The clergy abuse scandal: homosexuality or pedophilia?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Michael_T
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
Priests who struggle with homosexual attractions are not the problem. Priests who struggle with homosexual attractions and act on them- breaking their priestly vows- are the problem. Priests who’s relationship with God, and fidelity to the Church (a priest is married to the Church) is not as strong as it should be for a priest.
 
Lisa N:
K2 since you seem to enjoy twisting what people say I won’t bother to respond to your latest. Again will you answer the question posed on the thread or not?

Lisa N
Good to have k2 back, eh?? Alot more interesting at least. 😃

Those in power (clergy) conned their subordinates (whether by age or organizational), minors in to sexual contact (statutory rape, by lawful definition, regardless of “consent”). And they conned them into homosexual acts (which, if you are a faithful Catholic, think such acts are a MAJOR sexual abuse).
 
40.png
katherine2:
You might deny it, but the church has been very clear in owning up to its responsibility to protect children in care of any person responsible to the church – priests, decaons, religious, laity.
This is MAJORLY MISLEADING. They are only interested in priestly/religious SEX abuse. All other types of abuse are not as important. Unless its is sexual, their departments are really useless.
 
40.png
katherine2:
You ask for a response to the inquiry regarding homosexual vs pedophiles. I do have an opinion. I am more concerned about sexual abuse of children by adults than I am of sexual activity between persons of the same sex.

You might deny it, but the church has been very clear in owning up to its responsibility to protect children in care of any person responsible to the church – priests, decaons, religious, laity.

Of the people the church has a responsbility to monitor, it has been men who have been the disproportionate abusers. There has been almost a total lack of reports of child abuse by women.
I know of a guy who was sexually abused by a homosexual male when he was 6 or 7 years old… It does happen.

Peace
 
40.png
jlw:
Good to have k2 back, eh?? Alot more interesting at least. 😃

Those in power (clergy) conned their subordinates (whether by age or organizational), minors in to sexual contact (statutory rape, by lawful definition, regardless of “consent”). And they conned them into homosexual acts (which, if you are a faithful Catholic, think such acts are a MAJOR sexual abuse).
It just dawned on my though, that given this problem occurred throughout the country, apparently in other countries as well, it had to be somehow cultural rather than a small aberrant group in a particular diocese. I understand the Church is spending a million dollars trying to find the source of the scandal. Since the behavior spiked at a particular time, it had to reflect the kind of men who were coming out of the seminaries then.

The whole thing becomes more unbelievable the longer I think about it. What would possess men who were called to the priesthood to (as you said) engage in an abomination, made even more abominable by the preying upon young innocent boys? How did they start down this road? I just do NOT get it.

Lisa N
 
Since the behavior spiked at a particular time, it had to reflect the kind of men who were coming out of the seminaries then.
And the kind of catechesis in seminaries as well.
What would possess men who were called to the priesthood to (as you said) engage in an abomination, made even more abominable by the preying upon young innocent boys? How did they start down this road? I just do NOT get it.
My theory is that these men (with homosexual desires) wanted to a) serve and protect the weak and downtrodden not necessarily Him(Christ and THE Church, ALL His comandments, not just “to love”), b) escape their sexualized lifestyle by being “held” to a promise of celibacy,(which they tried, but couldn’t keep) or c) what better place to help the weak and disenfranchased and continue gay sex but in an all-male fraternity???
 
40.png
jlw:
And the kind of catechesis in seminaries as well. My theory is that these men (with homosexual desires) wanted to a) serve and protect the weak and downtrodden not necessarily Him(Christ and THE Church, ALL His comandments, not just “to love”), b) escape their sexualized lifestyle by being “held” to a promise of celibacy,(which they tried, but couldn’t keep) or c) what better place to help the weak and disenfranchased and continue gay sex but in an all-male fraternity???
Yes, all this and heaven too! You are right, what better environment for a homosexual male to aovid those “when is a nice boy like you getting married?” questions. Plus all the fancy clothes, the ceremonial aspects and the admiration had to be appealing.

I also think that when there was an outflow of heterosexual priests in the 60s, it simply allowed the homosexual community to thrive in secret. While many probably had intentions of remaining celibate and chaste, clearly so many broke these vows. AND some of the real sickos becoming serial predators. There is an expriest in this diocese who actually is so looney he blames the young men for ‘coming on to me.’ I think not only were they poorly catechized, seminarians weren’t carefully selected in the first place. You have to imagine that some of these men were a few bricks short of a union load from day one.

