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But this pragmatic approach foundered on the increased sexual acting out which began in the 1950s. Tens of thousands of straight priests got married-and in what in retrospect was a very bad call, were expelled from the priesthood and shunned.
This left behind a larger proportion of gay men-not in itself a bad thing, but in a culture of secrecy and increased sexual acting out, a formula for scandal.
I agree gay men are no more likely to molest children-if there are any gay priests abusing six year olds, I bet you can count them on the fingers of one hand.
Teenage boys-that's another matter. I suspect that sexual interest in teenage boys, and attraction to them, is foundational for gay men-and that's the reason the "scandal" in so many dioceses won't go away. Notice in the quote from Sipe, ''over twice as many priests are involved with adult women as with boys.'' Yes, I'm sure that's true-but "involvement" with adult women is the fulfillment of Creation, and involvement with boys is a felony. This false comparison lies at the root of why the Church is having such a struggle with this issue.
Maybe married priests aren't a good idea-but they would certainly be an improvement on the status quo.
So be it.
It can't do as much damage to the church as continuing to ignore the problem of priests abusing their position, and their people. Crack down on all of them, homo and hetero alike.
This is a primary reason why I am of the protestant persuasion. I personally have been involved in the explusion of two pastors from their position for sexual offenses. One homo and one hetero. We were able to ensure that both of them got help, and that neither of them returned to such a sensitive position again.
It's Not About Celibacy
by Deal Hudson, Editor of Crisis Magazine
The recent pedophile problems in various U.S. Catholic dioceses, especially Boston, have led - predictably - to a new wave of questions about priestly celibacy. Let us be clear: There is no relation between the vow of priestly celibacy and the incidence of pedophilia among Catholic priests.
How do I know this? There is less likelihood that a Catholic priest will be a pedophile (0.3 %) than a married man.
This statistic comes from the best and most current study of this issue, Pedophiles and Priests by Philip Jenkins (Oxford University Press, 1996). Jenkins shows that true pedophilia, that is, sexual contact between an adult and pre-pubescent child, is very rare in the Catholic priesthood.
Jenkins also explains how the media artificially exaggerates these numbers in their reporting. One U.S. Cardinal told me recently that many of the reported incidents of "child abuse" are actually complaints going back many years about the forms of corporal punishments administered by clergy in days-gone-by. Data about actual sexual contact and routine spanking or paddling are being thrown together.
The whole argument against a celibate, male clergy based on the pedophilia problem is, at best, impressionistic and, at worse, totally disingenuous.
Catholic dissidents who advocate married clergy and women priests are trying to take full advantage of this present situation. Never once do they mention that if a priest is faithful to his vows sexual relations of any kind will simply never occur. Just how allowing clergy to marry, presumably members of the opposite sex, will reduce pedophilia, is never explained.
The media is scrutinizing the Catholic Church on this issue in a way they have never looked at other institutional leaders, such as public elementary schools teachers, for example. The mere fact that the statistical incidence of pedophilia is the less than married men with children should give the media pause, but it does not and will not.
I can't think of a single mainstream media outlet, with the possible exception of Fox News, that does not demonstrate a consistent bias against the Catholic Church. This is not to point a finger at every reporter and editor, but to underline the constant tone and drift of their reporting.
Why, for example, would MSNBC spend an evening inviting people to call in and vote on whether Catholic priests should be allowed to marry? Would MSNBC do a poll on whether Jews should be allowed to eat pork on their holy days?
As Bill Donohue of the Catholic League has shown for years, the media has no fear of offending Catholics because Catholics evidently don't care if their faith is put up for a vote.
A statistical defense of the Catholic clergy, however, is not enough to address the present crisis. There must be serious rethinking of how to identify potential pedophiles before they enter the priesthood, and how to deal with them once an incident occurs. It is clear such a priest can never again to be assigned to duties that put children at risk.
The Church will get its house in order without the help of those who want to knock it down and start again.
This would be a more compelling argument if we based our moral decisions on prevailing traditions. I don't think that's the way that most serious Christians look at the issue, though.
Colossians 2:8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.
Mark 7:9 And [Jesus] said to them: "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!"
1) ...declared this weekend that gay men should not be ordained as priests.
Leave it to the Boston Globe to make such a pedantic statement and then label it a 'declaration'. A firm grasp on the obvious is a talent just outside the grasp of the Boston Globe. There are quite a few passages in Scripture which describe who will NOT inherit the Kingdom of God and homosexuality is on the list, so nothing new here.
2) The comments ... were made at a time when a growing body of research suggests that a large proportion of Catholic priests are gay, and scholars who study sexuality and the priesthood said any effort to bar them would lead to a dramatic reduction in the number of priests in the United States.
I'm sorry, but I really don't have much respect for people who dedicate their lives to researching homosexuality in the clergy. This dedication smacks of perhaps,...ulterior motives? ...to be tactful about a gross exageration of their 'research' ability. How does that read again?..."Scholars who study sexuality and the preisthood"??????
They've gotta be right up there with world league chefs making culinary creations of peanut butter, hardball candy in plastic wrappers and mayonaise,...sorry,....the category is so absurd as to demolish any credibility of the author or the Globe.
''If they were to eliminate all those who were homosexually oriented, the number would be so staggering that it would be like an atomic bomb; it would do the same damage to the church's operation,'' said A. W. Richard Sipe, a former priest and psychotherapist. Sipe has been studying the sexuality of priests for 25 years and has written three books on the subject.
Sipe is a pervert. No need to study this. Excommunication is intuitively obvious as a more fruitful endeavor. BTW, If things are that bad, then great, get it over with and lets move on.
Precisely right! And seemingly obvious. The gay subculture, in fact, celebrates a kind of perpetual adolescence. (Oscar Wilde's Portrait of Dorian Gray comes to mind.) But this evident truth can't even be mentioned in the PC media. Hence, we have all these ex-priests and other "experts" pontificating about gays and pedophilia without offering any other possible explanation for the prevalence of the problem among Catholic priests. And these are the people who call the Vatican dishonest!
Statements like this fly in the face of reality. There have been NO reports in the latest revelations about Cardinal Laws flock of young girls being molested.
It is PC at its worst and Mr Clohessy, who purports to represent victims of priests, should wake the hell up.
The current rash of problems, in the Boston archdiocese, are because of this type of felonius perversion.
Riordan, who abused over 80 male children, on the other hand,was also married but The root of his problem is Homosexual Pedophilia.
His Pastor, it later turned out was a Homosexual, who had his trysts in the rectory and turned a blind eye to Riordans abuses.
There is no way that any of these types of lifestyles can exist within a Holy Church .
Cardinal Law has really stepped in it this time,See Ya' Bernie.Yesterday a victim(Stephen Lynch)Made his case to Card. Law during mass in a calm manner,and was arrested by the police.
It is outrageous that a catholic can be arrested for speaking out in church.
...from being molested, it's worth it.
Isn't that what the liberals always say when they restrict the gun rights of law-abiding gun owners? "If it saves just one child...," then it doesn't matter who's rights are violated. I'll bet they sing a different tune for their beloved homosexual deviants!
Two! Count 'em, two axes to grind!
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The homosexuals in the church are killing it. The cancer must be cut out now.
If you want to see the dirt www.rcf.org