Wake Up, Vatican...Gay Priests Are NOT the Problem!

[pax]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/26/priest.abuse.ap/index.html

Eleven priests in one Archdiocese alone have been removed from pastoral duties due to more allegations of sexual abuse of children.

 

[Irvine511]

we all know that gay people are *objectively disordered*

 

[The Disciple]

Look, whether U agree with the Roman Catholic Church's position or not, or whether U believe they're focusing on gays 2 divert attention from other issues, ultimately, they have the right 2 create their own rules.

I'm not 4 organized religion, and a lot of Catholic Dogma is not Biblical, but if as an organization they want to have certain rules, they're entitled 2 that.

 

[pax]

Absolutely, and I'm entitled to believe that their priorities are disordered.

 

[verte76]

This is not cool. They do have their priorities screwed up.

 

[VertigoGal]

I'm more concerned with legalizing gay marriage than convincing the Church to stop thinking homosexuality is a sin. They can make their own rules*, and yes I do think they've got some messed up priorities. But then again, if I headed a church and strongly believed homosexuality was against God, it would only make sense to kick them out, right?



*within the law, ie sexually abusing children=not okay

 

[beau2ifulday]

I don't neccessarily disagree with the Church rejecting Gay Priests. However, I start to have problems with it when they repeatedly 'overlook' the clear problem that exists within it of sexual abuse of children, yet seem to condemn homosexuality as a greater 'evil' or 'sin'.

 

[Irvine511]

I don't neccessarily disagree with the Church rejecting Gay Priests. However, I start to have problems with it when they repeatedly 'overlook' the clear problem that exists within it of sexual abuse of children, yet seem to condemn homosexuality as a greater 'evil' or 'sin'.

it's because they're using homosexuality as a scapegoat for pedophilia.

they are emphatically not the same thing; homosexuality has as much to do with pedophilia as heterosexuality has to do with rape; yet, the church needs to blame someone ... and now that it's not cool to blame "the Jews" for everything ...

(kidding on that last comment ... or at least irony intended)

 

[verte76]

That's right, they're not going about the business of correcting the problem of sexual abuse right at all. They can't blame it all on the gays, but they seem to want to. That's ridiculous.

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

It is dumb, yes...I dunno, molesting children's a hell of a lot scarier to me than a gay priest would ever be. It's sad that some people seem to flip the two around (or, as Irvine said, combine the two...which irritates the hell out of me, too).

Angela

 

[yolland]

Look, whether U agree with the Roman Catholic Church's position or not, or whether U believe they're focusing on gays 2 divert attention from other issues, ultimately, they have the right 2 create their own rules.

I agree with this in principle...BUT I believe it's the case (melon will undoubtedly know for sure) that Catholic doctrine explicitly distinguishes between homosexual orientation (which is NOT considered a sin) and homosexual sex (which is). And ALL Catholic priests, regardless of sexual orientation, are after all expected to be celibate. So, by enacting this policy, they really are taking the undoctrinally-sound stance that a homosexual orientation will inevitably cause priests to become active pedophiles. That stance comes from homophobia, not Catholic doctrine.

 

[verte76]

It is dumb, yes...I dunno, molesting children's a hell of a lot scarier to me than a gay priest would ever be. It's sad that some people seem to flip the two around (or, as Irvine said, combine the two...which irritates the hell out of me, too).

Angela

Yeah, molestation is one thing, and being gay is quite another. Molestation is wrong and harmful. Being gay, in my opinion, is neither.

 

[melon]

yolland would be correct. To add to the mix, however, is that a lot of the relatively gay friendly doctrine comes from Pope Paul VI, whom both John Paul II and Benedict XVI are not too fond of. The current pope, in particular, was known for being virulently homophobic during his previous life as "Cardinal Ratzinger," head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Undoubtedly, it is this homophobia that is seeping out of the current papacy, which is merely a continuance and expansion of the homophobia that was rampant during John Paul II. In due time, the Catholic Church will probably mirror fundamentalist Protestantism and start booting all homosexuals from the pews too.

Melon

 

[XHendrix24]

Uh...is it just me, or did that article have nothing whatsoever to do with homosexuality?

 

[Irvine511]

Uh...is it just me, or did that article have nothing whatsoever to do with homosexuality?

the point that Pax was making is, in light of the current Pope's push to literally purge the clergy of gay priests, this is a perfect example of scapegoating -- gay people are not pedophiles, pedophiles are pedophiles, but to conflate the two draws attention away from the legitimate problem of pedophilia (which, i would argue, might be directly attributed to the arrested develeopment in the sexuality of many priests, gay or straight) in order to fault homosexuality as the source of the problem when it is not.

 

[Irvine511]

yolland would be correct. To add to the mix, however, is that a lot of the relatively gay friendly doctrine comes from Pope Paul VI, whom both John Paul II and Benedict XVI are not too fond of. The current pope, in particular, was known for being virulently homophobic during his previous life as "Cardinal Ratzinger," head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Undoubtedly, it is this homophobia that is seeping out of the current papacy, which is merely a continuance and expansion of the homophobia that was rampant during John Paul II. In due time, the Catholic Church will probably mirror fundamentalist Protestantism and start booting all homosexuals from the pews too.

Melon

and don't forget the cadre of high-ranking American priests who whisper into Razinger's ear.