Posted on 04/18/2008 6:38:50 PM PDT by kellynla
I can understand why nearly three-quarters of U.S. Catholics say they approve of their new Pope, Benedict XVI. He is a deep thinking Pontiff who, like John Paul II before him, holds fast to refreshingly strong moral convictions. When he said he was ashamed of the existence of pedophile priests and their subsequent abuse of young boys, unlike the scoffers, I believe him.
It’s true that many Catholic leaders, to their disgrace, ignored early reports and initiated a cover-up. If financial retribution can ever repay such betrayal, many archdioceses have been bankrupted by the scandal. The church, however slow, has made attempts to purge themselves of this sexual deviance with one notable—and perhaps fatal—flaw.
“We will rid the church of pedophile priests,” said Pope Benedict on his flight to America. That’s good news except for one thing: the root problem among the priests was homosexuality, not pedophilia. Pedophilia is the attraction by adults to children, both boys and girls and the priest scandals have been, with few exceptions, man to boy.
Man/Boy “Love” has been a staple in homosexual practice since the time of the ancient Greeks, famous for taking young boys as students and bonding with them sexually. Modern gay magazines have regularly advertised for “Chickens,” defined by Bruce Rogers in “Gay-Talk: A Dictionary of Gay Slang” as “any boy under the age of consent … heterosexual … fair of face and unfamiliar with homosexuality.”
Until recently, the North American Man/Boy Love Association (NAMBLA) marched in gay pride parades nationally. But once homosexual activists realized the obstacle this posed to advancing their acceptance, NAMBLA was forced to take a low profile—at least for now.
In his book “Good-bye, Good Men,” author Michael Rose reports that many Catholic seminaries have gradually become conclaves for homosexual men, often leading to the exclusion of the “faithful,” who take seriously the teachings of Scripture on sexual behavior.
It is a disservice to shift the focus of the Catholic Church disgrace to pedophilia in order to soft pedal the larger danger of homosexual behavior to an ever-increasingly, gay-sympathetic public. Denying the correlation of homosexuality and priest-abusers of young boys further enforces the persuasive myth of activists that it is “just another lifestyle.” It will be difficult to oppose the cultural shift AND the homosexual clergy with the truth, but I believe Pope Benedict has the moral fortitude to do it.
The moral law established by our Creator brings clarity. Human sexuality, arguably the most beautiful gift of God to mankind, has been made ugly and perverse by all of us who think we can ignore those standards and practice any kind of sex outside of marriage without restraint.
Sexual perversion destroys lives, undermines civilization and ultimately wounds us all. The problem that unfolded in the Roman Catholic Church has its roots in homosexuality, not pedophilia. It is an important distinction. If Pope Benedict XVI can’t bring moral clarity on this issue to a world rapidly descending into homosexual acceptance, then who can?
ping
Man/Boy “Love” has been a staple in homosexual practice since the time of the ancient Greeks...
Give me a break. This kind of perversion was common in all cultures on all continents. And its prevalence in ancient Greece has been greatly exagerrated. Thankfully the arrival of Christianity enlightened the Greeks, among he first to finally rid themselves of this practice.
If classical Greek literature is any indicator, however, it would seem that ancient Greece had more than it's fair share of acceptance of homosexual behavior.
Of course post-pagan Greece is like anywhere else, though, you must admit they do have some rather unique ideas about men's fashion:
Well NR has a history of attacking Greece..while suporting the Turks. So, I say lay off the Greeks.
About the foustanela...they are great for fighting Turks up in the mountains. Scottish kilts have the same origins. My mom used to make me (and my brothers) wear one at ethnic festivals...and I am a girl!
Benedict has his own house to get in order before he can speak to the world with moral clarity.
back at ya
Early reports, like, in 1960?
My father planned to become a priest, and enrolled in a Catholic seminary. But he lasted only a matter of weeks, because of the bitter, mean, furious, spiteful, and petty men he found in leadership positions there, men representing the polar opposite of what he was raised to understand Christ's earthly servants ought to represent.
Not to mention the evening meeting with one of the teachers or administrators that went like a scene from the movie Airplane.
Needless to say, since I'm here typing this, he decided not to become a priest after all.
“Benedict has his own house to get in order before he can speak to the world with moral clarity?”
And just who do you think you are, newbie, to be telling the pope what he can and/or needs to do.
For the 1001th time, the Church was led to believe by the psychiatric & psychological community that the priests who were guilty of sexual abuse of others could be “cured.” And once it had been determined that they couldn’t be “cured”; they were removed.
The first thing that should be dealt with are the Seminaries. If they are set right in the beginning, the problem will be eliminated.
what a silly ass reply....you are nothing, the Pope is the spiritual leader of ALL christians, whether you like it or not......are you baptized....if so, you are a Catholic....welcome home!!!
