You remember the Roman Catholic Church, don’t you? The anti-gay institution headquartered in Rome? The organization where untold numbers of priests had their way with little boys over the years? Well they don’t really like this child molester reputation, and they have a brand new branding campaign they’d love for you to take part it.
Step 1? Stop calling their molesting priests “pedophiles.” Rather, start using the word “ephebophilia,” which describes an attraction to adolescents. See how this makes the molestation a gay problem and not a church problem?
Also, you’d be interested to know, it’s not like every Catholic priest was involved in exploiting altar boys. Only “1.5%-5% of Catholic clergy were involved in child sex abuse,” relays the Guardian, which should be completely reassuring to 95 out of 100 parents!
In a statement following the United Nations’ Human Rights Council’s meeting in Geneva, the Vatican had Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican’s permanent observer to the UN, read aloud a statement.
He also quoted statistics from the Christian Scientist Monitor newspaper to show that most US churches being hit by child sex abuse allegations were Protestant and that sexual abuse within Jewish communities was common.
He added that sexual abuse was far more likely to be committed by family members, babysitters, friends, relatives or neighbours, and male children were quite often guilty of sexual molestation of other children.
So what do we learn here? Keep sending your kids to church, but don’t let them hang out at the neighbor’s house. And also? Please excuse the behavior of a bunch of holy men who violated your children, because really, they’re probably doing it to other kids themselves.
Curiously, god did not send a spider to crawl on Archbishop Tomasi to warn the masses.
Synnerman
God needs new people…if there is one. Then again, as long as its getting fed, its not as if God has to care.
Beto
They want to equate gays with pedophiles, that’s clear. The Catholic Church can play tough games too, and believe me, people will buy this…
Jerry Priori
And in other news, the pope is a big fat cunt. Fuck him and the Jesus he rode in on.
Brian
Catholic = Christian. Christians have never taken responsibility for their actions. In fact, only one denomination ever apologized for enabling (and promoting)slavery – the Episcopalians.
In this instance they’re blaming those defective people again the homosexuals (that they made wrong).
The only thing more bizarre than this story is the fact that there are about 5 million “gay Catholics” in the US. Why? That makes less sense than religion itself.
Christians teach that homosexuals are wrong, sinful and deviant. Until we stop that, we’ll never be equal.
schlukitz
And what fancy new term has the church come up with to call priests who molest little girls?
Solis
@schlukitz:
\
Lolitaphilia … silly!
Pete
Considering that the overwhelming majority of the child raping priests targeted girls, even this latest homophobic gambit won’t work. I’ll guess they’ll next go with the “She wanted it!” lie.
Between this and the celebratory love-in for Polanski (Note: he only plead guilty to statutory rape, which was a a much lesser charge to what he actually did–blatant child rape), my heart breaks for little kids out there.
HiredGoons
Also the Pope is a Nazi.
rudy
@Pete: Sorry Pete, but Polanski accepted guilt – which makes him more moral than the Catholic Church which is passing it off to US.
MiKem
These people are despicable. The church is all about power! There is no compassion or love left in its core. They do more harm than good. I am so very happy that I left that church so long ago. Jesus would curse them today just as he did the fig tree… it bears no fruit.
Jason
Call them what they are: kiddie fuckers.
jwalker666
I agree people will buy this load of shit the catholic church is spewing. There are too many idiots out there that think that people that try to diddle little kids are gay, or that all gays are molesters. Educated people know better, someone that is a pedophile is not necessarily gay, its like what Jason said, the are kiddie fuckers,
Qjersey
…”ephebophilia,” which describes a gay attraction to adolescent boys. See how this makes the molestation a gay problem and not a church problem?
Um no Mr. Editor, try using Wikipedia instead of your own brain. Ephebophilia is attraction to adolescents REGARDLESS of gender or sexual orientation.
All those female school teachers boinking 14 years would be considered ephebophiles.
Bill S
We’ll agree to the change in terminology on ONE condition: that the Pope always have the phrase “Ex-Nazi” precede his name.
Do they really just NOT KNOW what assholes they are? I find that impossible to imagine.
Bill Perdue
@Bill S: Whadda you mean “ex”.
scott ny'er
nice. gotta love the church.
Bill Perdue
The catholic cult’s total bill for fucking little boys looks like it’s going be right around $6 billion. Seminaries are drying up and they have to import priests. “Vocations” are down by a fourth since 1980 and thousands of priests are in jail, married or have quit. The shortage is being handled by importing priests from backward, priest ridden countries.
