Now we now why a number of the National Review Board members resigned last month. However, I think the National Catholic Reporter’s analysis is too simplistic. On the one hand, the NRB members complain that they have been used by some bishops as a public relations diversion (Gee, ya think? I said that from the beginning), so that they could say they were cleaning up the mess while really doing very little. Just as Bishop Wilton Gregory was calling the Scandal “history” back in February, many people were replying that the bishops hadn’t even begun to really address the roots of the Scandal.
As long as the priesthood is full of active homosexual men (which it is), the roots of the scandal will not have been addressed. Take out the homosexual men from the priesthood, and there will be no more problem.
Take out the sexually active homosexual men you mean? What about the pedophiles? Not all pedophiles are homosexual, and not all homosexuals are pedophiles.
The root of this scandal is abuse of power, and people who make vows and break them, doing incredible damage to others in the process.
Yes there is a huge problem with active homosexual men in the priesthood- No one should be a sexually active priest, no matter if the are gay or straight. But all homoseuxal priests are not the problem. Active homosexual priests and pedophile priests are the problem. If you remove a priest from his office who has remained faithful to his vow of chastity, and obeys the Church, and does not teach false doctrines, all because his sexual inclination is wrong, then what you are doing is wrong. He has done nothing wrong. It is the act which is a sin, not the inclination.
Remove active homosexual men from the priesthood and you will remove part of the problem.
Sure, Theresa. I should clarify.
It would be unfair to remove a chaste and holy man with a homosexual tendency. I agree. But what should be done, from now on, is to not allow homosexual men to be ordained. Why? Because a great many of them (the majority, by most surveys) are homosexually active and dissent mightily from Church truth. Further, a significant percentage of them go after teen boys – 90% of the molestation problem in the Church. There is no ‘right’ to be a priest. Homosexual men suffer from a serious disorder – and since a high percentage of them cannot keep their vows and a significant percentage of them go after teen boys – the best choice for protecting such boys in the future is to NEVER allow homosexual men to be in positions of power over them, or to be alone with them. Parents should be able to trust any priest with their son. Until the priesthood is de-homosexualized, they will never be able to do so. Protecting children and allowing parents to trust priests around their sons are far more important than ordaining sexually disordered priests.
Hey, Sinner, why bother splitting hairs. Let’s just
“from now on,…not allow homosexual men to be ordained. Why? Because a great many of them (the majority, by most surveys) are homosexually active and dissent mightily from Church truth.”
And add to that: do not allow heterosexual men to be ordained. Why? Because a great many of them (the majority, by most surveys) are heterosexually active and dissent mightily from Church truth.
This way we can really clear the decks.
For what, I’m not sure. But get rid of everybody!
Bishop Bruskewitcz is right. The idea of a lay advisory board policing bishops is a bad one on at least two fronts, both of which could be seen as indicative of bad faith on the part of its creators.
1. It is not the role of the laity to police the bishops in this manner.
2. It is yet another example of the bishops continuing to shirk their personal responsibilities as heirs of the Apostles for a scandal their derilection has contributed to so greatly.
Sorry, Earl Appleby, Jr. but I disagree.
And why not?
Because they have demonstrated that they cannot do it themselves.
They need it because they are not law enforcement people and there is an obvious conflict of interest here.
Besides, it will be a long time before I trust them to do it by themselves!