Boy Scouts Blaze Path for Catholic Reform

The Washington Dispatch ^ | 05/02/02 | R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr.

[Spin]

If I am accurately perceiving the national controversy over pederasty in the American Roman Catholic Church, I have to conclude that the Boy Scouts of America are vindicated. The only logical conclusion deducible from the media's outrage over revelations of pederasty in the pulpit is that the Boy Scouts' ban against homosexual scout leaders is OK.

The vast majority of irregularities reported in the present scandal have been between errant priests and post-pubescent boys. Apparently, the Boy Scouts' wisdom and prudence goes beyond tying knots and putting out forest fires. Maybe now the Boy Scouts will again have access to government facilities and to the largess of such charities as the United Way.

It is only a matter of time before the American Catholic Church adopts the same standards for the priesthood that the Boy Scouts have maintained for Scout leaders, despite the criticisms of the politically correct. Soon, if the spirit of reform in the Church continues, every priest in the church will be able to take the Boy Scout oath without winking. Perhaps Scout leaders will soon be admitted to the priesthood, and American intellectuals will begin to speculate on when the Roman Catholic Church will finally select a Boy Scout leader as pope.

The last few months' revelations that the Catholic hierarchy covered up for hundreds of priests having sexual relations with perhaps thousands of boys provoked anger all over America. Even liberal forward-lookers are angry, though now they are in the weird position of opposing homosexual priests while favoring homosexual Boy Scout leaders. Embracing such contradiction is for liberals their special art form -- but if it becomes too much a strain, there is a remedy to this contradiction, to wit: Liberals could drop their boycott of the Boy Scouts if the Boy Scouts promise to enlist homosexual priests as Scout leaders.

For the rest of the article click here.

[ppaul]

.....a patronizing form of censorship.

That's it.

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

Paul Shanley has been arrested in California.

[Askel5]

why was this article moved from News to Religion???

Because the Emperor Wears No Clothes where the Moderators and all news tainted with "Catholic" is concerned?

They're making fools out of themselves with this nonsense. Try to be charitable and not draw too much attention.

[Askel5]

I dunno, guy. If they were so clever as to patronizing, even, there would be some rhyme or reason at work. They'd be in a position to offer an intelligently worded and pithy explanation or, at the very least, some rule of thumb by which we could post.

I think they're either just being silly or so used to trusting in and acting on whatever their "informants" have to say that they don't give a lot of thought to how stupid they look.

My two cents? I'd just as soon see denizens of the Ghetto -- as Notorious Religious Types -- do all their posting in the Religion forum. I suspect those who tire of the mainstream feedbag (plus whatever sanctioned prayer threads, Simpson articles or personal birthday pics seem appropriate to News/Activism) will mosey our way. Could be fun. I suspect we'd enjoy a far superior signal:noise in the Ghetto ... as is usually the case where folks resist the urge to become Brand-Loyal Waspy Americanized Consumers and retain instead the richness of faith, culture, tradition and intimate clannish loyalties and loves.

[Askel5]

Don't let it get to you.

[patent]

An explanation regarding the guidelines would be nice, but frankly things seem a bit too confrontational, so I'm not expecting one. This seems to have become a Holy Jihad. It is not that big of a deal.

patent

[FormerLib]

Ping.

[history_matters]

Thanks for the reality check. God bless.

[George from New England]

why was this article moved from News to Religion???

Is someone at Free Republic trying to keep Religious issues out of the News forum? Some of these posts need to stay in News/Activism, not buried from general view under Religion.

[yendu bwam]

Boy Scouts understand well that it's folly and child abuse to put men who have sexual attractions to males in charge of sexually mature teenage boys. As the Catholic Church scandal as amply shown, homosexual men (priests) are far, far more likely to molest teenage boys than heterosexual men are teenage girls. Further, homosexual men frequently molest multiple teenage boys over time. The Boy Scouts suffered greatly from homosexual molestation of teenage boys until adopting the following policies: 1) no known homosexual men in charge of teenage boys; 2) two adults with kids at all times; and 3) requiring a discussion between parents and sons about the dangers of homosexual molestation (and encouraging scouts to see a film on to that topic). Even with these policies, the Boy Scouts suffers from multiple homosexual molestations of teenage boys each year (though far fewer than before). The Catholic Church needs to do the same. No homosexual priests with authority over or in close contact with teenage boys, two adults with kids at all times, and warnings to children (especially teenage boys) about the dangers of homosexual molestation. The Catholic Church (my Church) is light years behind the Boy Scouts on this, and it shows in the enormous numbers of boys molested over the past couple of decades by homosexual priests in the Church. Boy Scouts puts children first. The Catholic Church needs to do so as well.

[yendu bwam]

America Returns to Values The Boy Scouts Never Left

Great, great bumper sticker!

[yendu bwam]

Hey there, admin moderator. This article deals with the issue of homosexual molestation of teenage boys, and how the Boy Scouts and Catholic Church have dealt with it. This is an issue which affects all our children, whether in Boy Scouts, the Catholic Church, in our schools and in organizations like Big Brothers. This article should be in the News section.

[yendu bwam]

My teenage boys are many times safer from homosexual molestation in the Boy Scouts than in my Church. That's astounding to me, but it's true.

[NYer]

Boy Scout Bump!

I support the Boy Scouts of America. A young scout rang my doorbell the other evening, dressed in full uniform, and selling holiday snacks as a fundraiser. I don't think these snacks will make it all the way to Christmas.

[ArrogantBustard]

"73 YR. OLD BOY Scout LEADER Kicked OUT FOR BEING GAY"...

Aside from noting his abhominable penmanship, I must say: "Good riddance."

[EODGUY]

The Boy Scouts rank second only to Pro-Life for my charitable contributions.

[heyheyhey]

why was this article moved from News to Religion???

It's simple.
The media work day and night to smear the Catholic Church and Christianity in general. Somebody started thinking outside of the media-stipulated patterns and made the connection they were never supposed to make ("we report you decide" - remember?).

Thesis,
boys + homosexuals = sexual molestation of boys

Supposition,
Boy Scouts + homosexual Scout Masters = sexual molestation of Boy Scouts

Observation,
altar boys + homosexual priests = sexual molestation of altar boys

Conclusion,
Hey everybody, the Boy Scouts WERE RIGHT! If you believe sexual molestation of boys is wrong, then stop punishing the Boy Scouts for doing the right thing.

---

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But the homosexual lobby is too powerful to let this kind of conclusion sift through into the main stream media.
The Catholic Church continues to be smeared for "pedophilia."
The Boy Scouts continue to be punished for "homophobia."

Go figure…
It's pretty homosexual out there.