Aside from the $6 billion dollar bill for raping children donations are down and dwindling. The huge and very expensive apparatus of the catholic cult is in danger in the US and many EU countries.
In their panic about the chief cause of this, the propensity of priests to rape little boys and girls, they blamed gays for the problem. Any time before 150 years ago they would have just burned us at the stake and let the smell of burning flesh put the fear of gawd in the ‘faithful’. They can’t do that any more so ecumenism be dammed, they’re desperately lashing out in all directions.
The bigger they are the harder they fall and every little nudge helps. It’s a good idea to plan on picketing catholic cult centers when they oppose same sex marriage. We can pick up where our California brothers and sister left of in the State of Washington and in Maine. One of our demands should be that no priest be allowed near children except in the company of armed police with shoot to kill orders if they see priests molesting children.
B
Brian wrote, “Catholic = Christian,” which hasn’t been true since Martin Luther initiated the first successful spinoff from Rome, and wasn’t true until The Roman Catholic Church wiped out the other Christian sects, which had all sorts of oddball beliefs.
A few had as many as 30 gods.
If you don’t like the current sects, form your old one. Nobody can stop you from creating what you want and calling it a Christian church. As part of your religion, instead of the Roman vestal virgins (vergines Vestales), you can have vestal go-go boys to make your early Sunday-morning church service attractive to people getting out of an after-hours party at 4 AM.
B
Qjersey worte, ‘…”ephebophilia,” which describes a gay attraction to adolescent boys. See how this makes the molestation a gay problem and not a church problem?’
Ephebophilia refers to “the preference for mid to late adolescent sexual partners” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephebophilia), and does not imply a “gay attraction” as the adolescent could be of either sex. The term “preference” in context refers to a lack of attraction to people who are adults.
The real reason the Catholic Church wants this term used is that most people don’t know what it means. So from a propaganda/marketing standpoint, it’s simply an attempt at damage control, and gives them a justification for claiming that their priests (the ones with the problems) aren’t pedophiles.
Mark-n-Dallas
@B: Christian = The Bible is the Word of God.
Stop apologizing for Christians. We know what they’ve done to us and continue to teach in their Churches.
Maria Johnson
The term is not one the Vatican made up; it is the real psychological term, employed by practicing psychologists to differentiate attraction to adolescents, either gender, not only male adolescents, so no implication or attempt to tie this to homosexual activity. In fact, Church official statements and all the education provided its ministers, ordained and lay, has emphasized that the molestation has no relationship to homosexuality.
The use of the proper term to express attraction to adolescents was first used by psychologists in the report recommending that the church close junior seminaries. The report stated that junior seminaries, given the unnatural circumstances of how adolescents were expected to live in these situations, often produced adult priests who were emotionally and psychologically stunted, having never developed healthy adult sexuality, and therefore having a higher level of inappropriate sexual orientation towards adolescents of either gender than is usually be found in the general population.
And the spin-mastering on percentages and pointing out that molestation happens in other religious settings as well as in other settings is to be expected when the media only talks about the molestation that has happened in the Catholic Church. Again, I don’t see how this fact can be interpreted as the Church trying to shift attention to molestation being a “gay” issue, unless of course one has such an agenda with the Catholic Church because of its position on homosexuality that everything it does or says is put through this lens.
I just spent the last several days explaining that intolerance and isolation of same gender orientation is not acceptable behavior for Catholics, that the Bible makes very few references to homosexuality and that the references it does make are contextual not directly pointed at homosexuality but rather at promiscuity which cuts across both heterosexual and homosexual lifestyles, and that the official position of the Church is that there is quite a bit of scientific evidence that homosexuality is innate not a decision although it equivocates and does not take a definitive position. I make a specific attempt to correct misguided interpretations of Church teaching because I love my gay family members, godchild, and friends very much, and do not view them in any way as disordered. So, my comments above do not reflect a homophobe, but rather a faithful Catholic who disagrees with parts of Church teaching on morality based on the primacy of my rather maturely developed individual conscience. But the article’s interpretation is just wrong–no need to promulgate intolerance or spin an agenda, from whatever source.
Charles Merrill
@B: n The Pope is fighting the philosophy of Socrates and Plato and art from ancient Greece in favor of theocracy as he has the power through god and Jeebus from above.
The Catholic Church believes that Jesus Christ is more than a wise teacher and that there is one true religion.
