept that others have and do think differently.


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    #25
    One eyed Jack
    Registered Users Posts: 23,656 ✭✭✭✭One eyed Jack


    John Hutton wrote: »
    Frankly bizarre that people seem to think that one of the main reasons people became priests in the past was because they were gay.

    It's not that long ago that priests were hunted down in Ireland. Look at poor Oliver Plunkett.

    Much of western history and development was based on religious belief.

    Do you really think that all the ruins around the country, round towers, churches, monasteries, etc. we're all built because people were gay and wanted to live in a gay community?

    Step outside your own atheistic beliefs for a moment and accept that others have and do think differently.



    Well, now that you mention it...


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    #26
    Beechwoodspark
    Registered Users Posts: 15,281 ✭✭✭✭Beechwoodspark


    Yes I would know gay priests.

    At moment I have a local priest (useless) who spends a lot of time seeking kinky sex on a gay app - sometimes shows his pic and sometimes doesn’t. Into leather and all this.

    The whole parish knows he’s at it, he seems to be oblivious and thinks people are unaware.

    Same guy has a holier than thou attitude.

    I have met some v v camp priests (and bishops) also over the years.


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    #27
    NIMAN
    Registered Users Posts: 32,984 ✭✭✭✭NIMAN


    John Hutton wrote: »
    It's not that long ago that priests were hunted down in Ireland. Look at poor Oliver Plunkett.

    Don't know how old you are, but to me it was a VERY long time ago that priests were hunted down for their beliefs. Plunkett is dead over 400yrs ffs!

    In my lifetime, and my parents and their parents lifetimes, priests have been in a great position of power and influence. They got away with a lot of terrible things too with no consequences. It would have been a great career, whether you believed in god or not.


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    #28
    John Hutton
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,301 ✭✭✭John Hutton


    NIMAN wrote: »
    Don't know how old you are, but to me it was a VERY long time ago that priests were hunted down for their beliefs. Plunkett is dead over 400yrs ffs!

    In my lifetime, and my parents and their parents lifetimes, priests have been in a great position of power and influence. They got away with a lot of terrible things too with no consequences. It would have been a great career, whether you believed in god or not.

    There have been priests for nearly 2000 years... Didn't know the discussion was pinned to the last few years


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    #29
    NIMAN
    Registered Users Posts: 32,984 ✭✭✭✭NIMAN


    Well I'm just guessing the op is talking about priests that are actually alive.

    Maybe not.


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    #30
    mikemac2
    Registered Users Posts: 2,926 ✭✭✭mikemac2


    Dealing with couples who never go to Mass and have nothing to do with the parish but if you don’t become available to their every request you get criticized

    Plenty of threads on boards from bridezillas who wanted a small pretty Church in rural County Wicklow and talk about the priest as if they are the hired help.

    Hell Joe Duffy on the radio had a bridezilla arrange for their wedding coordinator to put potted trees into the Church and then blasted the priest who had the nerve to question her

    Priest are low paid and deal with the public and the public are idiots


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    #31
    r93kaey5p2izun
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,962 ✭✭✭r93kaey5p2izun


    I think most but not all probably do. But I'd say there are plenty who don't believe in a lot of the other tenets of their religion.
    One eyed Jack wrote: »
    Nah, but it’s a great way to meet like-minded individuals -


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pGcE7IvCTs

    I'm convinced this is the inspiration for the GoMo ad.


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