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Homosexuality and the Clergy
The Absence of Rage
Lyle J. Arnold, Jr.
In his book Sacrilege, author Leon Podles comments on the Hierarchy’s lack of rage over the clerical sexual scandals and cover-ups by the Hierarchy:
"Those who dealt with the Bishops have consistently remarked that Bishops have never expressed outrage or righteous anger, even at the most horrendous cases of abuse and sacrilege such as abusing boys after getting them drunk on consecrated wine." (1)
Past victim Mark Serrano asks:
Where is the indignation of Prelates? | |
Mark Serrano, a victim of sexual priest abuse, once confronted Bishop Frank Rodimer of Paterson, New Jersey, on the part he played in the clerical abuse. A friend of Bishop Rodimer, Fr. Peter Osinski took boys to bed at the Bishop's beach house while the Prelate slept in the next room.
Serrano asked the Bishop, "Where is your moral indignation?" He answered: "Then I don't get it. What do you want?" Rodimer's answer brings to mind St. John's expression regarding the lukewarm: “I vomit thee out of my mouth” (Apoc. 3: 16).
Podles continues: "What Serrano wanted Rodimer to do is to behave like a man with a heart outraged by the evil of the action. But Rodimer couldn't; his inability to feel outrage was a quality that helped make him a Bishop." (2)
How could this "quality" infect the Princes of the Church?
If one takes even a cursory glance at the progressivist mentality, he will see that it fits neatly with Podles' analysis that many of today’s Catholics "secretly suspect that Jesus was being un-Christian in his attitude to the Scribes and Pharisees when he was angry at them, that he was un-Christian when he drove the moneychangers out of the Temple or declared that millstones (not vacations in treatment centers) were the way to treat child abusers" (3).
Indeed, in Atila Guimaraes' book In the Murky Waters of Vatican II, the author notes that the spirit of Vatican II and Progressivism is "tolerance towards the world." (4) Yet the spirit of the world is "wickedness" (Eph. 6:12). The deduction is clear. Bishops lost their ability to be enraged through the Progressivism of Vatican II.
In his book Gay Priests, sociologist James G. Wolfe estimated that 48.5 % of priests and 55.1 % of seminarians were homosexuals. (5) Other estimates for "gay" priests run as high as 60 %. (6) In the scandals exposed after the Boston débacle in 2002, it became known that the number of priests who abused pre-pubescent children was small. The bulk of the victims were young men. Thus the problem is not one of pedophilia, but homosexuality.
The experts also agree that only a portion, perhaps a very small portion, of sexual abuse is ever reported. One estimate about the number of abuser priests has them at between 5,000 and 10,000. (7)
Currently there are about 46,000 priests in the U.S. (globally 400,000), so if we consider the fact that only "a very small portion" of the abusive priests and their victims is known, the high estimates listed above of homosexual priests may be acceptable. (8) Since the United States has 6% of the world's Catholics and 11% of the world's priests, Podles makes these calculations:
"To arrive at estimates of abusers and victims in the universal Church (and there is no reason to think Americans are uniquely sinful), one must multiply the American figures to arrive at an estimate of perhaps 45,000 to 100,000 abusive priests since 1950 and anywhere from 100,000 to 2,000,000 victims. "(9)
Dr. Rojas: homosexuality is a moral disorder that can be cured | |
In a previous article, I noted that progressivists find no problem with the Church adopting the world’s criteria to judge homosexuality (10). In 1973/1974, the American Psychiatric Association voted "to remove homosexuality from the category of mental disorder or illness. It is now simply another sexual orientation” (11). Considering the open admission of homosexuals into the ranks of Holy Orders (12), simple inductive reasoning tells us that the progressivist churchmen agree with the American Psychiatric Association.
But Dr. Enrique Rojas, an eminent psychiatrist, disagrees with this. His professional judgment led him to the conclusion that homosexuality is a moral disorder, and further, that it can be cured (13). With the evidence that homosexuality is endemic in the Catholic priesthood, it remains to be seen whether the Catholic Bishops, led by Benedict XVI, will admit the scandal, turmoil and crisis that this disorder has caused in the Catholic Church. And, admitting such, will they then send the disordered priests to be cured?
St. Thomas Aquinas and St. John Chrysostom said, "He who is not angry, whereas he has cause to be, sins. For unreasonable patience is the hotbed of many vices, it fosters negligence, and incites not only the wicked but the good to do wrong." (14)
Progressivism has neutralized Catholic leaders so that they no longer become angry over even the most egregious sins. Let us entreat St John Chrysostom and St. Thomas Aquinas to restore rage to the leaders of the Church. Let us refer these prayers to Our Lady of Good Success and Our Lady of Fatima, that this progressivist swampland of our day be drained, and in its place, buds may appear, the buds of the flower of the Reign of Mary.
1. Leon J. Podles, Sacrilege - Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church, Baltimore: Crossland Press, 2008, p. 467.
2. Ibid., p. 252,
3. Ibid., p. 468
4. Tradition in Action, MAETA: 1997, p. 39.
5. "Homosexual Orientation Among Roman Catholic Priests," Religious tolerance online.
6. Laurie Goodstein, New York Times online, 9-15-05
8. Podles, op cit, pp 241. 239
9. Ibid., 242.
10 "More Reports of Secrecy in the Oakland Diocese," TIA online, 5-8-08.
11. Podles, op cit, p.285.
12. Michael Rose, Goodbye, Good men, Washington D.C: Regnery Pub, 2002.
13. Matthew Cullinan Hoffman, "Eminent Psychiatrist says Homosexuality is a Disorder that can be Cured," Life Site News online, May 1, 2008.
14. One Sins by Not Becoming Duly Irate, Forgotten Truths, TIA online
Posted May 22, 2008
Related Topics of Interest
Good Reactions on Priestly Homosexuality
More Reports of Secrecy in the Oakland Diocese
Ratzinger on the Sex Scandal
Holy Redeemer Parish Marches in "Gay Parade"
Please Act on Evidence that Card. McCarrick Is a Homosexual
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