Homosexuality in the priesthood

[Cicada_3301]

Hi everyone. I just want to know if anyone has any theories as to why there are so many homosexual predators and/or pedophiles in the Church? I mean, it appears that there are so many that I could never fully trust a priest or bishop ever again, no matter how holy he seems.

My theory as to why there are so many homosexuals in the priesthood is this:
Back in the day, young men were either expected to marry young and start families or join the priesthood. If you were single, people would begin to ask questions as to why you weren’t interested in girls. The gay men, not wanting to be discovered, had to make a choice: either get married and have a loveless marriage, or join the priesthood so no one suspects you are gay. You would then have vocations directors at seminaries approach and ask them if they wanted to be a priest. My reasoning behind this assumption is that gay man can tell if another man is gay. Anyways, they would then introduce the guy to other priests and seminarians who were gay, a sort of ‘brotherhood’ or inner circle at the seminary. Now, if you were an active homosexual, this sounds like a sweet deal, right? You would have access to gay sex almost whenever you want, day or night, and no one outside your circle would be any wiser. So you decide to join. And everything goes down hill after that. You know what happens next.

Anyways, that is just my opinion. What’s yours?
Disclaimer: I do not hate gay people and do not mean to offend anyone.

 

[1Lord1Faith]

The gay sex party theory really doesn’t hold water. I’ll try to briefly explain why. While there may have been a small handful of “party” priests joining in 70’s and 80’s, that wasn’t the norm at all for why some gay men ended up in seminary.

Most of the abuse cases are from the 50’s or 60’s well before it was acceptable to be gay. It’s more likely, and attested to, that a male who felt no desire to marry a woman may be more drawn to seminary as a viable option. Since homosexuality was not talked about back then, men may not have been fully aware of their own sexuality. They just weren’t drawn to marriage.

The question I have is how long abuse has been a problem in the Church. We usually only hear about going back to the 1950’s or so, but it surely was around before then.

 

[puer.dei]

I could never fully trust a priest or bishop ever again, no matter how holy he seems.

You need to read some of the actual studies, so you won’t over-react like this.

Most of the abuse cases are from the 50’s or 60’s well before it was acceptable to be gay.

 

[Irishmom2]

Now, if you were an active homosexual, this sounds like a sweet deal, right? You would have access to gay sex almost whenever you want, day or night, and no one outside your circle would be any wiser.

If someone was an active homosexual they wouldn’t need the priesthood to have access or to keep it a secret. Closeted homosexuals have been around a long time and had still been able to find one another.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

Hi everyone. I just want to know if anyone has any theories as to why there are so many homosexual predators and/or pedophiles in the Church?

There’s approximately the same percentage, or even slightly less percentage, of such people in the clergy as there are in every other profession out there. The difference is that pedophiles in other professions, including school teachers, police officers, doctors and lawyers, often do not make the news. Also, a significant number of clergy pedophiles are not homosexual. Most of the recent cases I’ve heard about in the last 10 years have involved young girls.

 

[Inbonum]

I just want to know if anyone has any theories as to why there are so many homosexual predators and/or pedophiles in the Church?

Well I think that’s a very biased conclusion. This is the common opinion of many left-wing and anti-Church people that the Church is full of pedophiles. Pedophiles are not “just” in the Church, nor are homosexuals. How many pedophiles are outside the Church? How many gays? That is of course not mentioned. Unfortunately.
I can see that you provide no evidence for your statements so please give some.

The only hard data that has been made public by any denomination comes from John Jay College’s study of Catholic priests, which was authorized and is being paid for by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops following the public outcry over the 2002 scandals. Limiting their study to plausible accusations made between 1950 and 1992, John Jay researchers reported that about 4 percent of the 110,000 priests active during those years had been accused of sexual misconduct involving children. Specifically, 4,392 complaints (ranging from “sexual talk” to rape) were made against priests by 10,667 victims. (Reports made after 2002, including those of incidents that occurred years earlier, are released as part of the church’s (annual audits) (http://www.usccb.org/comm/archives/2010/10-052.shtml).)

No formal comparative study has ever broken down child sexual abuse by denomination, and only the Catholic Church has released detailed data about its own. But based on the and conducted by different denominations over the past 30 years, experts who study child abuse say they see little reason to conclude that sexual abuse is mostly a Catholic issue. “We don’t see the Catholic Church as a hotbed of this or a place that has a bigger problem than anyone else,” said Ernie Allen, president of the [National Center for Missing and Exploited Children]. “I can tell you without hesitation that we have seen cases in many religious settings, from traveling evangelists to mainstream ministers to rabbis and others.”

https://www.newsweek.com/priests-commit-no-more-abuse-other-males-70625

Yes pedophiles are general problem in population but accusations as part of your opinion aren’t truthful at all.
This is one good article
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/2010-06-07-column07_ST_N.htm

If you are in Church because of people then you will probably leave it because of people.