Lisa N
 
Lisa N:
It just dawned on my though, that given this problem occurred throughout the country, apparently in other countries as well, it had to be somehow cultural rather than a small aberrant group in a particular diocese. I understand the Church is spending a million dollars trying to find the source of the scandal. Since the behavior spiked at a particular time, it had to reflect the kind of men who were coming out of the seminaries then.

The whole thing becomes more unbelievable the longer I think about it. What would possess men who were called to the priesthood to (as you said) engage in an abomination, made even more abominable by the preying upon young innocent boys? How did they start down this road? I just do NOT get it.

Lisa N
I agree with cultural, but it probably was familiar in other countries, just handled differently. The 60’s led to a cultural change including in the church which made moral relative. It is true that Christ wants all to go to heaven, but He does not forgive as easily as the un-orthidox teachings profess. Every Sunday we are taught that Jeusu forgives us. The next sentence is always omitted…“GO AND SIN NO MOTE”…

Why is not sin taught anymore? Do priests even know what sin is? If no one has knowledge of sin, then can each of these people get to heaven?

This same philosophy leads these sinful men into self gratification regardless of the results on others lives.
 
40.png
BobCatholic:
Not just homosexuality and pedophilia, but also ephebophilia - the sexual attraction to post pubescent males.
This is just a cultural stigma, as people in other parts of the world consider a “post-pubescnet” person to be an adult, and at other historical era’s post-pubescent males and female were considered adults. I hate the terms hebophile and ephebophile, as it relies on cultural determination of age of consent, rather than a natural law understanding of adulthood.
 
40.png
Scott_Lafrance:
This is just a cultural stigma, as people in other parts of the world consider a “post-pubescnet” person to be an adult, and at other historical era’s post-pubescent males and female were considered adults. I hate the terms hebophile and ephebophile, as it relies on cultural determination of age of consent, rather than a natural law understanding of adulthood.
I don’t think we need to use the wierd terminology but I do believe it is important to portray the priest abuse scandal for what it was, predatory homosexuals who used their power to prey upon minors. not just small children. A true pedophile has a different profile than a predatory homosexual. They focus on very young children and the mind set is all on the innocence and purity of the young child as their ideal sex partner. Further, although homosexuals are overrepresented amongst true pedophiles, if this were a PEDOPHILE problem, the priests would have been more likely to prey upon little girls than boys. That the victims were almost all male says it all. This is a homosexual scandal.

Lisa N
 
The clergy abuse scandal is really about criminal behavior. Whether it is caused by someone possessing homosexual or pedophilia behavior is really not all that important. I can see that people like to debate this issue, but since a vow of chasity has been said, it really doesn’t matter. My main concern is whether these priests are sent to prison or not. I’m not a homosexual, so I don’t have the information to debate whether homosexual tendencies are genetic or learned, and unless a poster is homosexual, they simply don’t know either. AndI really get a charge out of heterosexual people stating that homosexual tendencies can be changed and one can turn straight. You can not know unless you have walked a mile in their shoes.
 
40.png
snoopy:
The clergy abuse scandal is really about criminal behavior. Whether it is caused by someone possessing homosexual or pedophilia behavior is really not all that important. I can see that people like to debate this issue, but since a vow of chasity has been said, it really doesn’t matter. .
I absolutely agree with you, Snoop. A vow of celibacy and a vow of chastity was taken by these men and women of religious orders and of the priesthood. to violate those orders, as well as violate the law is to sin against Him and the law.

.My main concern is whether these priests are sent to prison or not. I’m not a homosexual, so I don’t have the information to debate whether homosexual tendencies are genetic or learned, and unless a poster is homosexual, they simply don’t know either. .

I disagree with you on this - after all, that is what scientific research and publishing papers is all about, gathering and sharing information. If the only people allowed to do research on a specific area of human development, behavior or sexual preference were those who had, experienced or practiced it we as a human race would be severely restricted in our research and development.

.And I really get a charge out of heterosexual people stating that homosexual tendencies can be changed and one can turn straight. You can not know unless you have walked a mile in their shoes.

Then you must crack up when you read Freud.😃
 
40.png
snoopy:
I’m not a homosexual, so I don’t have the information to debate whether homosexual tendencies are genetic or learned, and unless a poster is homosexual, they simply don’t know either. AndI really get a charge out of heterosexual people stating that homosexual tendencies can be changed and one can turn straight. You can not know unless you have walked a mile in their shoes.
This is illogical. There are any number of medical disorders that we can know of, yet never suffer from them. Are you saying same sex attraction is so unique that one may not know the various etiologies, or social factors, or genetic predispostions, or therapies available?
 
