Bishops' refusal to even suggest homosexuality played any part in the sexual abuse

[BibleReader]

I wrote, ** Homosexual promiscuity in the Catholic clergy has GOT to be stomped-out. Nastily.**

rpstpa:

that is very christian of you bible reader…

Well, the charitable approach not only didn’t work, but homosexual assaults on young people, almost all male, boomed because of the bishops’ charity.

Maybe we have to follow Christ’s example now…

15 He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen, and spilled the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables, 16 and to those who sold doves he said, “Take these out of here, and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.” John 2:15-16.

Perhaps the Sacred Author should have had Christ say, “Take these out of here, and stop making my Father’s house a brothel for homosexuals preying on young people!”

Do you think He would have felt the same about America’s 50,000 cases of sex abuse by Catholic priests?

This post is brutal medicine, but maybe we need to force ourselves to read it.

 

[estesbob]

pedophilia is far more insideous than simple homosexuality. both men and woman perpetrate this evil on children, male and female. it is about power, control, and degradation. focusing only on the sexual aspect of this crime means that we are failing to deal with the entire issue. (again just my opinion.)

There was almost NO pediophilia invoved in the sexual abuse cases. The MM bandied about the term pediophilia becuase to lay the blame where it should,the Church’s tolerance of homosexual priests,could possibly put homosexual behavior in a bad light-an absolute NO NO in today’s culture

 

[estesbob]

Nan S:

Has anyone else been required to take the course “Protecting God’s Children”? In the dioceses of Shreveport and Alexandria, LA, we were all required to complete the course before being allowed to work with children in any way.

The course teaches that men and women from any background can be sexual predators, and gives key indicators to watch for.

I had the nerve to make the observation that while Protestant churches are most frequently plagued by heterosexual abuse, the recent Catholic church scandals are homosexual in origin. The instructor told us she was not in a position to discuss that, and quickly changed the subject. So much for honesty.

I am taking it Monady night.I HAVE to take it or I wont be allowed to be a Lector anymore. I had a short discussion woth my Pastor along the lines of "let me get this straight-the American Catholic Bishops allowed an inlfux of homosexual Priests into the Priesthood in the 60s and early 70s then they covered up the sexual abuses by the Priests and the solution is I have to spend 3 hours being made sensitive towards this issue? I am going becuase i believe in obedience to the Church but i am not happy about it.

 

[iserve]

Good answer because no matter what, we can’t let these folks take away the Church we love. Everyone needs to stay involved and to shout it from the rooftops if they see any clergy abuse.

Trouble is, people enabled these men to get away with it. Here in Boston, everyone knew about Shanley and Goeghan, but the silence was what kept it going. Other priests used to say something to one another, but then concluded, “there’s no one who will handle it”. This is still happening in some situations, because no one wants to be the one who shines the light. The best thing of all would be to shine the light on a process for reporting suspicious behavior, and a promise of a follow up. Another would be to demand a statement from bishops and or Rome as to what the process for these priests will be. But for those two, all the other hundred or so priests from here have just fallen off the face of the earth. No one knows where they are or what they are doing.

Does this seem like transparency to you? If they were once preying on parishioners and teenaged boys, where are they now, and are they still able to do this? Are they registered sex offenders (not that I know of)? Can you ask a dicoese about the record of a priest with regard to this issue? There are a number of “floaters” out here with no pasts,and who have wandered all over to boot, why? The Church is still shifting troublesome ( not necessarily sexually so) priests around and it is high time they were made a lot more accountable.

 

[carol_marie]

But what I don’t understand is why did the Priests go after boys (ok - so they were teenagers - but still… they were boys.) If it was a homosexual thing why not just find a gay partner - online or in a gay bar or wherever??? It seems to me that maybe homosexuality played a part but it wasn’t the main cause? (or was it??) I’m wondering how many priests who are gay remain celebate - never abusing anyone?

 

[Gilbert_Keith]

BIBLEREADER

*15 He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen, and spilled the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables, 16 and to those who sold doves he said, “Take these out of here, and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.” John 2:15-16.
*

So far as the subject of this thread is concerned, you could have found more vitriolic words from the mouth of Jesus: Matthew 18:6

 

[BibleReader]

Gilbert Keith:

BIBLEREADER

15 He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen, and spilled the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables, 16 and to those who sold doves he said, "Take these out of here, and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace." John 2:15-16.

