Most Catholic guys circumcised?

[mandoman]

The Catholic church has come out strongly in word only, against circumcision.
It is spoken against in the New Testament, in Paul's letters to the Galatians.
Some leader issued an edict, in fairly recent times, (20th century) that no one pays much attention to.
People pick up their circumcision status from the people around them.
I'm Catholic, and uncut, in Massachusetts.

 

[D_Everette Hunglungfish]

Half my family (Dad's side) is Catholic and as far as I know, only one cousin is cut.

I think it's more a regional/cultural thing for non Jewish/Muslim guys... and in the UK people generally just don't get cut.

 

[CuriousTom]

Another uncut Catholic here.

 

[SirConcis]

South America is like 99.9999% catholic and 99.9999% uncut.

Catholics in Europe are almost all uncut too.

In USA and Australia, it appears that many boys were told by their parents that they were circumcised because it was catholic tradition. But this was simply because parents didn't have any reason why their sons were circumcised and thought of using religion as an explanation.

One possibility is that catholic families had a certain level/type of education which lead them to decide to "go with the flow" and have their sons circumcised so they wouldn't be different from the rest.

But the catholic religion itself doesn't require/promote circumcision.

 

[SpeedoMike]

do you people sit around the Thanksgiving table talking about this subject?

 

[zpacifico]

I was born and baptised as a Catholic, left intact. Think it mostly depends of wether you live in the country where circumcision is a part of a general culture.

 

[zpacifico]

do you people sit around the Thanksgiving table talking about this subject?

hehe nasty... I like nasty:biggrin1:

 

[B_625girth]

catholic and cut here. no that it was my decision. I was cut shortly after birth. and honestly I don't know what the big deal is about cut or uncut. my cock works just fine, it's no too tight or whatever some guys say. I have hardly given it a second thought. most women I have been with preferred cut. supposed to be cleaner, stay cleaner longer, less smell. my wife says she was hoping I was circumcised when we made love the first time. she said it was the second thing she noticed!!!

 

[B_UncutHungItal]

Anyone who says that Catholics circumcise for religious reasons is ignorant of history and theology. It would take about 30 seconds and an index to find that this topic was debated by the early church, which decided that it would not require circumcision but in fact heavily discourage it. For the next 1500 years, to be a Catholic meant being uncircumcised. Circumcised people (Jews and Muslims) converted from time to time, but the expectation was that their sons would be left uncircumcised. Much of the Catholic, uncircumcised population of Sicily, Malta, Spain, and Portugal today is descended from circumcised Jews and Muslims.

When Spain conquered the Philippines, the people there had recently converted to Islam and adopted circumcision. The Spanish encouraged/forced the Filipinos to convert to Catholicism, which they did everywhere but the island of Mindanao, but for the first time in church history a group of new Catholics continued the practice of circumcision (as they still do today). More recently, the church has taken in millions of converts in Africa who had tribal traditions of circumcision which they continue as Catholics.

The Catholics in the USA (and to a lesser extent Canada and Australia) who circumcise their sons are doing it for the same reasons/non-reasons as the rest of the population. They have no tradition of circumcision and they bring up "religion" only out of ignorance and that it sounds better than "we don't know why we had you circumcised".

 

[2891]

Anyone who says that Catholics circumcise for religious reasons is ignorant of history and theology. It would take about 30 seconds and an index to find that this topic was debated by the early church, which decided that it would not require circumcision but in fact heavily discourage it. For the next 1500 years, to be a Catholic meant being uncircumcised. Circumcised people (Jews and Muslims) converted from time to time, but the expectation was that their sons would be left uncircumcised. Much of the Catholic, uncircumcised population of Sicily, Malta, Spain, and Portugal today is descended from circumcised Jews and Muslims.

When Spain conquered the Philippines, the people there had recently converted to Islam and adopted circumcision. The Spanish encouraged/forced the Filipinos to convert to Catholicism, which they did everywhere but the island of Mindanao, but for the first time in church history a group of new Catholics continued the practice of circumcision (as they still do today). More recently, the church has taken in millions of converts in Africa who had tribal traditions of circumcision which they continue as Catholics.

The Catholics in the USA (and to a lesser extent Canada and Australia) who circumcise their sons are doing it for the same reasons/non-reasons as the rest of the population. They have no tradition of circumcision and they bring up "religion" only out of ignorance and that it sounds better than "we don't know why we had you circumcised".

