Posted on 09/30/2005 11:20:25 AM PDT by NormB
Estimates of the numbers of gays in the priesthood vary from 25 percent to 50 percent. About one-third of the 42,500 U.S. priests are members of religious orders.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
snip..
What percentage of priests have a homosexual orientation?
Nobody knows, with any degree of accuracy.
Any discussion of the role of homosexual orientation in the priesthood -- in fact any discussion of clergy abuse itself -- is hampered by a lack of hard, reliable data.
Some estimates of the percentage of current priests with a homosexual orientation:
Analysis of the estimates of others: According to Amanda Ripley of Time Magazine, estimates range from 15% to 50%. 3
According to Bill Blakemore of ABC News, "...nobody knows what percentage of the American priesthood is gay; estimates range from less than 10% to more than 30%." 4
Personal estimates: Richard Sipe, a psychotherapist and former priest, has studied celibacy, chastity, and sexuality in the priesthood for four decades. He has authored three books on the topic. He once estimated that 30% of the priesthood is homosexually oriented. 5 Elsewhere, he is quoted as estimating that between 25% and 45% of American priests are homosexual in orientation. 6 He told the Boston Globe: "If they were to eliminate all those who were homosexually oriented, the number would be so staggering that it would be like an atomic bomb; it would do the same damage to the church's operation...It would mean the resignation of at least a third of the bishops of the world. And it's very much against the tradition of the church; many saints had a gay orientation, and many popes had gay orientations. Discriminating against orientation is not going to solve the problem."
Sister Maryanne Walsh, spokesperson for the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, said that it would it be difficult to find evidence to support these Sipe's estimates of the percentage of gay men in the priesthood. She feels that it is also irrelevant. She said: "Theres no real purpose in saying whether someone is homosexual or heterosexual. The issue is whether they can make a commitment [to chastity]." 6
Bishop Jerome Listecki is an auxiliary bishop in Chicago. He estimates that "perhaps more than 10%" of priests have a homosexual orientation." (Emphasis ours). 5
Father Donald Cozzens, an author, psychologist, and Catholic seminary president says that there is such a high percentage of gay priests in the church that he is concerned that the priesthood is or is becoming a gay profession. 5 In his book, "The Changing Face of the Priesthood," -- published in the year 2000 -- he estimates that 50% of Roman Catholic priests have a homosexual orientation.
A NBC report on chastity and the clergy found that "anywhere from 23 percent to 58 percent" of the Catholic clergy have a homosexual orientation. 7
Author and sociologist James G. Wolfe estimated that 48.5% of priests were gay. 8
Actual surveys: In the Fall of 1999, the Kansas City Star sent a questionnaire to 3,000 priests in the U.S. 73% did not reply. The low response rate could be anticipated. One would expect homosexuals and bisexuals to be reluctant to respond to the questionnaire since it deals with such a sensitive issue, and originated from a newspaper. Homosexual and bisexual priests would probably be less likely to reply to the survey. Among the 801 priests who did reply: 75% said they had a heterosexual orientation;
15% homosexual;
5% bisexual. 9
During 1990, Rev. Thomas Crangle, a Franciscan priest in Passaic, N.J., mailed a survey to 500 randomly selected priests. Of the 398 responses, about 45% said that they were gay. 10
Conclusion: If we assume that all of the estimates are of equal validity, then about 33% of priests have a homosexual orientation -- about one in three.
How could you tell none of the others was a celibate homosexual?
If a man is a celibate, then he is not homosexual. Homosexuality is an action. Yes, some people have stronger tendencies toward some sins than others, but it's the acting out that makes it a sin.
Right, they've long since given up the ghost in the US...just wondering if the "stormtroopers of the Pope" are still such elsewhere in the world.
Don't hold your breath. Among other things, that would require:
1) The massive number of gay priests to ask themselves honestly why the heck they want to serve in the priesthood of a church which explicitly condemns them, and
2) The Church to confront the fact that no normal heterosexual male wants to sign up for a life of celibacy, and that its choices are a) maintain the status quo and just look the other way, b) continue to require celibacy but crack down harshly on gay priests, and just suck it up as the already critically short supply of priests rapidly gets at least 25% shorter, while Catholics (and everybody else) remark on the huge exodus and the stark evidence it provides of the large percentage of the priesthood which is gay, or c) refute the pronouncements of a long string of Popes who have declared that celibacy is and always will be essential for priests, and start allowing priests to marry.
Actually the percentage of homosexuals (of both genders) in the general population is 2-3%. Not 10%.
The Pope has the authority, but he will not do it. The Pope is not going to remove anybody from the priesthood for simply questioning a non-dogmatic judgment.
Probably the Jesuits' Superior General could do it, and the local bishop could also bar him from preaching or saying mass in his diocese. I don't know canon law well enough to know whether the Pope can personally defrock him...
damn.
The Pope says "Tough cookies!"
Amen.
..and all of them in the U.S.
Three thousand years of sacred history speaks against homosexuality. To hell what this false priest says.
And imagine this is also coming to a fundementalist or pentecostal church near you.
No. Otherwise hetero sexuality is an action, a verb. They are nouns.
Although I do not doubt that some good Jesuit priests exist, the problems in their order are not confined to the US.
I'm not a real good Catholic : )
I would hope so too, but a few nights ago on Catholic radio (EWTN), a caller phoned in with a question about how many seminarians are gay and the priest answering questions had to admit to 25-50%. So those are the church's own figures.
I knew a couple of gay priests in San Francisco. They had no love of God and certainly none for the Church, but found their life as priests "easy." "Where else would I have so much time off?" One of the priests I knew was HIV positive--the other was his lover. Beyond words!
So the church has become an unofficial hangout for gays. Probably a successful target of those pushing the gay agenda. They need to be excised before they bring the whole thing down--which is probably their intention in the first place.
In years past, I believe that some gays became priests for the right reasons and did not have sex. This wouldn't bother me any more than a straight priest with a strong attraction to women giving it up and staying celibate. But today, the gay thing is so massively disordered and destructive that even a celibate gay priest, if any, should probably get the boot.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.