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I don’t believe homosexuals should be clergy of any stripe. It is a sin and contrary to natural law as your own doctrine which was just illustrated to me says. I believe it is supposed to be impossible for a known homosexual to be clergy(?)

The surveys I have seen estimate that Catholic clergy is up from 20 to 50% homosexual in the US....those who answer surveys....which is anyone’s guess but I would bet low.

Those who abetted them should resign as well......all the way to the top.

It’s simply not acceptable for any church to dance around such scandal for so long....even in this latest settlement which unfortunately the lawyers get 40%, the church fought as hard as they could to seal records.

That is simply wrong. Let the sun shine on child molesters.

I know there are high ranking clergy there who have fought for a hard line on this but they still don’t even acknowledge this as a homosexual problem at it’s core. The church is kind of caught between admitting it’s a homosexual problem and then having to admit they have a lot of homosexuals. Not easy to fix in short order admittedly. Think thousands of Jimmy Swaggarts in the Pentecostal community...

I blame the nature of homosexuality for the core of this....but some in the church hierarchy sinned demonstrably covering this up or treating it like a sin-forgiveness issue rather than a crime.

Good luck......this scandal has done far more harm already to Christians everywhere and has tainted the reputations of all priests for more generations than I care to consider.

It gives our enemies a lot of “I told you so” power for years to come.

Would I leave my little boys alone with a priest? I’d be wary admittedly but before I would have thought it safe.

There are other groups that raise eyebrows too.... adult child counselors at my protestant church or camps...one always wonders why someone...usually a male wishes to be around little boys so much...most are well intentioned but when they are not then there you are and it’s too late.

Homosexuals have no place in moral authority or with male children especially early teen boys alone...

I agree with most of what you say. My differences would be that the percentage of homopervs in the priesthood is estimated more reliably at 2% or so, that many bishops are even MORE responsible than you apparently imagine (particularly those appointed at the recommendation of the truly evil Belgian Archbishop Jadot who served as papal nuncio to the US under Paul VI and for some time under John Paul II and used that position to lavenderize and liberalize the United States Catholic hierarchy. Not all enabling bishops are themselves lavenders. Some are simply knowing enablers. Others: "You ignore my sins and I'll ignore yours."

Those of us who track bishop's appointments from the Vatican have great cause for hope now that the Vatican is apparently determined to purge the AmChurch bishops by attrition. It is important to distinguish the various items of political conservatism from the various items of Catholic religious conservatism. Whileissues of social copnservatism having to do with abortion and marriageand opposition to lavender political agendas are common to both, this recent business of raging to close the Mexican border hermetically is not common to both. I have heard the number of 40% to represent the percentage of US Catholics who are Hispanic. In two of the three parishes here in NW Illinois where I attend Mass, I have seen three weekly bulletins each listing eight children baptized and every one was Hispanic surnamed. Whether or not their parents are citizens, I do not know. The third parish does not list baptized children in its buletin and is likely to have a higher percentage of non-Hispanics. Nonetheless, the leaders of the Church can hardly be expected to turn away those who are our most frequent parents.

There are other matters where Catholic leaders will differ from the conservative political leadership. Some are addicted to peace as though it were doctrinal. Some to the welfare state as though it were doctrinal (this is changing slowly but changing). Our recently appointed bishops tend to be much more politically conservative and dedicated to opposing abortion and sexual perversion than their predecessors. The more widespread availability of the old Tridentine Mass is a marker that the Church here will also be moving (however slowly) in the right direction.

We rank and file Catholics are not perfect and do not claim to be. If we can be good and dependable allies of other religious conservatives on religious matters then we have done what we should do politically. We need to purge this Catholic Church in the US of its elderly radicals, diocese by diocese, seminary by seminary, parish by parish, school by school. Pray for our success.

Meanwhile, may God bless you and yours.