Affirming gay and lesbian priests

boston globe ^ | 12-10-02 | Thomas Shaw and Bud Cederholm

[TheRedSoxWinThePennant]

MORE THAN ONCE in the past year, religious leaders in the Roman Catholic Church, and in other Christian churches, have said that gay men and lesbians should be barred from ordination because of their sexual orientation. Such assertions have usually associated gay sexual identity with pedophilia, as part of an effort to account for pedophilic behavior.

[TheRedSoxWinThePennant]

Numerous studies have shown that there is no link between pedophilia and gay sexual orientation.

yea but real life is showing these studies to be quite flawed

[anniegetyourgun]

"We recognize that faith communities have the right to ordain whomever they choose, but we reject the exclusion of any person from holy orders on the basis of sexual orientation."

Can there be a more contradictory sentence?

[Psalm 73]

"Affirming gay and lesbian priests..."

Yea, for people who think the Old Testament is just a cool story and has no application in modern day issues.
Many times ancient Israel was slapped by God for their sexual immorality, (among other things).

BTW - sorry to hear about your "affliction" - I, too, am a long-suffering Red Sox fan... it builds character. ; )

[roderick]

The conclusions drawn by church leaders and others who want to exclude gay men and lesbians from ordination are based on centuries of fear, prejudice, and ignorance.

The conclusions drawn by "progressive" church leaders are base on transitory fads. Society would be far better off without elites attempting to overthrow our western traditions.

[DWSUWF]

"...Mental health professionals agree that pedophilia is a disease. Homosexuality is not. None of what makes homosexuality a normal variation of human sexuality applies to pedophilia..."

Bullshit.

[bimbo]

Numerous studies have shown that there is no link between pedophilia and gay sexual orientation.

Maybe you are right ... BUT ... the problem is not pedophilia, it is pederasty,. Most of the Roman Catholic Priest problem is the molestation of teen-age boys - pederasty. Now try to claim that there is no link to homosexuality.

[Clint N. Suhks]

the Roman Catholic Church, and in other Christian churches, have said that gay men and lesbians should be barred from ordination because of their sexual orientation perversion.

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

The Rt. Rev s. M. Thomas Shaw and Bud Cederholm are bishops in the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts

Yahoos like these are why I am no longer Episcopalian...

[Clint N. Suhks]

Such assertions have usually associated gay sexual identity with pedophilia, as part of an effort to account for pedophilic behavior.

• Gay advocates correctly state that most child molesters are heterosexual males. But this is a misleading statement. In proportion to their numbers (about 1 out of 36 men), homosexual males are more likely to engage in sex with minors: in fact, they appear to be three times more likely than straight men to engage in adult-child sexual relations Freund, K. and R. I. Watson, The Proportions of Heterosexual and Homo sexual Pedophiles Among Sex Offenders Against Children: An Exploratory Study, Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy 18 (Spring 1992): 3443.
• While no more than 2% of male adults are homosexual, some studies indicate that approximately 35% of pedophiles are homosexual. K. Freund et al., Pedophilia and Heterosexuality vs. Homosexuality, Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy 10 (Fall 1984): 197.
• Homosexual pedophiles victimize far more children than do heterosexual pedophiles Freund, K. and R. I. Watson, The Proportions of Heterosexual and Homosexual Pedophiles Among Sex Offenders Against Children: An Exploratory Study, Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy 18 (Spring 1992): 3443.
• It is estimated that approximately 80% of pedophilic victims are boys who have been molested by adult males Schmidt, Thomas (1995). Straight and Narrow? Compassion and Clarity in the Homosexuality Debate. Downers Grove, Ill.: Intervarsity Press, p. 114.
• Kurt Freund, et al., "Pedophilia and Heterosexuality vs. Homosexuality," Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy 10 (1984): 197. "The proportional prevalence of offenders against male children in this group of 457 offenders against children was 36 percent." See also, Kurt Freund, et al., "Heterosexuality, Homosexuality, and Erotic Age Preference," "Approximately one-third of these individuals had victimized boys and two-thirds had victimized girls. This finding is consistent with the proportions reported in two earlier studies," p. 107.

[Clint N. Suhks]

We also object to articles that leave unquestioned and even perpetuate the idea that there is a relationship between pedophilia and gay sexual orientation.

HA! See above.

[johnny7]

I, too, am a long-suffering Red Sox fan... it builds character.

I think it's a strong lesson on how to choke. HA!

The way I see it, an h-mo or a lesbo is a deviant.

A pedophile is mutant scum. While I don't condone the first two, I would eliminate the latter.

[Clint N. Suhks]

Blaming a category the behavior of people, such as gays, for abuse

… is scientifically proven by the Freund/Watson 1992 study and Thomas Schmidt’s meta-analysis and objectively obvious by the homosexual Catholic priest abuses.

[SunnyUsa]

Great sources and statistics...

the experts & facts don't lie, the homosexual agenda does.

[fporretto]

Suggestions that gays molest children lead to homophobia and create a dangerous atmosphere in which hate crimes flourish. They are irresponsible.

There is no such thing as an irresponsible or hateful statement of fact. It can be true or false; that is all.

Assertion: Homosexuals molest children disproportionately to their numbers. Is it true?

Apparently it is. With approximately 3% of the population self-identifying as homosexual, a much larger percentage of child molestations are performed by homosexuals. Some studies put the percentage pedophilic participation of homosexuals as high as 50%.

Intuitively, we would reach this proposition just by comparing child-sex-abuse statistics drawn from the Boy Scouts of America, which has a strict anti-homosexual policy, and from the Roman Catholic Church, which does not.

If a fact is hateful, then so are the natural laws that gave rise to it. In that case, the homosexual advocates can sit down and shut up about the hatefulness and irresponsibility of the rest of us. We can claim to be at the mercy of our natures -- just as they do.

Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
Visit The Palace Of Reason: http://palaceofreason.com

[MissMillie]

Overwhelmingly, pederasts are heterosexual. Most child molestation involves young girls being molested by men, and even when men molest boys there is no evidence that the men are homosexual.

You did a terrific job separating the act from the orientation when it comes to pedophiles vs. pederasts. That same type of separation should be extended beyond that comparison. There are lots of heterosexual people who engage in homosexual activity. (My sense is that women are more likely to experiment, but that may not be true.)

Many of the priests now being accused of molestation were recruited into the priesthood at a very early age, long before they had any opportunity to define for themselves what their orientation was (is). Most psychologists will tell you that these men are not homosexual, but instead are psychologically immature when it comes to sexual matters.

The answer may not be to ban homosexuals, but instead to stop recruiting young teens into the priesthood (something that has already happened, for the most part). I'm betting that 20 to 30 years from now, we'll see that the incidence of priests molesting children will be much less frequent.

[For the Unborn]

So when will the devil be ordained?

[Incorrigible]

Vatican official says gay priests risky

Vatican Department Says No to Gay Priests; "Gays unsuitable for priesthood [!]"