L
LateCatholic
Guest
I’ll try to be as gentle as possible here. There’s been a lot of opinions in the conservative media and especially in homilies recently on how the problem with the sex abuse scandal is all about the “homosexual agenda”. Using the recent Pennsylvania report, the point being made goes something like this:
81% of the 1000 incident victims were males that had either begun or had reached puberty. In other words, the victims were mostly young, teenage boys being attacked by older males. Only 3% were against actual children (age 10 or younger) and only 16% were against females.
Therefore, the problem really is the homosexuals and their agenda.
This line of reasoning is so disgusting and repulsive that I have to speak up. Consider:
It is estimated that the actual number of abuse claims is 3x that reported. That means, of the ~3000 rapes/assaults committed by Pennsylvania priests:
500 times, a young girl was either raped or sexually assaulted by a male priest.
90 times a child under the age of 11 was raped or sexually assaulted by a male priest.
and yes, 2500 times a pre-teen or teenage boy was raped or sexually assaulted by a male priest.
How is this a “homosexual” problem? Certainly the 81% statistic is noteworthy, but it is estimated that 35%-50% of priests ARE homosexual anyway. Further, male priests are always around other males. Clearly, for male priests, opportunities to abuse girls are far less common than those to abuse a male. It seems to me similar to the well-known statistic that most shark attacks occur close to shore. Well, most people swim close to shore. It doesn’t mean anything. Pointing to the 81% statistic as significant seems disingenuous and attempt at deflection.
This is not about any “gay agenda”. Homosexuality is not the problem here.
It’s about power and cover-up. It’s about the male-dominant hierarchy refusing to address the problem and hiding it. I don’t care if the child victims were male or female. And I don’t think it’s any less disgusting that most of the victims were teens instead of “children”. Stop deflecting. Stop minimizing. Address this scandal head on so that it never happens again.
Stop using it as an excuse to attack those trying to reform the Church.
Personally, I do not care about changing the Church’s position of homosexuality. I support gay rights, but on a secular level. If the Church wants to teach against homosexuality - fine.
But to minimize the depravity of what has happened, and been covered up, by the priesthood simply because most of the abuse was ‘supposedly’ committed by gay men is the ultimate in cowardice and further hurts the victims of this scandal. Conservatives pushing this line of reasoning should be ashamed.
81% of the 1000 incident victims were males that had either begun or had reached puberty. In other words, the victims were mostly young, teenage boys being attacked by older males. Only 3% were against actual children (age 10 or younger) and only 16% were against females.
Therefore, the problem really is the homosexuals and their agenda.
This line of reasoning is so disgusting and repulsive that I have to speak up. Consider:
It is estimated that the actual number of abuse claims is 3x that reported. That means, of the ~3000 rapes/assaults committed by Pennsylvania priests:
500 times, a young girl was either raped or sexually assaulted by a male priest.
90 times a child under the age of 11 was raped or sexually assaulted by a male priest.
and yes, 2500 times a pre-teen or teenage boy was raped or sexually assaulted by a male priest.
How is this a “homosexual” problem? Certainly the 81% statistic is noteworthy, but it is estimated that 35%-50% of priests ARE homosexual anyway. Further, male priests are always around other males. Clearly, for male priests, opportunities to abuse girls are far less common than those to abuse a male. It seems to me similar to the well-known statistic that most shark attacks occur close to shore. Well, most people swim close to shore. It doesn’t mean anything. Pointing to the 81% statistic as significant seems disingenuous and attempt at deflection.
This is not about any “gay agenda”. Homosexuality is not the problem here.
It’s about power and cover-up. It’s about the male-dominant hierarchy refusing to address the problem and hiding it. I don’t care if the child victims were male or female. And I don’t think it’s any less disgusting that most of the victims were teens instead of “children”. Stop deflecting. Stop minimizing. Address this scandal head on so that it never happens again.
Stop using it as an excuse to attack those trying to reform the Church.
Personally, I do not care about changing the Church’s position of homosexuality. I support gay rights, but on a secular level. If the Church wants to teach against homosexuality - fine.
But to minimize the depravity of what has happened, and been covered up, by the priesthood simply because most of the abuse was ‘supposedly’ committed by gay men is the ultimate in cowardice and further hurts the victims of this scandal. Conservatives pushing this line of reasoning should be ashamed.
