The stages of sin.
Do most Catholics think homosexuality is okay?
“The majority of Catholics (55 percent) do not believe homosexual behavior is a sin. Only 39 percent of Catholics called it a sin.” - Source
But pedophilia is still a sin?
I read a revealing blog post yesterday about a religious - from a good family (order) - who was arrested, tried and convicted of a crime he admitted to. Yes, sexual contact, abuse, molestation, whatever. The oldest boy/victim was fourteen. Someone made an off the cuff observation that it is really mostly girls who get sexually molested, and I commented that is not true: Men/boys who have been molested usually don’t tell because it is unmanly and too shameful for them to admit. Someone else called the crime pedophilia… because the kids were young - the term amongst homosexuals used to be “chicken” for under age boys. I suggested it would be more accurate to label the offender as a “gay-pedophile” - after all, it really was a gay thing - just like the Church abuse scandal was more a gay thing than classic pedophilia. (Crime of opportunity, male on male action, arrested-development/sexual-immaturity of the perpetrator, and so on.) Obviously, it is simply not PC to link the two. (AND NO! I am not suggesting all homosexuals are pedophiles, just as I would never suggest all heterosexual men are pedophiles.)
Aside from that, I asked these questions:
Who admitted the man to the order in the first place?
And did they ask him to live chastely for x-amount of time before admitting him to vows?
Can anyone else connect the dots here?
June 13th, 2008 at 7:16 am
yes, terry, you’re right.
June 13th, 2008 at 9:43 am
I’d draw my dots in a different pattern, but that’s just me.
June 13th, 2008 at 10:41 am
Jeron got the answer right.
June 13th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
I believe that the most important criteria in priestly formation is the level of affective maturity. I think I read that this guy is 33 years old. And he seems to have been in vows for some time. Obviously, he was taken in when he was in his teens or twenties. I believe that age is an important factor in considering vocation. I also believe that a clear understanding of the dynamic of sexual identity is critical in the consideration of religious vocation. Many people with a homosexual orientation are in deep denial through their teens and well into their twenties. Unfortunately, many in the Church seem to be disregarding these things. Lets go back to the old way, and take kids right out of high school. Tell them to pray about their sexual urges, and all will be well. Friars in my area tell me that they’re going back to this approach. Take them young, before they can become ’set in their ways’. I think it’s an alarming mistake. Much of the sex abuse crisis in the Church, that we know about, originated from the 1950’s and 60’s, when this was the exact formula for priestly formation. The best approach is to deal with sexuality in an open and honest manner. Until we do so, this problem will not go away.
Many of the cases of sex abuse in the diocese’ in my neck of the woods involve heterosexual priests perpetrating their crimes against girls. Generally, more cases do involve homosexual priests, but it’s because of simple statistics. There are more homosexual priests than heterosexual ones.
June 14th, 2008 at 6:25 am
Oh, Terry, I am so sad to hear of this…..