So far as the subject of this thread is concerned, you could have found more vitriolic words from the mouth of Jesus: Matthew 18:6

The more vitriolic, the better. These guys are annihilating the Church’s future. When a son who I hoped would be interested in the priesthood heard about the priest cases, and guessed (correctly) that the seminaries are no better run, he lost interest. I suspect that tens of thousands of candidates for the priesthood have come to the same crossroads, and declined to serve. So, not only do most of these homosexual sex abusers raid God’s till to buy gifts for, and make pay-offs to, their youthful victims, who by-and-large drop their pants willingly, but they “borrow from our future” for their homosexual-style sexual pleasure, by killing ouyr future for the sake of that sexual pleasure.

 

[BibleReader]

One acquaintance in a seminary in New York stated that he quit the seminary, shortly after joining, when he complained to the Dean that two of the seminarians in front of him were fondling each other’s buittocks in Mass, laughing as they did. Instead of stopping the homosexual groping, the Dean told the acquaintance that “maybe you aren’t cut out for the priesthood.” !!!]

 

[carol_marie]

BibleReader:

The more vitriolic, the better. These guys are annihilating the Church’s future. When a son who I hoped would be interested in the priesthood heard about the priest cases, and guessed (correctly) that the seminaries are no better run, he lost interest. I suspect that tens of thousands of candidates for the priesthood have come to the same crossroads, and declined to serve. So, not only do most of these homosexual sex abusers raid God’s till to buy gifts for, and make pay-offs to, their youthful victims, who by-and-large drop their pants willingly, but they “borrow from our future” for their homosexual-style sexual pleasure, by killing ouyr future for the sake of that sexual pleasure.

How in the world do you know that the “youthful victims” were willing participants?

 

[jjwilkman]

JustSomeGuy:

wow, we have to remember that there is forgiveness of sins. while i’ll always agree that any kind of sex with children is a deeply evil act, i’ll also always insist that we never raise the civil law above the Divine Truth revealed to us by Jesus Christ.

none of these men should go unpunished or given the opportunity to do it again. also, none of the men should be persecuted for theirs sins. the civil law is driven by principles which are more and more decidedly divorced from principles instilled in us by God. as difficult and confusing as it may be, our standard must always be Christ and the Cross. the evil they did already betrayed the trust Jesus put in them. let’s not do the same.

i have read a lot the material on the rcf website. they seem to have helped expose men who should not wear the collar because of what they are doing. but that guy also slings mud pretty violently on anyone he thinks deserves it, including the bishops. defaming the Church by saying that they’re all probably a bunch of homosexuals is a sin IMO and degrades Christ also.

pedophilia is far more insideous than simple homosexuality. both men and woman perpetrate this evil on children, male and female. it is about power, control, and degradation. focusing only on the sexual aspect of this crime means that we are failing to deal with the entire issue. (again just my opinion.)

sex with children is a serious felony. prison time and more. why should a religious be exempt???
seems to me a bishop has an obligation to report the crime.
my opinion

 

[iserve]

Very few of these men have been prosecuted because of the statute of limitations, even when they admitted to doing the act. The huge problem is…where are they now? In Boston, many priests were named, quite a few I know admitted abusing altar boys or students in their schools, but they all just fell off the face of the earth after doing so. Unless the case was adjudicated by the civil authorities, it went back underground, where these guys could have been removed, but allowed to move into any neighborhood without even having to register as a sex offender. Some are likely still priests or retired preists.

The unfairness of this is clear when everyone else, even those who already did time (I know one guy who paid with 25 years in jail) have to announce themselves as sex offenders in their neighborhoods. But not *these *sex offenders, who get to hide under the universal cloak of the Catholic Church. Most of the sex offenders I met when I was doing prison ministry were disturbed people from bad situations. These priests were priveleged, trusted and honored by parishioners whose respect for their office gave them many freedoms. That they uprooted that trust, difiling not only the children, but the priesthood and the Catholic people, is cause for punishment. I believe in forgiveness, sure, but I also think they should be treated at least as harshly as the poor slob who got caught before the “limitation” ran out.

Please,I think the suffering people in the Archdiocese of Boston desreve to know where is every one of these men, and what is the status of them in Church and society? Justice demands it.