Vatican: sex abuse in Catholic Church was a homo problem, not pedophilia

[ccharles000]

Let's see...is Papa Ratzi and Co.'s strategy to say flaming BS like this over and over to convince themselves this lie is true? No it's not because their child-raping priests are gay, it's because they are deviant and sick men who haven't dealt in any kind of healthy way with themselves as sexual beings. And many of the molestation cases involved young girls.And the church knew that praying away the deviance didn't work and continued to ship these criminals around. Pay special attention to Tomasi's "look over there at other scandals" BS.

The sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church in the US and abroad was a matter of homosexuals preying on adolescent boys, not one of pedophilia, said the Vatican's representative at the UN in Geneva, Switzerland. It is "more correct," said Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, to speak of ephebophilia, a homosexual attraction to adolescent males, than pedophilia, in relation to the scandals.

"Of all priests involved in the abuses, 80 to 90 per cent belong to this sexual orientation minority which is sexually engaged with adolescent boys between the ages of 11 and 17," said Tomasi. His statement is backed up by a report commissioned by the US bishops that found that in the overwhelming majority of cases the clergy involved were homosexuals, with 81 percent of victims being adolescent males.

Tomasi also responded to criticisms, saying that while the Catholic Church has been "busy cleaning its own house, it would be good if other institutions and authorities, where the major part of abuses are reported, could do the same and inform the media about it." According to information from various sources, the problem of sexual abuse of minors in religious organizations is widespread among Protestant churches and Jewish communities.

And this whinefest is falling on deaf ears, since the UN Human Rights Council published a damning statement by the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) that makes no bones about it -- the Vatican was responsible for the raping, molestation, child porn and other ghastly offenses by priests -- and the coverup. It charges that the Catholic Church has failed to honor obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child."

http://www.pamshouseblend.com/diary/13317/vatican-sex-abuse-in-catholic-church-was-a-homo-problem-not-pedophilia

[pnwmom]

1. The real problem was that the hierarchy sheltered the predator priests,

whether they were gay or straight.

But technically, the Church is correct. The definition of a pedophile is someone who has sex with pre-adolescents -- but most of the cases involved adolescents. Also, most of the priests who have been identified preyed on young males rather than females.

But the vast majority of priests, gay or straight, were not involved. The problem was magnified because the predators had so many victims over the years, thanks to the Church's terrible handling of the situation.

[ccharles000]

2. I don't think they are correct.

The church is saying that what the priests did was because they are gay and not pedophiles.

[notadmblnd]

5. if it were about them being gay, they could have been fucking each other.

[ccharles000]

6. yup

[Thickasabrick]

13. That is an excellent point. nt

[Canuckistanian]

19. Or identified while cruising gay bars

Funnily enough, I don't remember any Catholic priests being "caught" in a bath-house raid.

[Hepburn]

23. Exactly....

...they are pedophiles ~~ they liked children, not adults. And, as I said above, until recently, what was available were altar BOYS. No such thing as altar GIRLS until very recently.

[pnwmom]

9. Well, they aren't pedophiles if they're having sex only with teens.

A disproportionate number were males preying on male teens. But as you pointed out, the ones who did this didn't do it BECAUSE they were gay. Some researchers say that up to half the priests in the Church may be gay, and only a tiny fraction were involved in the scandal.

As for the straight priests, they had less access to girls than gay priests to boys. Less access, less chance to prey.

[JerseygirlCT]

28. There's a theory, that I think makes some sense, that

men who know they have a prediliction toward teen or pre-teen boys seek the church, hoping that it will help them control their problem. Of course, too often they then find themselves in situations of power over their prospective victims. So there may be more men in seminary with that problem, but claiming the problem isn't the lack of careful psych screening for those entering seminary but homosexuality is just a convenient way to point fingers in the other direction in order to allow them to continue as is.

Of course, if the RCC would disband the he-man-women-hater's club and allow women into the priesthood, they'd find far more people seeking entrance to seminaries, and they wouldn't have to take whatever warm body they can find.

[pnwmom]

31. I also think that allowing women to enter the seminary would take care of their

recruiting problems so they could be more selective.

[Thickasabrick]

12. Self Delete

[merh]

30. Did you go to the article that your author is discussing?

This article?
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/sep/09092910.html

This does appear to be a correct statement: "said the Vatican's representative at the UN in Geneva, Switzerland. It is 'more correct,' said Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, to speak of ephebophilia, a homosexual attraction to adolescent males, than pedophilia, in relation to the scandals."