40.png
fix:
This is illogical. There are any number of medical disorders that we can know of, yet never suffer from them. Are you saying same sex attraction is so unique that one may not know the various etiologies, or social factors, or genetic predispostions, or therapies available?
Just what I said…
 
40.png
LSK:
Just what I said…
Anything that has to do with the topic of homosexuality is so politically charged these days that many have lost all sense of proportion. It is a sacred cow thanks to the “gay” activists and other professional agitators.
 
I think it’s important to acknowledge that the root of the abuse scandals is overwhelmingly about ephebophilia - sexual attraction to post-pubescent minors.

While this is mostly a homosexual problem - I think that out of fairness it should be clarified that this is about persons who are unfit to be priests because they are so psychologically and sexually immature that they cannot handle celibacy. That is not the case, however, of every priest of every person who may have a homosexual orientation.

I am certain that there are priests, with homosexual inclinations, who are as chaste and just as faithful and in love with Christ and His Church as their heterosexual brothers. They also experience temptation as anyone else does, and has the same opportunity to resist them and say “yes” to God.

It is homosexual acts whic are sinful, not HAVING a homosexual orientation. To say that homosexuals are more prone to commit sin that heterosexuals, and therefore less capable to cooperate with grace than heterosexuals is incredibly unfair and untrue. We should be helping these persons to carry their crosses and encouraging them in the life of grace, not making their crosses heavier by our scorn.

This scandal was about infidelity and the abandoning of grace, not about every homosexual on the face of the earth.
 
40.png
EJ79:
I think it’s important to acknowledge that the root of the abuse scandals is overwhelmingly about ephebophilia - sexual attraction to post-pubescent minors. .
True but if you look at the MSM they have perpetuated the ‘pedophelia’ myth thereby making the predatory priests seem even more evil.
40.png
EJ79:
While this is mostly a homosexual problem - I think that out of fairness it should be clarified that this is about persons who are unfit to be priests because they are so psychologically and sexually immature that they cannot handle celibacy. That is not the case, however, of every priest of every person who may have a homosexual orientation.

I am certain that there are priests, with homosexual inclinations, who are as chaste and just as faithful and in love with Christ and His Church as their heterosexual brothers. They also experience temptation as anyone else does, and has the same opportunity to resist them and say “yes” to God.
True, it is about men who were not fit to be priests. I am sure there are sinful priests who indulge in other transgressions, but in reality nothing has cost the Church so much as this group of homosexuals. Also the reality is that the homosexual subculture was PROTECTED and PROMOTED within our own Church. Homoexuals protected their own kind and allowed them to engage in this behavior.

The problem with saying well there are chaste and holy priests who have SSA, the reality is that if you put temptation right in someone’s face, there are probably more who will fall. Such is the problem with allowing homosexuals into seminaries. Would you suggest that young women share the quarters of heterosexual seminarians? How many would fall?

So in theory, we should not expunge the priesthood of homosexually oriented priests nor disallow their entry into seminary, in reality we are just continuing to play with fire by doing so.
40.png
EJ79:
It is homosexual acts whic are sinful, not HAVING a homosexual orientation. To say that homosexuals are more prone to commit sin that heterosexuals, and therefore less capable to cooperate with grace than heterosexuals is incredibly unfair and untrue…
How do you know? Unfortunately the statistics do not bear this out. The homosexual community is known for incredible excesses in promiscuity, anonymous sexual encounters, and a higher likelihood of engaging in predatory behavior.

Further as one of my astute CAF friends stated, when a heterosexual man gives up getting married and having a family he sacrifices a good. When a homosexual man forsakes his orientation to be a priest, he is simply giving up a sin. Which is the greater sacrifice?
40.png
EJ79:
We should be helping these persons to carry their crosses and encouraging them in the life of grace, not making their crosses heavier by our scorn. .
I don’t see scorn in conjunction with repentant sinners who are trying to overcome their problems. I do see scorn for those who refuse to acknowledge reality or refuse to give up their perverted activities.
40.png
EJ79:
This scandal was about infidelity and the abandoning of grace, not about every homosexual on the face of the earth.
And no one said it was about every homosexual did they?

Lisa N
 
I am not convinced that there was a homosexual agenda in terms of a scandal coverup.

The reason I am not sure of it is two fold: first, I remember what it was like back in the 1960(s) through very recent times for the victims of sexual attack. The process for prosecuting sexual crimes was so horrendously hurtful to the victims it is difficult to convey the fear felt by the families of those who survived a molestation or violent sexual attack. The stigma that would be placed upon a VICTIM was very, very real. This is one of the reasons for the “women’s movement” that we can be so quick to condemn. Women and children, victims of sexual predators, were often relagated to the attic or basement of society as permanently scarred and/or worthless. The level of proof needed to convict was inordinately high and the system subjected already traumatized people to even more horrors.

