[SteamshipTime]

In reviewing this thread, I think if the Pope were to wake up tomorrow and declare that priests should administer the Sacraments stark naked, it would cause less of a stir.

[foghornleghorn]

I don't get the point. Look, we have several cross currents at work here. First, there is the issue of true pedophelia, sexual activity with young girls/boys before puberty. This is a separate clinical issue. Then we have the problem of homosexuals in the priesthood, and their seeming inability to keep their pants up around teenage boys. This is a behaviorial issue. Both these kinds of people are relatively evenly dispersed in society, and will show up in other religions, in schools, in other institutions. But the two kinds need to be dealt with differently. Of course, any priest (or other person in a position of trust) that sexually accosts a minor of any age should be terminated and immediately reported to the authorities. It is a civil crime, as well as a sin. Now, having said that, the Church is in the business of forgiveness. Not civil forgiveness, but spiritual. These men still have to pay the civil penalty. Many church leaders in the past have given far too much leeway to these men, in the name of "compassion" and forgiveness. this can no onger be tolerated.

But in the process of addressing this, how do we prevent hysteria from taking over, like happened in the McMartin madness, the "pedophiles under the bed" frenzy that gripped many communities several years ago? Most of those allegations proved totally bogus. Several innocent lives were ruined. How do we protect good priests from the disgruntled, the anti-Catholic bigot, and the mentally disturbed? How do we dispassionately review allegations? Remember, men who enter the priesthood essentially give up everything for God, and all they have left are their reputations. It would be a terrible injustice to allow them to be smeared with such ugly charges without a reasonable chace at fair review.

Then there is the issue of recent, or ongoing acts versus those that happened many years ago. It appears that many acts occurred during the "let it all hang out" era of the sixties and seventies. Many of these persons have subsequently repented, or grown up, and now are straight and narrow. Should they be punished for a 30 year old act? If there still is criminal liability, yes. But if not? I don't know. They should probably be kept from minors to be safe, but can they contribute positively in other ways? I would hope so.

Like so may things in life, it's not that there is no right or wrong, but that there are so many subdivisions in which right and wrong have to be determined. I hope that when the bishops meet later in Texas they will carefully consider all the ramifications of this scandal, and that the spirit will be with them in their decisions.