There is a difference between pedophilia and ephebophilia.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article642369.ece

The Church did everything it could to coverup the wrongs of their priests. The Vatican representative is saying that they are no longer ignoring the problem. I don't know if it is enough, I don't know if anything could ever be enough.

Oh, just an FYI - the Catholic Church believes all sex that is not between a married man and woman, is a sin. premartial, extra marital, etc.

I'm not defending the Church, just pointing out the article and the church's statement.

[SharonAnn]

7. There is an enormous number of priests who had regular sex with women or girls.

Is this seen as "normal"?

Seriously, it would be very interesting to find out how many child support payments are made by the Roman Catholic Church for the children of priests. It is being done, regularly.

And, there are priests who molested young girls and female teenagers instead boys and men. Plenty of them. See "Deliver Us From Evil" for one absolutely heartbreaking story.

I know victims of the ebephobes, adult homosexuals, pedophiles who abused girls, and women who have born children to priests.

You're right about the fact that the real problem(s) are that the hierarchical Church not only covered up the abuses but moved these priests around which pemitted them to create new victims.

True example: My high school principal (a priest) was an ebephobe. When the father of our senior class president found out he'd been molesting his son for years, he went to the Arch-Bishop that day, demanded to see him, and told him that the principal would be gone from his position by morning or the story would go to the media. The father was a prominent lawyer. The priest was sent somewhere, perhaps some kind of attempted rehab. Then he resurfaced within a year as the leader of the Newman club at the very large state university in our state. The Newman Society is an organization for students of the Catholic faith. An entirely new hunting ground.

[pnwmom]

10. So how has this whole business affected your family?

Are they still Catholic? I'm hanging on by a thread.

[MichiganVote]

14. Do you have any idea how many of the "majority" of the priests hid their fellow clergy's crimes?

Nor likely. No one really does. Do you know how many of that same "majority" turned in their criminal brothers to the police?

None. Not a single Father, Padre, Brother, Monsignor, Bishop, or Deacon has turned in a single sickening bastard. Not one.

So don't rattle on about this bullshit about the "majority" of priests who did not abuse kids. They are a society, a brotherhood, a sect, a cult....they stand together. Period. Never do they rat each other out.

And that means people, of any age, get hurt. Get it now?

[MichiganVote]

18. On the contrary..the majority of the victims are the youngsters who never spoke to anyone.

And the predators had as many victims as the church, the congregants and our society allowed them to have...an unlimited hunting ground.

[Hepburn]

22. The children around the priests were altar BOYS...

...no altar GIRLS until recently. The pedo priests took what was available. Young children are pretty androgenous...so I have to say that it was an issue of what was available.

JMHO

[MichiganVote]

24. Every child was available to "Father" and if you had grown up in the RCC you would know that.

"Father" was God...who didn't want their kid to be close to God?

[Hepburn]

25. A good pal of mine who will be 70 years old next month was molested by a priest...

...my pal was in the first grade in a Catholic school in Los Angeles. I have seen pictures of him at that age and we are talking an absolutely gorgeous child. Well, he went home and told his parents what the priest had done ~~ and they beat the shit out of him for lying about the Father.

Great, huh? But even worse...

They made he go to the Father and confess his "lies" and apologize. So...thereafer, the POS priest had a real target all his own.

[MichiganVote]

35. Yeah that was typical. Nobody believed the kids and even if they did, they were powerless.

[HillbillyBob]

3. From my informal poll , of all the priests that I

I molested were all adults who did not molest children only consenting adults.
I stayed away from the preverts.
Only partly in jest, I get a bad vibe from molesters and would as soon shoot em in the balls as look at them, the rusty spoon idea comes to mind.

Partly it is because as a gay man I have been compared to those creeps over and over and I find their destroying someones innocence about the lowest thing I can think off, rape is rape. I have been on the receiving end of it once, I was anti NAMBLA before that happened to me anyway.

[southernyankeebelle]

8. No all priests are gay. I wonder if the Pope is. As a catholic I can't stand the bastard.

He has allot of nerve that creep.

[notadmblnd]

4. and the little boys seduced the preists too, I bet.

