In the rise of the sex abuse scandal of the Catholic Church, there has been much debate regarding the causes of the abuse and solutions to preventing further abuse of innocent children. Among the foremost speculated causes is the mandatory celibacy of Catholic priests. The mandatory vow of celibacy to enter the priesthood of the Catholic Church must be eradicated and Catholic priests should be allowed to enter the institution of marriage without the threat of being kicked out of the priesthood.
             The vow in celibacy of the Catholic priesthood came into effect in the year 1139. Prior to that year, Catholic clergymen were allowed to be married. The reason that the Catholic Church decided to institute the mandatory vow of celibacy was to prevent priests from willing their property to their wives and children, rather than to the Church, after they died. So, in effect, "Celibacy...is all about real estate" declared Ms. Louise Haggert, founder of CITI (Celibacy Is The Issue) and devout Catholic (English, 2002).
             Humans, as any other mammal, are like animals when it comes to normal sexual urges. These urges are intended to be fulfilled as the natural order of things; sex is a natural human act that was created as a means to procreate and therefore meant to be satisfied. While there are people who choose to be celibate, forcing celibacy on a person as a requirement to performing a lifelong profession goes against nature. "When you deny a person's right to something that is natural and good, it metamorphoses and rears its ugly head. It seeks its release in inappropriate behavior," offers Ed Minderlein (English, 2002) a married priest. To suppress such natural feelings can be unhealthy and lead to bad behavior, i.e., inappropriate sexual behavior with innocent children.
             When the cardinals were called to the Vatican regarding the sex abuse scandal, the Pope vetoed the idea of ending the vow of celibacy...