Posted on 11/15/2004 5:28:41 AM PST by A. Pole
Starting today, 290 of the nation's Catholic bishops will meet at the Capitol Hyatt for their yearly business meeting[...]
Although it's been less than a year since the church revealed that there were 10,667 cases of abuse committed by 4,392 priests in a 50-year period, the message at the meeting will be that the crisis is under control.
But it's far from over, says a local Catholic priest who says the true source of the crisis is a priesthood that is "honeycombed" with homosexual clerics, especially in the Diocese of Arlington.
However, attempts by the Rev. James Haley, 48, to persuade his bishop of the problem have backfired. After hearing from the priest about numerous instances of homosexual activity among diocesan clergy, Arlington Bishop Paul Loverde ordered the priest silenced Oct. 23, 2001. This "precept of silence" — usually only employed during church trial proceedings — is rarely used to silence a whistleblower.
Thus, in the past three years, Father Haley's case, which also involves accusations of sexual misconduct against him, has become a cause celebre among many Catholics in the Diocese of Arlington.
[...]
Father Haley says his only crime is his insistence that homosexual priests, not solely pedophiles, are at the root of the sexual-abuse crisis. The Catholic priesthood is demoralized, he says, by groups of homosexual clerics who control who gets admitted to seminary, which men get nominated for bishop and which priests get the plum parishes.
Based on his 17 years in the priesthood, he estimates that 60 percent of the Diocese of Arlington's 127 diocesan priests are homosexuals, which is high compared with national estimates of 30 percent to 50 percent from other authorities on the priesthood. [...]
(Excerpt) Read more at washtimes.com ...
And only 3-5% of the population is gay - so why are gays targeting the priesthood? Easy pickings? Easy access to boys? A safe place in which to control?
Denial is not going to solve this problem for the RCCs.
same reason they're targeting the boy scouts. access to young boys - prey.
As part of the soul-searching--so to speak--maybe it's time to rethink the practice of celibacy.
Ping
homosexuality must never be given sanction or endorsement by the United States.
Simple, it is an all male fraternal organization... once a few are in they can push for others to get in.... soon they are in the majority and are trading sexual favors for promotions and other things.... They are actively attempting to turn the Catholic priesthood into bath houses, and by and large the lay catholic is unaware of this, and the shortage or priests in general in the US has brought about silence from the top on the issue!
I think that you are on to something here. The end result may be a much tougher stance on same-sex marraige as well.
The Catholic church has to take steps to straighten this mess out if it hopes to survive.
The truth is that the steps they have taken are pitiful.
We must ask ourselves why this has gone on for years and we cannot overlook the fact that Bishops and yes: even Cardinals are picked from the ranks of Priests and therefore some of them may be contributors to the problem and not the solution.
Christ's church has been corrupted and surely the corrupters will spend an eternity in hell. For how can one who believes in God not see that God will punish severely one who uses His Church for sexual gratification.
While some homosexuals entering the priesthood may be looking for an enviroment that would suppress their urges and lead to an acceptable life, far more are perhaps attracted by the prospect of living in a socially approved all-male society where no civilian knows much about what goes on behind the rectory doors. Even if one grants most homosexual priests don't become priests to prey on available altar boys, the prospect of a congenial male environment without stigma must surely beckon.
I mean that it must be kicked out of the public square once and for all, precisely because it is an issue of conscience.
Many reasons
Gay men are tolerated in the priesthood
No need to have a "beard".
Decent money
Power
If this percentage is indeed this high, and I doubt it, it is not nearly as high among the younger priests. Those ordained prior to the seventies may have found it easier than to live as a single homosexual. It cloaked their true nature. Now that sodomy is at least somewhat accepted in certain social circles, there is less need to hide the perversion.
>maybe it's time to rethink the practice of celibacy.<
Oh, good, then we can have divorced Priests and playboy priests!
That'l help.
Fr. Haley ping
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