I would hope so too, but a few nights ago on Catholic radio (EWTN), a caller phoned in with a question about how many seminarians are gay and the priest answering questions had to admit to 25-50%. So those are the church's own figures.
I knew a couple of gay priests in San Francisco. They had no love of God and certainly none for the Church, but found their life as priests "easy." "Where else would I have so much time off?" One of the priests I knew was HIV positive--the other was his lover. Beyond words!
So the church has become an unofficial hangout for gays. Probably a successful target of those pushing the gay agenda. They need to be excised before they bring the whole thing down--which is probably their intention in the first place.
In years past, I believe that some gays became priests for the right reasons and did not have sex. This wouldn't bother me any more than a straight priest with a strong attraction to women giving it up and staying celibate. But today, the gay thing is so massively disordered and destructive that even a celibate gay priest, if any, should probably get the boot.
I've known only one FORMER priest in the Orthodox church who was gay. He planned on becoming a monk. Now even as a monk, I still have mixed feeling if he should be in. Granted he wouldn't have much contact with the people but only if he can surpress those devil sent feelings and not act on them.
You're not serious, are you? "The priest answering questions" (whose qualifications in sociometrics or whatever they are call it are --? ) pinpoints it at "25-50%", which you conclude represent "the church's own figures."
Estimates on this have been all over the place (Most -- but not all -- do fall within 25-50%). My own guess would be that the percentage varies widely among various dioceses/orders, and people giving estimates discuss those they're acquainted with. If anyone had any reliable figures (which they don't), the estimates couldn't possibly vary as much as they do.
I agree. There has been a massive change in how society deals with the issue of being homosexual. It used to be a hush hush, even when I was a kid in the 60s. Now almost every sexual path you want to discover is open and approved of by at least someone in the media! As for booting out priests who do not advertise themselves as having a sexual orientation would be difficult and I think, not a good idea. A priest who is celebate and gives no indication of his orientation, meaning - he lives a chaste celebate life and is a good priest who does not give scandal to others in what he preaches, teaches or writes is not who should be booted out the door. That would indeed be the classic definition of a "witchhunt."
But, those who practice their sexual orientation or who look the other way to protect their friends or who teach seminarians that unless you experiment with sex before becoming a priest yada..yada..yada... you get the idea, should be disciplined, removed, etc.