In Greek art at Socrates time, homosexual acts are depicted as an attraction between an older male, the lover (erastai), and the younger male, the beloved (eromenos). The objects of same-sex desire were young males, that is, males between the ages of puberty and “the growth of the first beard” .
rudy
@Maria Johnson: ” I don’t see how this fact can be interpreted as the Church trying to shift attention to molestation being a “gay” issue, unless of course one has such an agenda with the Catholic Church because of its position on homosexuality that everything it does or says is put through this lens.”
Ah, yes – the persecuted must always give their oppressors the benefit of the doubt.
Maria Johnson
Not a matter of being persecuted; just a matter of intellectual honesty. Rhetoric serves no one, not even the persecuted–action housed in the ability to look honestly at the facts does effect change, not twist facts to suit an emotionally loaded, sophist approach.
1EqualityUSA
Dear Maria Johnson,
At risk of, “taking an emotionally loaded, sophist approach”, you can tell what quality of spiritual soil one’s roots are planted in by the fruit that one bears. The fruits of the Spirit are love, patience, kindness, goodness, and truth. You know it when you see it and so will Christ. Idolatry begets folly. Ending junior seminaries will not tame a spirit.
“The spirit, the superior part of the soul, experiences renewal and satisfaction in God; and the sense, the lower part, feels sensory gratification and delight because it is ignorant of how to get anything else, and hence takes whatever is nearest, which is impure sensory satisfaction.” How many ‘dark nights’ can a young, Catholic seminarian endure when idols have replaced God, when politics have replaced homilies, and mercilessness has overtaken Christ’s message of inclusion? When treasures are gathered and heaped here on Earth, spirituality flees and finds its calling elsewhere. I do believe you when you say you have spent several days explaining life to the lifeless. This monster has been gestating for centuries. As soon as you left the room, they were most likely longing for the good old days when women were silent. The Catholic Church has systems issues and the fruit that they bear is coming to market. Thank you for your efforts. Your heart seems as though it is in the right place, just the wrong audience.
rudy
@Maria Johnson: Get back to me when the Vatican tries honesty.
Otherwise I’ll just go on happily living my “disordered” life in my thirty year old “artificial marriage.”
Robert, NYC
Amazing that this moron doesn’t even acknowledge the straight priests who molested girls which brings me to another point let alone addresses it, ephebophilia doesn’t cut it either.
Ratzinger issued an order to “weed” out seminarians perceived to be gay or whose inclination towards the same gender were supposedly apparent based on certain criteria. What about the straight seminarians inclined to molest girls? Which criteria would vatican storm troopers use to discern it? The question needs to be asked.
tarxien
@Maria Johnson:
Here is the comment from Archbishop Silvio Tomasi, as reported in the Guardian:
‘The statement said that rather than paedophilia, it would “be more correct” to speak of ephebophilia, a homosexual attraction to adolescent males.
“Of all priests involved in the abuses, 80 to 90% belong to this sexual orientation minority which is sexually engaged with adolescent boys between the ages of 11 and 17.”‘
Note, no mention of female victims who, as another commentator said, were in the majority.
This is explicit homophobia in my book, reiterating the age-old myths of gay men as child abusers.
The pope is scheduled to visit the UK next year. There is already intense debate about this and there will be protests.
Robert, NYC
@Maria Johnson:
Maria, can you explain then why during the U.S. molestation scandal, the Vatican issued an order to “weed out” suspect would-be gay seminarians from entering the priesthood based on certain criteria but failed to address which criteria would be used against the straight candidates for the priesthood? How would they be weeded out and how would the church perceive a straight potential molester based on psychological evaluation that all seminarians are subjected to before they are allowed to enter the seminaries? From what I’ve read, it appears that gays were the sole target of the witch hunt, not their straight counterpart offenders.
Robert, NYC
@tarxien:
I think the UK government should ban this self-righteous hate monger just as it did with Michael Savage, Geert Wilders and Robert Mugabe. This pope is complicit in the deaths of millions of people from HIV/AIDS in emerging nations where the roman cult has its missionaries by forbidding condom distribution and other life-saving information to prevent infection and untold numbers of births that have wrought poverty on many of the inhabitants. He should be charged with crimes against humanity. To say that condoms do not prevent HIV as he once said is an outrage and offensive to intelligent, rational, scientific and medical evidence to the contrary. This man is a criminal.
