[livius]

They’ll do anything to silence comments about the Church’s gay mafia (which does exist).

[dp0622]

Saw a documentary on homosexuality in the church. Bishops in Rome would have sex parties with strippers and then go straight to dressing for and serving mass. My uncle died and he was schizophrenic. After he died, my other uncle finally told us that he was raped as a young teen in a seminary and that likely caused the schizophrenia. My father told me when I was 11 to tell him if a priest ever touched me. I am Catholic. It's time to do away with the no marriage thing. It is antiquated and was base on the church not wanting to lose land or monies in a divorce.
It's not natural for a man to go his whole life without having sex. That's why God gave us marriage.
Or I could be wrong. Wouldn't be the first time.

[Steve_Seattle]

Similar claims were made in a book called “Good Bye, Good Men,” which I think is still available. I’ve also seen such claims in a Protestant context in books by Leanne Payne, a lay Protestant minister whose long ministry has devoted particular attention to the problem of homosexuality in the church and the seminaries.

[Alex Murphy]

Fr Despard alleged that a "powerful gay Mafia" was at work. He said that as a trainee priest he was approached inappropriately and that other seminarians who spurned the advances of others were bullied. However, he was the subject of formal complaints by those he had named. The Bishop of Motherwell, Rt Rev Joseph Toal, said that 21 of the 26 charges against Despard were proven.

"In the majority of cases, the tribunal ruled that Father Despard had injured the good reputation of a number of people, both lay and clergy." His letter added: "The bishop regrets that a penal case had to be pursued against Father Despard, but felt it necessary in order to vindicate the reputation of those wrongly accused by him."

See related 2013 thread:
Catholic Church in Scotland Has Covered up Culture of Sexual Bullying Among Priests, Claims.

[Da Coyote]

My brother in law was in seminary years ago and left due to the very gay mafia that the church still ignores.

This, and the new pope, pretty much guarantees the church is doomed.

Hopefully, the pendulum will swing...and swing hard, before the church is no more.

Gads, there will be so much to do during the sure to come CW-II. We better start a to do list.

[allendale]

Not until the Church purges homosexuals from the clergy will the molestation of young boys and the vulnerable by vile phony priests cease.

[AlaskaErik]

Butt...butt...butt...I had some catholic apologist state that only one percent of catholic priest are homosexual predators. Me thinks the actual number is much higher.

[Mrs. Don-o]

What I don't understand about this story, is that a Church tribunal was convened to look into whether Fr. Despard's accusations were unproven, and reached the conclusion that in 21 out of 26 instances, this was the case.

Huh?

If he named names and said that specific priests were predatory homosexuals, and they were not, and that can be proven, why isn't Despard facing libel suits, let alone Church tribunals?

And if the tribunal reached the conclusion that 21 of the 26 allegations of homosexual intimidation were false, that means at least 5 of them were true: but I don't see anything about the ecclesiastical investigation of these 5 cases, and appropriate penalties against the offenders.

The whole thing has the stink of corruption.