Vatican investigation seeks 'evidence of homosexuality'

[emad]

Vatican investigation seeks 'evidence of homosexuality'
The review of U.S. institutions follows a series of sex abuse cases
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
New York Times

Investigators appointed by the Vatican have been instructed to review each of the 229 Roman Catholic seminaries in the United States for "evidence of homosexuality" and for faculty members who dissent from church teaching, according to a document prepared to guide the process.

The Vatican document, given to the New York Times last week by a priest who was granted anonymity because he feared retribution, surfaces as Catholics await a Vatican ruling on whether homosexuals should be barred from the priesthood.

In a possible indication of the ruling's contents, the American archbishop who is supervising the seminary review said earlier this month that "anyone who has engaged in homosexual activity, or has strong homosexual inclinations," should not be admitted to a seminary.

Edwin O'Brien, archbishop for the U.S. military, told the National Catholic Register that the restriction should apply even to those who had not been sexually active for a decade or more.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/3357462

[ChairmanAgnostic]

1. except that with children. Those acts don't count.

Big lesson here.
Kiddie rape, we hide you in other countries.
Consenting adults, we come after you.

[valerief]

2. Sounds like Vatican is cruising

update: spelling

[acmavm]

3. Boy, am I torn on this one. I can see why they're so freaked out about

homosexuality and the priesthood. The lawsuits are still rolling in. But this celibacy thing that they demand of priests, now that's just plain crazy too. And is a big factor that contributes to all their problems.

I find this who arguement phony though. Look at the history of the church. How many popes were anything but celebate, but they still claim the mantle of infallibility for them to this day.

But the funny thing is that sex, when taken into context historically, has always been the main focus of every religion. Why is it that people can be dying in the streets from a hurricane, trying to avoid torture and death by a corrupt and evil political regime, be hungry and homeless, suffer from illness (physical and/or mental), and the thing that 'religions' worry about most is sex?

[kweerwolf]

7. Lawsuits about homosexual priests?

I think you're confusing homosexuality and pedophilia. Pedophilia is a sexual interest in children. Granted, boys are molested at higher rates than girls by priests, but that's because they have easier access to boys. Girls tend to be watched more closely by parents (and society in general), so boys have traditionall been easier targets for pedophiles.

[acmavm]

8. Yes, I understand homosexuality and pedophelia. But if the element

of homsexuality wasn't involved, there would have been more girls assualted than were boys. Way more girls, not way more boys. And I belonged to a parish where a very notorious case of this type occurred, and the priest went to prison. He had no interest in girls, not at all. What do you call that? The preferred sex for most of the abused kids was male.

And don't accuse me of condemning homosexuals. I've known plenty of kinked out and sicko heteros as well. You pass them on the street every day. You read about their convictions for rape and murder.

By the Vatican's reasoning, they think that if the limit the priesthood to heteros, they can cut down on the sexual abuse by priests. That's all I said.

There are other problems in the church involving sex as well. There have been incidents where a priest has taken too much interest in a female parishioner. There have been incidents of adult male homosexual behavior as well. And these problems I tend to blame on their insane mandate of celibacy on those that join the priesthood. I've always found it funny that they think guys without any experience in a certain matter should be deemed fit to judge and counsel other people in that area.

You must have misread my post.

[kweerwolf]

9. It's still pedophilia

"He had no interest in girls, not at all. What do you call that? The preferred sex for most of the abused kids was male."

Some pedophiles do have a taste for one gender over another, but they are still pedophiles. Yes, most of the victims in the priest sexual abuse scandal have been males ... but remember that males are easier targets because up until the scandal most people felt their sons were "safe" around priests. Girls, on the other hand, tend to make more difficult targets because society as a whole is more protective of girls.

There's also a theory that for older priests who entered their vocation early in life, the early seminary experience may have "stunted" their sexual development. Kids naturally "experiment" sexually as they are growing up. The practice of putting young adolescent males in an all-male environment such as a seminary may have affected their sexual development in some cases. They may be physically mature, but forever stuck in the late-adolescent experimenting age. Kinsey reported that over 60 percent of males had at least one same-sex encounter during late adolescence. This is a normal part of growing up. But if the sexual drive is stunted by an imposition of celibacy, some priests can be emotionally stuck in a sexual latency period.

I think this applies to someone like Michael Jackson who didn't have much of a childhood because of his "stardom" so he is forever stuck in this period. He sees fondling or masturbating a young boy as innocent and playful while the rest of the world sees such actions as pedophilia.

Honestly, I do understand your statement about eliminating gays from the priesthood, but I don't think that's the answer since the problem is far more complex than that.

[acmavm]

10. Oh, I agree that the problem if far more complex. And I also don't think

that eliminating all homosexuals from the priesthood is the solution. I obviously have not made myself clear on that. In fact, I think that's a horrible solution. I know a couple of people who just happen to be homosexual (I don't believe that fact defines the character or personality) who I know, truthfully know, to be absolutely shining examples of decency and kindness and warmth, all the things that you would want to have you children exposed to. One of the things that pisses me off about our 'Christian' society is that people would rather see kids waste their lives away in institutions or foster homes rather than place them with gay people who are more than willing, who desperately want, to give the a loving, safe, family environment. I just don't understand that.

And eliminating all homosexuals from the priesthood will just deny the church from recruiting good people who are just like the heterosexuals they allow to minister to people. Just because a person is gay does not mean they are predatory. They don't all fit the prevailing stereotype. And their sexual inclination is between them and God anyway. That is not what determines the worth of a human being. Their actions, the kindness they show others, their compassion for the poor, the sick, the young, the elderly. Homosexuals have all that, just like heterosexual people. So what they are doing is ridiculous.

But 'just in case', they are now going to over-react and lump all homosexuals into one category and cover their asses.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

12. the vast majority of pedophiles are hetero,

something that the ultra-religious seem to forget. The abuse of kids is a separate issue altogether.

Decades past, we here in Chicago, we had a real creep, Dead Cardinal Cody, a guy who helped run the Irish and Italian mobs, while gathering vast millions for himself and his friends. He also sent many pedophile priests far away, out of reach of any litigation. Of course, he died before the stuff became public knowledge.

If you go to Lincoln Park, you can see the mansion he had - which is still used by today's Chicago Arch-disease as a residence. Land holdings (tax free, mind you) by the Church exceed 9 figures.

[Benhurst]

4. Homosexuality in the Roman Catholic Church's priesthood?

You've got to be kidding. :rofl: They're are celibate, pure as the driven snow.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

5. By driven snow, you refer to winters @ Chicago's Dan Ryan Xprsway?

after three hours of rush hour, it tends to be a blackened grey.

much like the souls of some of those who demand that we must follow like sheep.

[kweerwolf]

6. Meanwhile, coming this fall to TV

[ChairmanAgnostic]

11. brilliant! I'll bet its a who dun it, huh?

[emad]

13. Polygraph tests for all priests? Or a blood test, maybe,

or some scrying of the entrails that will unmask all those lurking non heteros???