There will be no witch hunt to root out homosexual priests. It would be a futile exercise, since, as you surmise, most of them are celibate, and congregations would raise holy hell over such an inquisition.
This article is outstanding. And this is one of the more insightful quotes:
. There is a pervasive sense within the Church that no one really believes its teachings on sexuality anymore--not the laity, not even the clergy. In a strict hierarchy, no one wants to say the emperor has no clothes. When discussion is not permitted, and honest questions avoided, the Church must assert its teachings on the basis of "authority" alone; and if those teachings do not cohere with the people's lived experience, a regime of hypocrisy and indifference arises that does more to undermine "authority" than any honest discussion possibly could.
Paul VI issued the encyclical Humanae Vitae in 1968, which was supposed to settle the contraception issue once and for all. As is clear for all to see, it settled nothing, and the Church's teaching on artficial birth control is largely ignored by most Catholics. When a Catholic family has five children and some cleric tells them that each and every act of sexual intercourse must be open to children or they are sinning through selfishness, they look at him as if he's from another planet.
John Paul II took optional celibacy for priests off the table at the cardinals' meeting this week, which guarantees that it will continue to be discussed within the Church and without, whether the Pope likes it or not.
If anything, the present crisis has revealed that those in the hierarchy of the Catholic Church who covered for pederasts and are amazed at the reaction of the faithful are still just as out of touch with their people as they've ever been.
I don't look for that to change in my lifetime.
A research study cited in an article, itself cited in FR a couple of days ago, had 90 percent of the gay priests studied involved in active sexual lives with an average of about 225 sexual partners per man (the range was a low of 10 to a high of over 500). The article said, I believe, that this one study was the only one which has been done so far. Now, one study can certainly be flawed, but the results certainly do not support your contention that the majority of gay priests are celibate.
I am sorry, but I doubt that I can track down the article on FR again. There have been too many recently to wade through.
Can you tell me where in the bible it says it is alright to be homosexual as long as you stay celibate. I thought homosexuality was a sin, period.
Becky
Only those who practice, promote, or condone homosexuality should be purged.