SOUNDBITES —
To the best of my knowledge, there is no empirical data which concludes that sexual orientation is connected to child sexual abuse. The consensus among researchers is that the sexual abuse of children is not a question of sexual ‘orientation’, whether heterosexual or homosexual, but of a disordered attraction or ‘fixation’. The bishops are right to point out that a propensity to child sex abuse is not based on a person’s sexual orientation. Many abusers of children have never developed the capacity for mature adult relationships. Instead, their sexual attractions focus on children – boys, girls, or both. In the sexual abuse of children the issue is the sexual fixation of the abusers, and not their sexual orientation.
—Father Marcus Stock, the general secretary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, completely contradicting Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone’s claim that The Gays did it, which goes nicely with this ABC News item [via]
dvlaries
Marcus Stock is a courageous man, and it takes one always to swim against the tide. Our outrage should always be accompanied with the acknowledgement that there are some brave, ordained men that are sick of this dirty cover-up that tends them to paint them all with the same broad brush.
It must feel a very lonely thing to be a genuinely good priest these days.
Brandon
Without wanting to sound cliche when one talks of religions I do have to say AMEN.
Sam
Thank God for non-crazy Catholics.
And I do mean to sound cliche.
Blake
So awesome of him to speak out for the truth!
But he is either going to take it back at some point or be excommunicated.