1EqualityUSA
Tharrr’s gold in them hills! Lots and lots of money to be made off of queers. Look at Bishop Malone in Maine, asking the flock to fork over extra cash to oppress gay Americans. A fist full o’ dollars and a mouth full o’ hate. He’s too busy counting his hate dollars to ponder crimes against humanity. He might even be rolling in it, laughing giddily in the sacristy. The red scare is over, so what is a poor hate monger to do? I can remember sitting in the jungles of Costa Rica, telling a biologist friend that gays were next. She said, “No!” and wouldn’t believe me. Now that same biologist is in Washington State. She called to say how correct I was that night, after Referendum 71 brought out the ‘best’ in the locals there. Ch-ching! Dollars, dollars, dollars. Tharrr’s gold in them hills! If Catholics would cleave to the Word, money would flow without effort. If people were being fed (spiritually speaking) at Church, more people would be interested in Church and tithes would reflect this.
“If you plant ice, you’re going to harvest wind.”—Jerry Garcia
rudy
@tarxien: Not only that, but it is hard to tell if he is merely ignorant or purposely mudding the waters by calling paedophilia and ephebophilia “sexual orientations.”
Whichever, reviving the false connection between gays and child molesters is despicable.
1EqualityUSA
I see them as gasps from a wounded monster. I wonder how Jesus would view the Church’s word smithing.
B
Mark-n-Dallas wrote, “@B: Christian = The Bible is the Word of God.
Stop apologizing for Christians. We know what they’ve done to us and continue to teach in their Churches.” Stop lying about what I posted, which was to point out that “Christian” is not the same as
“Catholic”, an historical fact – read up on the 30 years war if you need a refresher about what happened after the Protestants split off and told the Pope to go to hell.
You don’t have to believe that “Christian = The Bible is the Word of God” to call yourself or a church you form “Christian”. The First Amendment gives you the right to do what you want in terms of defining your theology and calling yourself a Christian – “Christian” is not a registered trademark.
B
Charles Merrill wrote, “@B: n The Pope is fighting the philosophy of Socrates and Plato and art from ancient Greece in favor of theocracy as he has the power through god and Jeebus from above.”
Don’t be ridiculous – the Pope is probably not involved at all – he probably has his hands full handling political squabbles between the rest of the upper levels of the hierarchy. At most he might have issued a directive to do what’s necessary to protect the Catholic Church’s financial resources and reputation, and left the implementation details to underlings.
It’s not about Socrates and Plato, but about avoiding the PR disaster of terms such as “pedophile priests”. “Ephebophile priests” doesn’t sound as bad due to (a) the victims being older and (b) most people not knowing what the word actually means.
It’s not much different than the way the “Computer Resources” department at a place I worked at kept changing its name because it had such a bad reputation that they wanted it to look like the complaints were about someone else.
Sterling
Ranta vs. Diocese of Savannah:
Diocese of Savannah Enables Catholic Child Rapist Priest to Abuse Children for 30+ Years
Secret Facts Revealed
The YouTube presentation is updated to the new version. It may take a little while longer for the new version to be visible. You can see it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDdkfmNY-6g
You can get to the presentation and the downloadable PDF file at http://www.susanvance.com/savannah_webshow.html or at http://www.clergysexualabuse.org (Most Clear to View)
1EqualityUSA
“Deliver us from evil” is a fantastic documentary about how priest are shuffled around from diocese to diocese. Insta-netflix…I’m going to the mountains, so slam a few NOM-skulls for me in my absence!!!! Love to you all.
Oscar
“Only “1.5%-5% of Catholic clergy were involved in child sex abuse,” relays the Guardian”
I guess the above should read ‘1.5%-5% of Catholic clergy were ever caught in child sex abuse’ for I’m sure at least half of them are at it!
shelby
Fuck no! They are pedophiles, pious demagogues, rogue men, defilers of common natural law, usurpers of truth, teachers of nightmares and fairy tales, bad dressers….and they have bad breath!
shelby
well if 5% of them fucked children, then 20 % do drugs, 2 % murdered nuns, 100% scare people on a daily basis, 9% go to nightclubs and put roofies in drinks, 80% piss in the sink….lol 5% kid fucking percentage…..nothing to get all upset about Ratzinger eh!!
Distingué Traces
“PEODPHILES”?
Really, Queerty?
That careless about an image you place in your header?
rudy
Peodphile – someone attracted to angry men?
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=peod
dontblamemeivotedforhillary
GOD is made up! The Catholic Church is a cult. Fear creates followers of religious demagogues. Secular societies spring from higher education which is accessible to the masses.
will clemens
I advocate the murder of the Pope!
