As the sexual abuse scandal in Australia is garnering international attention, the Church hierarchy continues to exhibit a distinct discomfort addressing the issue of homosexuals in the Priesthood.
It is the same discomfort which, in spite of tough measures implemented after the sex abuse crisis, failed to look at the root cause of the abuse in the United States: homosexual Priests, and the gay-friendly Bishops who protect them.
In America, girls were only a fraction of the victims in the Church sex abuse scandal.
After the crisis revealed itself to be much bigger than Catholics ever knew, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2002 commissioned a study to examine the root causes of the abuse.
The National Review Board, recruiting a research team from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, released its initial report in 2004.
The results were conclusive: This was not a "pedophile" scandal, but a homosexual scandal.
Approximately, 80% of the alleged victims were male, and nearly 90 percent were post-pubescent, with "only a small percentage of Priests receiving allegations of abusing pre-adolescent children."
An updated report, issued in 2011, revealed similar numbers: 81% of sex abuse victims were boys, and 78 percent were post-pubescent.
Both findings put the lie to the oft-spoken claim that this was a "pedophile priest" scandal.
Pedophilia by definition involves children under age 11. The 2011 John Jay study showed the majority of abuse victims were adolescents and teens between ages 12 and 17 — a pathology more properly termed "ephebophilia."
Even Newsweek acknowledged the distinction in 2002: "The great majority of cases now before the Church involve not pedophilia but 'ephebophilia,' an attraction to post-pubescent youths."
The homosexual subculture has always involved sexual attraction to youths, and is a well-accepted part of the gay lifestyle. And evidence shows homosexuals abuse children at far higher rates than heterosexuals.
According to one study, "homosexual men molest boys at rates grossly disproportionate to the rates at which heterosexual men molest girls."
This bears out: Although homosexuals comprise only 1–3 percent of the entire population, they are committing up to 33 percent of all sex crimes against children.
Notwithstanding this overwhelming evidence, Bishops remain timid in their denunciation of the homosexual lifestyle. Neither are they willing to take seriously the numbers of homosexual Priests actively engaged in pastoral ministry within their Dioceses.
And so, the lie continues that the sexual abuse scandal was the result of “pedophile” Priests who took advantage of pre-adolescent children.
In December of last year, the Congregation for Clergy released a document stating that "those who practice homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies, or support the so-called 'gay culture'" are not to be admitted to seminaries or be ordained Catholic priests.
In a 90-page, highly-nuanced document titled The Gift of the Priestly Vocation, the Congregation for Clergy wrote that those who live the homosexual lifestyle, support the "gay culture," or have "deep-seated homosexual tendencies" "find themselves in a situation that gravely hinders them from relating correctly to men and women."
"One must in no way overlook the negative consequences that can derive from the ordination of persons with deep-seated homosexual tendences," the document continued.
Yet, the document took a rather confusing position stating: “If a candidate for the Priesthood experienced homosexual tendencies that were only the expression of a transitory problem like that of an adolesence not yet superseded, then such a case would be different."
Remarkably, the Congregation states: "such tendencies must be clearly overcome at least three years before the ordination to the diaconate.”
Yet, such a statement is made in the complete and total absence of any clinical evidence to support an expectation that a homosexual tendency can be overcome in a period of three years. The statement is completely arbitrary and weakens the overall force of the document entirely.
Still, Pope Francis approved the Congregation’s statement.
It appears, then, that in accepting candidates for the Priesthood, the Church whimsically distinguishes degrees of homosexuality, considering some manifestations of the disorder to be a treatable malady, a transitory problem which an adolescent may encounter yet overcome on his road to maturity.
Such pyscho-babble does little to seriously address the crisis of homosexuality in the Priesthood and the havoc it continues to cause.
Let us be clear: the homosexual community continues to find a welcome place among the ranks of the Catholic Priesthood, gay-friendly Bishops continue to provide cover for them, and the Church continues to suffer the abuses and scandals they cause. Only when these realities change will the scandal of the sexual molestation of youngster entrusted to the care of homosexual Priests come to an end.
No comments:
Post a Comment