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

I asked my spiritual director this, an old Passionist priest. He said that between a priest with a solid background in psychiatry assisting a competent spiritual director with the aid of a competent seminary rector, most seminarians who have homosexual orientation would be known before Ordination. Eight years of spiritual direction and observation should be more than adequate to discern this, and usually was in the pre-Vat II days.

I've talked to many older priests who said that fellow seminarians had been released from seminary in the 40's and 50's as this disorder became obvious during seminary training. Also there are definite psychological problems that accompany this disorder.

However, frankly, as a lay person I just have to trust the Church to be able to carry this out. I'm not in any position to say how it could or should be done.

Good to "see" you, Renatus. God Bless.

I have asked to be pinged by "scripter" for information on the Homosexual agenda. From reading his posts I get more information on their behavior and activities than I ever wanted. He posts the latest literature,studies and news on the subject.If it's not spelled the first way try "scriptre".Just print his name in on the top of the page and you will get to his home page. I checked todayand one of the posts is about 7 comments down.You can't miss it because it has a red white and blue banner that says "Homosexual Agenda".It is most interesting and disheartening.

You're right. Homosexual men are vastly more promiscuous than heterosexual men, on average - and much more likely to prey on teenagers.

Where did you find this bit of information?

I suggest you look at CDC (Center for Disease Control) statistics, information from the Family Research Council (frc.org) and from EdReform's many threads containing surveys of these things. All show that 1) homosexual men have several hundred sexual partners in a (shortened) lifetime, many of them anonymous and 2) that homosexual men are much more likely to molest teenagers. But that aside, Renatus, in the Catholic Church homosexual abuse scandal, we have a minority (what, 20% or so) of priests who are homosexual who committed more than 90% of the sexual molestations in question - almost all against teenage boys. It's quite apparent from this that teenage boys (and their parents) have much more to fear from homosexual priests than teenage girls from normal ones. Without homosexual priests, there would have been no scandal at all.

Now the Church is 5 minutes behind the times and huffing and puffing to catch up.

The Catholic Church in America is just so, so afraid of being unpopular - which is why it stays mostly mum on abortion, divorce, sexual morality, homosexuality, hell, God's wrath, and so forth. Ironically, that desire for acceptance (over Godly rightness) has left it now buried in the slime pit of public opinion, and with people afraid for the welfare of their teenage sons in the company of priests. The Church needs to proclaim God's truth unswervingly and unafraid, and to shuck its pitifal moral cowardice - and to let the chips land where they may. Jesus Christ, Son of God, was never afraid to proclaim truth, and accepted rejection from all, including those closest to Him in order to do so.

He said that between a priest with a solid background in psychiatry assisting a competent spiritual director with the aid of a competent seminary rector, most seminarians who have homosexual orientation would be known before Ordination. Eight years of spiritual direction and observation should be more than adequate to discern this, and usually was in the pre-Vat II days.

The people choosing priests have been severely short on the ability of discernment.

Only problem with your idea of laicizing current priests is many of these priests are only being accused at this point. Do you immediately strip someone who's been accused? Or wait until conviction.

Priests credibly accused of sexual molestation should be immediately removed from the company of teenagers and children. Then they should get a fair trial. Thus, innocent until proven guilty, but removed from children until proven innocent.

You're right. Homosexual men are vastly more promiscuous than heterosexual men, on average - and much more likely to prey on teenagers.

Where did you find this bit of information?

Also from Clint N. Sukhs, on another thread today - 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.

"Indeed! Why on earth is this even an issue? It is already forbidden by the Church. Methinks the media is picking up on this to attack the Church. And many dumbed-down modern Catholics don't even know their own history."

bingo! This is why I say the Church's best weapon (besides the Holy Spirit, of course...) is an informed laity. If you don't already have one, start a Catechism study group and get some more parishoners educated on the realities of what the Church teaches.

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.