Some Catholic leaders have contended that because 80 percent of the abuse victims were male, the crisis must have been caused by gay priests acting out. But Dr. Terry said she found that abusers were confused about their sexuality and had poor social skills, but had no clear pattern of homosexual behavior.
She believes that they abused boys mainly because they had access to boys. "Even though there was sexual abuse of many boys, that doesn't necessarily mean that the person had a homosexual identity," she said.
So, just in case you were wondering, men who have sex with teenage boys or other men aren't homosexual. They just have access to teenage boys and other men. So can we safely conclude that men who have sex with women really aren't heterosexual? They just have access to women.
Someday common sense will catch up with these people, and they will be really embarrassed.
I wonder if our bishops will listen to the these pseudo-scientists yet again. Yeah... conventional wisdom says they will. So until common sense catches up with them, we'll play it safe and keep our children away from priests.
Caution is always both prudent and wise. But judgment is best left to rightful authority. The unfortunate consequence of these public scandals is that too much prejudgment occurs. Outrage should be left until a final sentencing of the individuals involved when all the facts are known and are in the public domain through court records. This is seldom the case.
ReplyDeleteWhat more needs to be known? There's already been plenty of sentences, settlements and judgments handed out. How long do we have to wait before passing judgment on the actions of our irresponsible Catholic leaders?
ReplyDeleteI think the main point here is my exception to the excuses being handed. Would we say that some guy was simply confused about his sexuality and had poor social skills if that guy was school bus driver who molested children? No. We would call him a sexual deviant. If a man has sex with other men, he's a homosexual. However, if that man happens to be a priest, suddenly he's not a homosexual, but just someone confused about his sexuality? It doesn't wash to apply a different standard when the perpetrator happens to be a priest. It's a form of clericalism, and unfortunately our bishops will lap up this clericalism. It's the same clericalism that cause them to hide the abuse to begin with.
You are right, though. Judgment is best left to rightful authority, and our bishops, by not turning child molesters over to the police, completely ignored that sage advice.