Good points!

 

[Hoss]

I went to an all boys Catholic school in Australia and hardly saw a foreskin in the locker room..

Are most Catholic guys circumcised or is it just an Aussie thing?

I'm not Catholic but I went to a Catholic Universiity for a time. Most of us were circed (not that unusual for guys born when we were). Soon after baling out and still living in the area, I got involved with my former Comparative Religion Prof. who was Catholic, and he was not circed. Other Catholic guys have been a mixed bag, based more on when they were born.

 

[Denverbearmark]

My oldest brother was not circumcised as a baby. My mother's explanation for this was that he was born in a catholic hospital and the Nun's discouraged the practice. My other brother and I both were born in community hospitals and the surgery was done as standard practice. I always envied my brother being born in the catholic hospital, as I wanted to stay natural.

 

[FuzzyKen]

In the case of Catholicism there is not doctrine within the religion that I know of that either endorses or condemns circumcision. Remember that Catholicism is probably the most prevalent religious affiliation in Mexico and South America and very few men in those cultures are circumcised.

Circumcision is more influenced by societal doctrines and socioeconomic levels than it is by religion the only noted exception being Judiasm and even there, there has been slight movement on this issue.

 

[SirConcis]

In the new testament, Paul declared that circumcision of the penis was no longer necessary as long as the soul was circumcised of evil thoughts (or whatever).

Translation: in order to market the new christian religion outside of middle east where circumcision was accepted, they needed to drop the requirement to be circumcised in order to get greeks, romans and europeans to adopt this new christian religion.

So the new testament states that circumcision is not required. But it is not banned either.

Globally, christianity had more success in spreading its club than judaism or islam. Islam, despite its circumcision tradition has spread out quite a bit, with a long string of countries from turkey to the edge of western europe (former soviet territories), and spreading east to china (all the "stan" countries). There is also a strong presence in the pacific (indonesia, malaysia, and many of the smaller countries such as Fiji etc).

circumcision in USA and other english speaking contries had nothing to do wth religion, it was all a social/medical phenomenon which became engrained in the culture.

 

[unabear09]

In the new testament, Paul declared that circumcision of the penis was no longer necessary as long as the soul was circumcised of evil thoughts (or whatever).

Translation: in order to market the new christian religion outside of middle east where circumcision was accepted, they needed to drop the requirement to be circumcised in order to get greeks, romans and europeans to adopt this new christian religion.

So the new testament states that circumcision is not required. But it is not banned either.

Globally, christianity had more success in spreading its club than judaism or islam. Islam, despite its circumcision tradition has spread out quite a bit, with a long string of countries from turkey to the edge of western europe (former soviet territories), and spreading east to china (all the "stan" countries). There is also a strong presence in the pacific (indonesia, malaysia, and many of the smaller countries such as Fiji etc).

circumcision in USA and other english speaking contries had nothing to do wth religion, it was all a social/medical phenomenon which became engrained in the culture.

I'm not so sure I agree with that last part. I know that I (along with every male on my dad's side of the family) was circumsized because of religion. I'm not Jewish or Muslim, its just circumcision is a way to show that you are a 'child of God.'

Circumsision became routine in the western world (ok more to do with countries under control or formerly under control of the crown of England) during the Victorian period. Circumcision was performed as a way of preventing masturbation among adolescense and the unmarried along with many other torturous devices (Stop that or you'll go blind. Anti-masturbation methods of the Victorian Era)

 

[SirConcis]

If the victoria era circumcision trend had been religious, it would not have spread outside of the anglican church. It did. It was a social trend with various justifications used each decade, from masturbation to cancer to infections to "to pevent son from feeling different" etc etc.

 

[D_Cock_Hudson]

I comemfromma Catholic family and went to a Catholic school in the UK and 99% of us were uncut. I can only ever remember seeing 2 circumcised in my entire school life!

Same in my part of the UK growing up.

 

[D_u356u5]

In the late 1970's the Australian College of Pediatricians reversed previous advice and recommended against automatic circumcision of newborns. As a consequence the rate of circumcision amongst Australians has declined from about 90% post-war to less than 20% now. Mass immigration from non-circumcising countries post-war also contributed to the change in stats. Personally, I prefer cut but that's just 'cos I like the look

 

[B_thickjohnny]

Personally, I prefer cut but that's just 'cos I like the look

I'm with you on this one!

 

[ryan25yo]

Catholic and uncut