A
Catholicism is more than most religions based on depriving oneself of sexual gratification, in order to strengthen one’s “ascetic” spiritual qualities. This is central to Paul’s doctrine. Men that are attracted to boys have little choice but to suppress their sexual desires most of the time. The more someone has something in them to repress, the stronger their powers of ascetism. Maybe this accounts for why men who like boys tend to be attracted to the Catholic priesthood. The root cause of the current problem is not evil on the part of church officials obfuscating what may have gone on. The root cause is that a religion based on sexual asceticism is a force of nature which can be bad.
The real harm in priest sex cases tends to be not the sex itself, willing or unwilling as far as the younger person is concerned, but the conflict that arises from the act of having homosexual sex while at the same time imparting guilt and shame over homosexuality. Anyone in a good state of mental and physiological health should recover from having a fearful experience fairly quickly, but when the priest plants seeds in the younger person that sexual gratification and homosexuality are evil then that’s where most of the lasting harm comes in.
It’s ok for the Catholic Church to defend itself by saying the phenomenon isn’t limited to just them, but extends to other religions as well, when viewed in this context. The isolation these particular priests feel, given the sexual proclivities they have, causes them to identify with being put on a cross. People who have desires within them that are considered evil by many are then attracted to types of work wherein forgiveness is important.
It has nothing to do with abstinence, or any alleged “stunted” development.
KJ
It would appear that most followers of the Bible have no knowledge of its history, or they would question most of what they read. It is not the ‘word of God,’ but the word of man, written by men who wished to create a following of their teachings. If any of the history is to be believed, one must first remember that Christ himself did not want any religion formed around his actions/words. To honor him, then named the bloody religion they formed after him. So much for respecting the messenger. That is, if you can believe any portion of the Bible.
The texts were not even written down for over two hundred years after the death of Christ. The originals can only be read by those who study ancient languages, and those scholars who have will tell you that they do not resemble the current bible, at all. It was altered by illiteracy, misspelling and intentional alteration to fit the word that the current religious leaders wanted to be followed. Just like the King James version of the book.
Yes, I have one. I keep it on my bookshelf next to ‘Appalachian Folk Tales,’ where it belongs.
Robert, NYC
KJ, absolutely. The Vatican to this day refuses to open its vaults for biblical scholars to read manuscripts that were written to be part of the bible but were rejected for inclusion therein. These same scholars believe that the reason they’re banned from getting access to them is that much of what is written down would spin christianity on its head in regard to the role of women and gay people, especially the roman cult. Why else barr the world from looking at them if they have nothing to hide?
schlukitz
Well, how else would they keep the Vatican Manifesto (bible)intact? ;D
1EqualityUSA
It is unfortunate that religion is destroying the message of Christ, distorting love to be conditional. Men “playing Church” will be held accountable. The Bible has been altered, whole books omitted, tortured interpretations foster prejudices, powers, again, misused. The constant that remains, the human psyche, is predictable. The adage, “History repeats itself” attests to this. The same issues that bothered people then are the same issues that bother people today. The Bible is so complex that, even if my life spanned 800 years, I could not plumb the depths of this work. It’s beyond human capacity. For all of its drama, psychology, history, mystery, and Law, what it really boils down to is showing love to your brothers and sisters, even hmmmmmghh mmmMMMaggie. (Oh, that hurt.) The Scriptures are like a three dimensional basket with chunks of it’s weave missing. The structure is still there, but some of the content has vanished. Since humankind never changes and history repeats, this three dimensional entity can be made whole by keeping ones’ eyes open. In the heat of battle (for equality) I’m going to make more of an effort to love. I don’t recognize my Father in many of these “religious” characters, nor in the words that spill from their lips. They are doing more harm than good. What irony. The mountains are beautiful today! The rain made everything smell good. Peace to your hearts and love to you all.
elle
1EqualityUSA : that is a beautifully said statement.
and i would just like to say to all that please dont judge the whole Catholic church based on these…priestly cunts… not every catholic is a hypocrite. and please dont hate the catholic religion, its actually a very good religion, it thaught us how to love everyone and allow anyone to love back, we are thaught this first and foremost, some people just tend to forget.
