Bishop urges gay ban in clergy; presses for overhaul in screening priests

Boston Globe ^ | 7/19/2004 | Meredith Goldstein

[frnk]

Don't asume. Show the link.

[sinkspur]

I asked you two questions. You can't answer them.

Good night.

[frnk]

OK, OK, I will give you a clue,

Things got serious around 1985:
"There have been an estimated 1,400 sexual abuse lawsuits launched against priests in the United States since 1985."

Here,
http://www.campusprogram.com/reference/en/wikipedia/r/ro/roman_catholic_church_sex_abuse_scandal.html

[sinkspur]

Filing of lawsuits do not equate to when the instances of sexual abuse occurred.

It is a fact that reported sexual abuse instances have been much less in the 1990s than in the 1970s and 1980s (see Michael Rose's "Goodbye, Good Men."). The average age of ordinands in the 1990s was 32 (same source).

Do you think there might be a correlation?

[frnk]

There is a general tendency to start a life of commitment after 30: marriage, academic degree, etc.

[sinkspur]

Thank you.

[frnk]

You're welcome.

Ordination of older men is present reality, and nothing indicates the trend would change any time soon. So...?

I thank you for posting the article. Eventually there will be more bishops like Bishop D'Arcy I think. The Holy Father is probably waiting for the US bishops to realize where the devil dwells and to sprinkle holy water in that exact spot.

I think that's smart.

[Pio]

I think the John Jay report and the Austrian seminary incident put the capstone on the idea of ordaining homsexuals. There's a few, like Cardinal McCarrick, still banging around who are ambivalent about(secretly for) a fudge-packing priesthood but the tide is turning especially in the conservative dioceses.

An interesting case study will be my Diocese of Worcester, MA. We got a new Bishop who is a quite a bit more conservative than his predecessor. Hopefully, there will be an uptick in vocations.

The Bishops need only do two things: 1) ask 2) purge the homosexuals.

[Pio]

Then again, in Massachusetts, "fathers" and "husbands" absolutely includes the Sodomites. Catholic Charities even assists homsexual couples in adopting children. So, perhaps Massachusetts can be excluded from any ray of hope.