Of course this is obvious to most thinking people.
Someone ought to talk about, just for perspective, the rates of pedophilia in the public school system and other institutions for a while, because it's not a "Roman Catholic" problem. It's inexcusable in the Church, and everywhere else. But it's by no means unique to it.
Heard a priest talk the other night about what it was like to be a seminarian in the seventies (He was an Episcopal priest first, converted to Catholicism in the eighties). He went to Yale, his parish was in New Haven. When an elite faction within the Episcopal church began pushing for women "priests" in the '70's, he said, lecturers would show homosexual pornography to students as part of their 'education.'
We haven't heard a peep about the problem of pedophilia in the Episcopal church. And who knows, it may disintegrate before we do. But it's, by all reconings, a fact.
And just what the hell happened to this country in the late '60's? In retrospect, it looks as if some sort of all-out attack was launched from within.
Who's asking, newbie?
Give me a break, the pope is just another pastor, but with a funny hat.
Your misinformation of the Catholic Church and Catholicism is laughable.
I suggest you keep your opinions of the Catholic Church, Catholicism, Catholics and the pope to yourself and let people think you a fool than post them and remove all doubt.
Much of the problems with America's Catholic churches, IMHO, can be traced to Jadot.
“Give me a break, the pope is just another pastor, but with a funny hat.”
Well, you just won my Tagline of the Week Award.
You & Bill Maher have a lot in common.
Keep it for a year. It'll be the smartest thing you've ever posted.
Your misinformation of the Catholic Church and Catholicism is laughable.
I suggest you keep your opinions of the Catholic Church, Catholicism, Catholics and the pope to yourself and let people think you a fool than post them and remove all doubt
(I guess none of that happened, huh? You can have your comment back.)
Oh, Pope Benedict XVI understands this quite well. I believe his pedophilia distinction was made to assuage those who would be highly offended if he singled out homosexual men, and would spend all their time complaining. But, behind the scenes, he's working hard to assist the change of climate at Seminaries, where this problem was rooted.
This newest crop of Bishops, mostly appointed by John Paul II, have been demanding more orthodoxy at the Seminaries to which they send their candidates for ordination, and some are flatly refusing to send them to the institutions with the reputation for pooftery. They are demanding resignations of the boards that held up approval of holy, more orthodox, young men, in favor of men who were openly homosexual, or were what they considered more 'mature' about sex. The Rectors of those institutions are also being changed, in favor of men who won't allow the sinful behavior to continue. Even Wilton Gregory, who did such a lousy job as President of the Bishop's Conference, is refusing to send the candidates from his new Diocese to the closest Seminary, because he wanted stronger priests than the ones that had been coming out of it, before, who had been affected by the attitudes of the liberals in charge there.
Holy (heh) smokes, this one train wrecked early. Usually a Catholic thread goes for at least a few dozen posts before all possibility for reasonable discourse disappears. Good job guys!
Apparently drawing a distinction between priests with homosexual tendencies and those inclined to molest children, the pontiff said: “I would not speak at this moment about homosexuality, but pedophilia, which is another thing. And we would absolutely exclude pedophiles from the sacred ministry.” “Who is guilty of pedophilia cannot be a priest,” he added.Infuriatingly irrelevant. Does this mean that the pope wants to get rid of the rare pedophile priests while leaving in place the non-pedophile, gay pederast priests who perpetrated the vast majority of the abuse? Or could he not be bothered to spend thirty seconds looking up "pedophile" in the dictionary? This is yet another unserious response by the Catholic Church.
This Pope does seem to want to correct and atone for the issue, not just bury it. He did not create the problem and it is obviously not an easy or quick one to deal with.
He has no choice to speak about moral issues in the world, he is the one selected to be in this position right now. If you are a believer, you know he was not selected in a popularity contest. He was chosen by the one who understands all that was and will be.
For whatever reason, and it is not ours to know, God selected him for a specific purpose at this time. Do you think he can just stop preaching because he needs a time out to “get his house in order”?
Unrealistic and not the answer to dealing with the myriad of problems he inherited. Have faith and trust he is working to correct the problem. Pray for all the church and those who may have been injured by rouge elements in the church.
If there are problems believing he is doing all he can to fix the errors of the past while ministering to the current members of the church, take it up with the one who select him. Because the Pope can not simply be unelected or impeached.
This Jadot? I've never heard of him, but I'd like to know more about him, and the corrosive influence he seems to have had on the Church in America.
The fact that Paul VI so strongly defended Jadot makes me question once again the notion of Papal infallibility.
Very well thought out post.
"The fact that Paul VI so strongly defended Jadot makes me question once again the notion of Papal infallibility."