:sarcasm:

[BillDU]

11. and all the dead crime victims in the world are a killer problem and not murder

So that's the solution..
Switch to altar girls instead of boys and then maybe they'll be happy its heterosexual.
I remember those times.
It seems not a coincidence to me that the pedophilia crackdown on the Catholic Church didn't happen until it became clear they were against the war. Then it came out. So it was always my conclusion that it wasn't about molesting anyone it was about supporting the war or not supporting the war.

[MichiganVote]

15. It was about a ten year war that victims, not the congregants, waged against the lies

that the church, the congregants and anyone else who distorts the truth waged...rage, tears, pain, fear, drugs, suicide,

It was the victims who stood up to the church, the wretched, spurned, embattled and battered...it was the victims themselves who said, ENOUGH!

It had nothing to do with a war. A war is nothing compared to what these victims have stood up to and if you were someone who stood with them, you would know that.

[BillDU]

26. Yeah, right.

I was born and raised in a Roman Catholic family and attended, ( when a child ), Roman Catholic institutions, including the Church and for 5 years a Roman Catholic elementary school. I was an altar boy for awhile. I knew other Catholic boys very well. I in my younger years, did in fact, stand with them.
I still hold the opinion that it did have something to do with their position on the war.
You say " A war is nothing compared to what these victims have stood up to".
That says it all to me.
Yeah so If I am to believe you, getting your dick sucked by a priest is horribly inferior to being killed or mutilated, having your family killed and torn out from under you etc. After the explosion seeing your mother's brains hanging out of her destroyed body is alot better...
Yeah.. right.

[MichiganVote]

36. Is a competition for misery ever justified then?

[JerseygirlCT]

34. Which war are you talking about?

this problem has been around for a long, long, time. Victims have been organizing for at least a decade now.

This isn't politics, this is abuse by people in positions of power - made much worse by their claim to some sort of moral authority.

[BillDU]

37. Pick one, any one

That's as far as I go.
I'll let you believe as you like.

[BillDU]

40. Ok Not the last ..One more.

During that period of time anyone who was pro-war could get away with anything. Treat their fellow humans as horribly as they wanted.
Anyone who was against the war...
If they had the slightest fault,
it was magnified and made the worst of.

[regnaD kciN]

16. As I said before...

...at the time the scandal first broke, I heard from sources within the Jesuits (whose relationship with the hierarchy hasn't been exactly warm over the past fifty years) that the Vatican had made a conscious decision to pay off and cover up the many more cases involving abuse of female victims, but let the cases where the victim was male become public, so they could go on to write off the matter as a "problem with homosexuals in the priesthood" rather than a problem with the celibacy requirement. That way, the conservatives in Rome could crack down on gays and start excluding them from the clergy, and declare the problem "solved." :grr:

[MichiganVote]

17. The Vatican does not care whether the offending priests are gay...

they only care that none of the money comes from their coffers...and btw...very little of it has.

[JerseygirlCT]

29. Yup. I think that sounds about right. nt

[pnwmom]

32. Certainly sounds plausible. n/t

[Hepburn]

20. WTF?

The catholic church is seriously fucked up.

[merh]

33. That is an understatement

What sense is there in preventing women from entering the priesthood?

What sense is there in requiring celibacy?

And don't get me started on the way they mandate catholic parents must educate their children but the church does not fund its schools.

The church is really not about it's members. It is about it's hierarchy and age old male dominance and control.

Saying they are "seriously fucked up" is too kind.

[NashVegas]

21. So .. Father Daley Was Really a Homo While He Was Feeling Up the Little Girls?

Damn.

[JerseygirlCT]

27. Yup, this has been their "theory" for a while now

point the finger at the gays and claim the problem is about homosexuality, and that homosexuality and pedophilia are tied. It's taking something truly wrong and horrible and shocking, and raising it to a whole new level, IMO.

How much better had they done as they are supposed to do: admit their fault, repent of their sin and sin no more.

[BlooInBloo]

38. One wonders just how irrational and immoral religion has to get...

before people will stop believing in it? Is there *any* limit? :rofl:

[AngryAmish]

39. The priest is right

The chirch has a lot of fucked up things but the majority of victims were boys between 11 and 17. True pedophiles (in the pyschological term not commomly used term) tend to abuse both males and females. Ephebophiles tend to select one sex for their victims. To tie in another case, Polanski seems to be a ephebophile.

The church provided a safe harbor where these guys did not have social and familial pressure to marry and also provided an endless stream of victims. When discovered raping the children the church also covered things up. It is sick.