I don’t see how there can be any doubt as to the homosexual and pedophile problem running through the priesthood. There’s no doubt in my mind. They are killing Catholicism with this.
“The gates of hell will not prevail against it.”
Christ’s words.
As the article pointed out, the problem is not primarily pedophilia, which is sex with children before the age of puberty. Their studies have shown that the great majority of those molested were post-puberty, which means the problem is not pedophilia but homosexuality. Many of the victims were young men attempting to become priests, and were pressured to have gay sex or lose their place in the seminary. One report I read said that the seminary, if it dismisses someone, that young person has to repay the expenses of his education; and that many vulnerable young men from poor backgrounds submitted to the pressure rather than burden their families.
In my experience as an older person who grew up in an America when homosexuality was overwhelmingly regarded as an unfortunate, unwelcome and/or sinful behavior, there were decades in which I struggled to come to terms with the political pressures in favor of it—decades in which I, and most other people, simply could not form dispassionate language or objective comments about it—the understanding of homosexuality as an abomination in God's eyes had been deeply impressed upon most Christians. It took actual grad school study of the history of constitutional law regarding family for me to be able to discuss the matter objectively, even though I worked in the arts for 40 years and had many gay friends and colleagues.
So I think this deep abhorrence for acts that Catholic teachings regard as unholy and offensive to God has retarded the Catholic church's recognition or appropriate action about this crisis. And now it simply can't be swept under the rug any more—it's become so deeply institutionalized that wiping it out threatens to destroy, economically and reputationally, the entire RC church. By extension, all of Christianity will suffer.