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The ordination of priests with the sacrament of Holly Orders is described by the Catholic Catechism (paragraph noted):
1578 "No one has a right to receive the sacrament of Holy Orders. Indeed no one claims this office for himself; he is called to it by God"
1598 "The Church confers the sacrament of Holy Orders only on baptized men whose suitability for the exercise of the ministry has been duly recognized."
1597 "Ordination imprints an indelible sacramental character"
1565 "The spiritual gift they have received in ordination prepares them, not for a limited and restricted mission, "but for the fullest, in fact the universal mission of salvation 'to the end of the earth,'"
1188 ordained through the sacrament of Holy Orders to represent Christ as head of the Body.
Catholic Priests receive sacraments at least once a day compared to the lay person who may receive the sacraments weekly. They pray for at least two to three hours per day. The Catechism addresses the impact and value of the sacraments and prayer:
1084 "Christ now acts through the sacraments he instituted to communicate his grace."
2010 "Prayer attends to the grace we need for meritorious actions."
1983 "uses the sacraments to communicate grace to us."
1989 "Moved by grace man turns " away from sin."
2082 "What God commands he makes possible by his grace."
So, priests, who represent Christ, are chosen by god, screened by the church, sanctified by sacrament and fortified against sin to a much higher level than the rest of us and yet they have an incidence of child abuse not much better than the general population compounded by cover up, facilitation and excuses by the more exalted ranks of the church.
It is not unreasonable to test the promises made by a religion or to examine the claims it makes for those who administer that religion. Results are more important than rhetoric and the results here demonstrate the validity of church doctrine. The priest abuse scandal isn't, as the church is trying to portray, a failure of human nature, it's a failure of basic Catholic doctrine. It is far more serious than the crimes themselves, which are horrendous, because it demonstrates Catholicism, its moral fortification and its priests, are not as advertised. Sacraments and prayer are not effective protection against sin and the clergy are not legitimate representatives of Christ of earth. Priests raping children, enabled by the hierarchy, is a repudiation Catholic theology.
