[matthewrobertolson]

They would also be wrong for installing, ordaining and protecting homosexual, pedophile and pederast priests and clergymen.

And you presume that priests who have SSA (same-sex attraction) or a sexual interest in children are going to admit this fact to their superiors? I think not.

Also, most cases (I believe it's 80 or 90 percent) of "pedophile" activity within the Church involved the inappropriate touching (ex: butt-grabbing, etc.) of post-pubescent (teenage) boys, not rape of pre-pubescent (elementary-level) boys. This is why it is believed by some that it is more of a homosexual problem. Most, being politically correct, assume differently.

In addition, attempts to prove that leaders like Pope Benedict XVI (then-Cardinal Ratzinger) participated in "protecting" such criminals (which would be a bigger deal, considering their high ranks) have all failed.

The Church merely followed the established secular guidelines for dealing with those with such tendencies. It was believed at the time that these individuals could be reformed if they were separated from their victims and they received professional treatment. Now, we know that society underestimated the issue. The Church was the first organization to really tackle the problem after this was revealed. For example, most (if not all) dioceses in the United States mandate that all volunteers attend sponsored programs for spotting and dealing with these cases.

Remember that the average male is ten times more likely to abuse children than the average priest.

[boatbums]

The Church was the first organization to really tackle the problem after this was revealed. For example, most (if not all) dioceses in the United States mandate that all volunteers attend sponsored programs for spotting and dealing with these cases.

Sounds like it is a problem that the Catholic Church has had to "address" for well over a thousand years now. It certainly isn't anything new but has been an ongoing problem for a LONG time. Are you familiar with St. Peter Damian?

From St. Peter Damian's Book of Gomorrah :

Among St. Peter Damian's most famous writings is his lengthy treatise, Letter 31, the Book of Gomorrah [Liber Gomorrhianus], containing the most extensive treatment and condemnation by any Church Father of clerical pederasty and homosexual practices. His manly discourse on the vice of sodomy in general and clerical homosexuality and pederasty in particular, is written in a plain and forthright style that makes it quite readable and easy to understand.

Considering that the Book of Gomorrah was written in 1049 A.D. it borders on the miraculous to note how many of Damian's insights can be applied to the current pederast and homosexual debacle here in the United States and abroad, including the Vatican. His treatise certainly stands as a masterful refutation of contemporary homosexual apologists who claim that the early Fathers of the Church did not understand the nature or dynamics of homosexuality. Rather, as Damian's work demonstrates, the degradation of human nature as exemplified by sodomical acts is a universal phenomenon that transcends time, place and culture.

One of the main points of the Book of Gomorrah, is the author's insistence on the responsibility of the bishop or superior of a religious order to curb and eradicate the vice from their ranks. [7] He minces no words in his condemnation of those prelates who refuse or fail to take a strong hand in dealing with clerical sodomical practices either because of moral indifferentism or the inability to face up to a distasteful and potentially scandalous situation. [8]

Other issues tackled by St. Peter Damian which have a particular relevance today are:

The problems of homosexual bishops or heads of religious orders who engage their "spiritual sons" in acts of sodomy. The sacrilegious use of the Sacraments by homosexual clerics and religious.

The special problems for the Church related to the seduction of youths by clerical pederasts, and the problem of overtly lax canons and penances for clerical and religious offenders that make a mockery of the seriously sinful nature of homosexual acts.

Part two can be read here St. Peter Damian : The Book of Gomorrah (Part 2)

[redleghunter]

So you feel better priests were mainly pederasts and not pedophile? What kind of apologetic is that?

The Catholic church was the first organization to really tackle the problem. Wow. You may fool Prots by birth with that but I know otherwise. There was a lot of hush money covering tracks and threatening parents who wanted to report the abuse of their sons.