Papal infallibility only applies when the Pope is teaching to the Church on matters of faith and morals. Also, when invoking this infallibility, the Pope announces that he is speaking ex cathedra.
>>For the 1001th time, the Church was led to believe by the psychiatric & psychological community that the priests who were guilty of sexual abuse of others could be “cured.” And once it had been determined that they couldn’t be “cured”; they were removed.<<
Oh that doesn’t matter. Ask some of the Ususal Suspects. They’ll tell you!
Now you can’t go making sense in all of this. JPII and every Bishop in the world, WANTED to watch babies being abused. Because we are all EVIL, evil I tell ya.
/s/
Thank you. That was a fine post and you are a reasonable person.
Spot on!
The three companies that insure the majority of Protestant churches in America say they typically receive upward of 260 reports each year of young people under 18 being sexually abused by clergy, church staff, volunteers or congregation members.Protestant numbers have been harder to come by and are sketchier because the denominations are less centralized than the Catholic church; indeed, many congregations are independent, which makes reporting even more difficult.
Report: Protestant Church Insurers Handle 260 Sex Abuse Cases a Year
Why isn't the media all over this? And what about abuse in the Public Schools?
According to a draft report commissioned by the U.S. Department of Education, in compliance with the 2002 "No Child Left Behind" act signed into law by President Bush, between 6 percent and 10 percent of public school children across the country have been sexually abused or harassed by school employees and teachers.Charol Shakeshaft, the Hofstra University scholar who prepared the report, said the number of abuse cases—which range from unwanted sexual comments to rape—could be much higher.
Sex Abuse by Teachers Said Worse Than Catholic Church
Where's the public outrage?!!! Oh ... that's right ... they media is focused on the Catholic Church. They are the villains! They are the evil ones! (/sarcasm)
As Catholics, we are used to persecution. It began when a Jew stoned a man named Stephen to death 2000 years ago. The one certainty we do have is that the Church will survive and endure until the end of time. We have our Lord's promise!
Here's another resource:
Sexual Abuse of Children by Protestant Ministers
Jesus Christ reminded us to remove the beam from our own eyes before attempting to remove the splinter from our neighbor's.
I think that ceremonial style runs all the way through the balkans and into rural Romania, Hungary and Poland, with variation. I wore a kilt at my daughter’s wedding.
The Church also filtered out men who were intolerant of sodomy and sin, in the same time period. This led to the Bernardinification of the American Church hierarchy.
You’re evidently a very angry person. What has been done to you? How can we help?
Benedict does not “claim” to be the vicar of Christ. He was elected, in the traditional way. It’s an office that CAN trace its roots back to the apostles, and has survived heresy and schism. It appeals to the most moral and traditional Christians, those devout in Asia, Latin America and Africa, where the price of devotion can still be death.
Omniscience however is not a perk of the office, nor is perfection.
Even as God works with and through nature, the Pope has to use canon law and the bureaucracy.
Did you get your talking points from Bill Maher?
Do you get yours from Torquemada?
“remove the wicked man from among yourselves”
So are you leaving or do you need to be removed?
In.ane (In an’), adj. 1. lacking sense or ideas; silly: inane questions.
big’ol-freeper = inane.
My understanding is that Jadot changed the interview/admission process from one where senior priests would interview candidates, to one where they were first screened by psychiatrists, who were not necessarily Catholic, and if they were too “judgmental” or saw things in black and white, they would be discouraged from continuing.
hilarious, you
thats why the whole world attends the funeral of a pope and its broadcast around the globe live and the whole world awaits the election of the new pope
whatever
i bet you wonder what it is like to know that the whole world, by its actions, knows that your pastor it the real deal
thats what catholics experience
Nope. Both my Pastor and I try to avoid worldliness. You appear to enjoy wallowing in it and worshiping idols.
The world loves the pope because the world thirsts for the gospel that the pope constantly speaks wherever he goes with great clarity.
The popes represent the last bulwark against the dictatorship of relativism and the tyranny of secularism.
Why you would pretend its not true speaks volumes about you.
If you are baptised, then the pope is the chief shepherd God has given to you. Yet you resist because you would rather elect your Pastor as your pope. To each his own, but how sad for you.
And 500 years of mass murder and torture. A real great bunch of guys.
I was highly suspicious of Abp. Gregory because of his prior position . . . but it may just be the USCCB that was toxic, not he. And what is only half-jokingly called the "Irish Mafia" in this archdiocese takes no prisoners on matters of orthodoxy and particularly on the question of homosexual priests. The three predatory homosexual offenders in the 70s (who were unmasked in the 80s) got the ecclesiastical equivalent of a short rope and a long drop here. I think the archbishop figured that out pretty quickly.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.