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I think most of us who are gay and Catholic will never forget when Ratzinger’s letter came out. It was so disconcerting in its breadth and depth of condemnation.
Condemnation of the
activity, Manny;
NOT of the person.
The slew of sex-abuse scandals that rocked the Catholic Church did not surprise many freethinking homosexuals given the church’s intensely male-dominated hierarchy and extreme antiwoman, antisex orientation.
Of course, the fact that the priests in question had a homosexual orientation had nothing to do with it, right? Of course not. It was the mean ole evil Church, with all them rules and things, that did it. The priests are the real victims here!
Typical liberal thinking. It amazes me, since the Church is so obviously “male dominated, antiwoman, and antisex” that any of those guys ever wanted to be part of it to begin with.
The Catholic Church has a history of cover-up, lies, and hypocrisy on the subject, resembling that of any mega-corporation anxious to avoid prosecution, safeguard its considerable assets and calm its stockholders.
“Considerable assets”? You mean the fact that the Vatican budget runs in the red most years? Lemme give you a news flash, Manny: any corporation that ran itself like the Vatican runs itself would have gone bankrupt many years ago----one more proof, in my mind, that the Holy Spirit is truly in charge of the Church, and keeps it from going belly-up by means of Divine Intervention.
The Church’s implacable secrecy has imperiled children and youth by entrusting them to priests with long histories of sexual abuses, moving these sexual predators from parish to parish rather than letting accusations come to light.
And, again, the fact that the priests themselves were homosexual predators had nothing to do with it, right?
And the church’s attempt to blame homosexuals for this sordid situation constitutes a blatant, self-serving lie.
So give us statistics. How many of the priests in question were homosexual, as opposed to those who weren’t?
Countless studies demonstrate that nearly all pedophiles, defined as people who desire sex with pre-adolescent children, are hetero-sexuals.
But we’re not talking about pedophiles, Manny. The majority of the priests in the 2002 scandals were not attracted to children, they were attracted to high-school or college-age young men. The proper name for this specific deviancy is
ephebophilia,, not pedophila. Stop trying to mislead and call something a name that it isn’t.
Both the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the American Psychiatric Association attest that less than 1 percent of homosexuals are pedophiles. Simply stated, homosexual men desire sex with men; pedophiles desire sex with children without restriction to gender.
Cites? Quotes? Stats? (Standard bibliographic reference will be fine.) Besides, as we just pointed out, the priests in question were attracted to
young men, not children, so your statement, while technically accurate, means nothing here because it doesn’t apply.
Therapist and ex-priest A.W. Richard Sipes
That tells you something, right there. Ever notice how if somebody is mad at the organized Church, but they still want something from it, the people that they hunt up are always ex-priests—but if they happen to be mad at the organized medical community and need a heart transplant, they never seem to hunt up ex-heart surgeons?
Wonder why that is?
…has also found that predatory priests mostly target females, primarily adult women.
Again, no cites. And you’re a
journalist, Manny? Who do you work for, CNN?
But he believes most child and teenage victims are male, probably because of the Church’s sex-segregation policy. He feels strongly this is due to opportunity, not sexual orientation, comparing it with sex between heterosexual men in prison.
Oh, please. You’re trying to tell me that none of these priests ever had contact with women they could exploit----secretaries, housekeepers, penitents, sacristans, lectors----and so they had to depend on adolescent boys?
Careful how far you stretch that, Manny. When it breaks, it’ll snap back and probably sting like crazy.
The church depends on a large gay workforce, but condemns their very existence and forces them to remain closeted.
Not any more.
The Catholic leadership should listen to its parishioners, the majority of whom have much more enlightened views on contraception, celibacy, lesbian/gay rights, and female priests.
“Enlightened”, of course, meaning “at opposition with what the Church teaches”. Okay, so if we’re gonna chuck the teachings on these topics, then we can chuck the teachings on other things, too. Who needs a Triune God, a perpetual Virgin, or a resurrected Savior anyhow, right?
Alleged sexual abusers must face a full investigation and be given a fair trial just like other criminal defendants-no cover-ups and no witch hunts!
That’s the first thing you’ve said right.
If confession is good for the soul, the Catholic Church has a great deal of talking to do.
Go look in a mirror, Manny.
