Replies

I think a lot of the boys didn’t have fathers, or not resident ones, at least. Another thing that happened after what I think of as the “collapse,” is that Catholics started divorcing like mad. I remember a man in my parish who had nine children and suddenly he burst into tears at a meeting one day and announced that his wife was leaving him (to find herself, I believe!). Somehow the message that Catholics got was that the secular world was to be the new model for their behavior, and that was one of the things the modern person did: get divorced and dump his/her family.

I recall reading somewhere that the majority of the boys who were preyed upon by these homosexual priests came from broken homes where there was no father present.

I agree with you on the thing about women dominating everything at church, incidentally. It gives a very bad message. The parish school comes to one of our weekday masses, and it’s only the girls who read or do the other little duties.

Two things..First you are accurate in my estimation and experience that priests often preyed on boys with passive, alcoholic or absent fathers. Part of my point is, where has the collective outrage of men in the Church been about what was being done to the sons, the future husbands of their daughters? Men have to look after the integrity of maleness. If they don't.... well.
Second, I was at a meeting with our bishop and the highest ranking clergy of my diocese to discuss what was going to be done with one of our wayward priests. The conversation centered on what the psychological issues were and what therapist he would be referred to. I piped up (I was there as the psychological consultant) and said, “Pardon my saying so, but why are we presuming that this is a psychological disorder rather than a moral one. And what this man needs is acknowledgment of his sin, repentance and penance.” Thay all looked at me as if I were crazy. I began thinking maybe I was.