The Catholic Church has its clergy take oaths of celibacy since the early Middle Ages. Other religions do not follow this rule and marriage and children for their religious leaders are the usual habit if not requirement of these religions. It is mainly the Catholic insistence on promises of celibacy which have led to scandals about molestation of young boys and girls by churchmen. The collar does not automatically make a neuter out of the one who wears it.
Vile stories have circulated for hundreds of years about the excesses of those wearing robes and collars. Vows of celibacy have also been backed up with obedience and poverty. None of these have focused the minds of the clergy more exclusively on other people's problems than desires of their own.
Doctrinal differences have always divided, not united, the practitioners of religious leadership. Yet the insistence on obedience to higher authority, poverty and that pesky thing, celibacy, has created an abyss or non-connect between those who serve and those who are served in the religion which practices restrictions on its religious leaders.
It must be hard on the prospective "Fathers" and "Sisters" who make up the Catholic Clergy to give up life for a life of serving others. Yet, for ages they have kept alive practices that the general populace would not accept. Today, the rumblings of discontent have shown that the popularity of these difficult rules for the clergy has declined. Polls show that over a majority of ordinary people think these rules are out of date and do not belong in the 21st Century.
The shame of abuse by clergy with young children has been around for years and the usually response is to send the perpetrator to some distant place. It has been the misfortune for a handsome and "charismatic" Priest to have been found out that he has an illicit love affair with a woman he now wants to marry. So, his collar has been taken away from him and it is interesting to note that he has been offered refuge in other Christian religions where he could marry his love and regain a collar in a faith not beholden to the Pope in Rome.
It is interesting to review the conditions of other religions than one's own. The Taliban has taken upon itself to destroy Buddhist Statues and to reinstate cruel punishment for women who show their faces and want an education. Mr. Cutie′ faces expulsion for wanting to be an ordinary man.