Second, many of the experts of that day expounded on the belief that pedophilia and other sexual deviancy that resulted in molestation and/or violent sexual attacks could be cured. Paper after paper, doctor after doctor, institute after institute claimed this sort of deviation was a curable disease. Combine this with the truth of our Christian faith that teaches that NOTHING is impossible for God and you have a recipe for human disaster. Remember, one of the symptoms of this illness is the ability to manipulate that is far, far, FAR beyond that of a normal human being.

I am not excusing the Church’s moving these men around and tolerating multiple complaints and attacks. They should have cut their losses, so to speak, and if a man was accused again after “treatment” he should have been confined to a contemplative monastery for the rest of his natural life and kept as far away from vulnerable potential victims as possible. This, of course, is just my opinion.

What I am uncomfortable with is the idea of a vast, homosexual conspiracy within the Church. It reminds me of an old joke about anti-semitism.
Two older Jewish men are sitting on a park bench in 1932 Berlin. One is reading the Jewish newspaper, the other the newspaper put out by the Nazi party.
“Why do you read that trash?” the one man asked his friend.
His friend shrugged and said, “If I read our paper I read all about tragedy and fear. If I read their paper, I get to read about how we rule the world.”

I dunno, gang. I don’t say people are wrong about this or right - I just think there is more to be considered. Like when we read the Scripture, we must look at history through a lens that allows us to be aware of the times in which actions were taken, not simply judge those actions by knowledge and beliefs we share NOW.

Does that make sense?:hmmm:
 
40.png
LSK:
I am not convinced that there was a homosexual agenda in terms of a scandal coverup.
I don’t think the coverup was a homosexual agenda item, more that it was a result of the Church believing that such things should be handled internally and everyone would be better off. The “conspiracy” was more something that was within a parish, a seminary or a diocese. If we are to believe the book “Goodbye Good Men” particularly in the seminaries, orthodox heterosexuals were either rejected as ‘rigid’ or harrassed out of the seminary once inside.
40.png
LSK:
Second, many of the experts of that day expounded on the belief that pedophilia and other sexual deviancy that resulted in molestation and/or violent sexual attacks could be cured. Paper after paper, doctor after doctor, institute after institute claimed this sort of deviation was a curable disease. Combine this with the truth of our Christian faith that teaches that NOTHING is impossible for God and you have a recipe for human disaster. Remember, one of the symptoms of this illness is the ability to manipulate that is far, far, FAR beyond that of a normal human being.
I’ve said the same thing many times and totally agree. This is the reason I have defended Cardinal Law among others. I think they truly believed that their brother priests were cured or that moving them out of a situation, away from the young man they might be preying upon, would also remove the desires to engage in homosexual activity. Unfortunately with hindsight we’ve seen to our dismay that sexual perversion is extremely hard to cure.
40.png
LSK:
I am not excusing the Church’s moving these men around and tolerating multiple complaints and attacks. They should have cut their losses, so to speak, and if a man was accused again after “treatment” he should have been confined to a contemplative monastery for the rest of his natural life and kept as far away from vulnerable potential victims as possible. This, of course, is just my opinion.
I agree that these cases should have been treated differently. But again the whole concept was so unbelievable that it is not a big surprise to me that many of these accusations were ignored or dismissed. I’ve shared previously that I was fondled by my dentist of all people. I was ashamed to admit it at first, thinking it must be my imigaination. I finally confided in my sister who’d had the SAME experience. We went to our parents who told us we were imagining things…How much LESS believable in days past would the idea of a priest molesting a young man? It just was not something that was on our radar screens at the time. Had a young girl made the same accusations, I suspect it would have been taken more seriously.
40.png
LSK:
I dunno, gang. I don’t say people are wrong about this or right - I just think there is more to be considered. Like when we read the Scripture, we must look at history through a lens that allows us to be aware of the times in which actions were taken, not simply judge those actions by knowledge and beliefs we share NOW.

Does that make sense?:hmmm:
Yes. I don’t think that there is a theory that the entire Church, including the Pope, was engaged in a coverup so the Lavender Mafia could run rampant. I do think there may have been a period of time when previously closeted homosexuals were able to exact more influence, particularly at the seminary level.

However getting back to the thread, do you think this was a homosexual problem or were the aberrant priests pedophiles?

Lisa N
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top