Robert, NYC
Elle, when your pope issues statements saying that “homosexuality” should be wiped from the face of the earth as he did several months ago; when his church psychiatrists claim that pedophilia = a gay orientation, how can you call that teaching love, our full equality aside that he persistently denigrates? His words have consequences and we’re seeing it in the upsurge of hate crimes committed against LGBT people across the globe. Hating the sin loving the sinner doesn’t wash any more. Its a lame excuse to exonerate the church from overt homophobia. There are some very bad people in this world who when they hear the church making such negative, unfounded statements about us incites them to go out and bash or kill gay people. Its all they need.
Yes, not all catholics are bad, but the vast majority of them support this pope and his statements. That’s not love, but hatred. They can and you can skew it all you want, that’s not love, but bigotry, learned behavior unlike our orientation.
schlukitz
@ No. 50 Elle:
its actually a very good religion, it thaught us how to love everyone and allow anyone to love back, we are thaught this first and foremost, some people just tend to forget.
You have got to be kidding? A “Good” religion?
The Crusades were good and about loving everyone?
Burning witchs at the stake was good and about loving everyone?
Torturing heretics was good and about loving everyone?
Burning homosexuals at the stake was good and about loving everyone?
The pope saying that “homosexuality” should be wiped from the face of the earth is good and loving everyone?
Telling people in Third World countries ravaged by AIDS/HIV not to use condoms to save lives is good and loving everyone one?
Forcing women to bear rape-induced children is good and loving everyone?
Honey, those aren’t just rose-colored glasses that you are wearing.
You’re wearing spectacles for the blind!
Robert, NYC
Schlukitz, right on!
Another thing. The Vatican forbids condom distribution and other forms of birth control in Africa and elswhere where it has missionaries claiming that condoms don’t prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS. That alone is a crime against humanity and Elle would call that love I suppose? Ratzinger’s statement on that was denounced by the W.H.O. and the majority of infectious disease experts around the world I might add.
Then there’s the Vatican again issuing a directive to weed out potential gay seminarians and coming up with criteria which none of us know what that is exactly, yet……totally ignores the straight seminarians with the potential to molest girls, they’re not weeded out of course and I doubt if they’ve come up with a criterion for that, how convenient. Elle would call that love too.
On the issue of abortion, if its the life of the mother or the child, they’d rather the mother die if that would be the outcome by not having the procedure done. Love? NOT!
Rat Zinger was a Nazi
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/16/us/16priest.html?hp
NYTimes article refers to claims by experts who say that priest sexual misconduct toward women is actually much more common than the outrageous child sex abuse scandals.
Oh and guess what? The Catholic church pays a little hush money to the women, moves the priests around, and worries first and foremost about protecting the Catholic ‘brand’. No punishment for the priest, particularly if he can keep parishoner donations coming in.
Why does the United States continue to allow corrupt organizations like this to operate?
Robert, NYC
Doesn’t surprise me that more women are the victims. In Latin America there are some priests who’ve actually fathered children with women on the side and the priests aren’t kicked out.
I’m still trying to find out the criteria the Vatican uses to weed out straight seminarians or priests who molest girls and women and why are they allowed to remain in the clergy while their gay counterparts are banned?
1EqualityUSA
Dear Robert, NYC, Gays are an easy mark and a money generator. As for hypocrites clad in vestments and clericals, God will hold these men to a higher standard, as we are judged by the amount of light sinned against. I’m long past wasting energy on these men who abuse their authority on Earth. They will be seen for what they are by the One having the capacity to read hearts and it’s not an enviable fate. I’d rather be holding the hand of a woman than a sign stating whom God hates. The Catholic Church is failing this test and I can only imagine that the dark forces are having a good laugh at all of it. Idolatry and worldliness reaps no lasting treasures. Gays are being used by an empty and misguided institution, that’s a symptom of futility if ever there was one. Focus on legalities, as bitterness weighs hearts down faster. People are turning away from churches because the message is inappropriate and self-serving. The symptoms are there, one by one, as clear as symptoms of pneumonia, cardiac failure, and infections. Does it take a 16th century monk from Spain to point out these deficiencies? It wouldn’t hurt for the Pope to curl up in his Papal “snuggie” with a good read every once in a while. If ever a doctor of the church was needed it is now.
magdelyn
I would be interested to know the demographics of the victims. Particularly, I’d like to know the age of the victims when sexual activity commonly began. Furthermore, I’d like to know how many of the victims now identify as gay.
Bill Perdue
magdelyn – start with the Survivors’ Network of those Abused by Priestsat. Link to it here http://www.snapnetwork.org/