I am LIVID about this ABC WNT report (Catholic ban on gays in priesthood)

[underpants]

My wife paused this and we watched it together last night. Now I am not gay nor Catholic but it is outrageous that this would be on a national network news program. NOWHERE in this report was there any mention that homosexuality has NOTHING to do with the likelihood of being a pedophile or a sexual predator. In fact it is taken as a given the way this is reported.

This is a total outrage. Unbelievable totally unbelievable and this is a toned down version of what aired last night.

http://www.abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1148417

Vatican to Reaffirm Ban on Gay Priests

That time frame means the document will be released just as a Vatican-mandated evaluation of all U.S. seminaries, ordered in the wake of the U.S. clergy sex abuse scandal, gets under way.

The Vatican press office announced in November 2002, at the height of the U.S. clergy sex abuse scandal, that the Congregation for Catholic Education was drawing up guidelines for accepting candidates for the priesthood that would address the question of whether gays should be barred.

The agency said the new document would indicate that men with homosexual tendencies shouldn't be ordained even if they are celibate "because their condition suggests a serious personality disorder which detracts from their ability to serve as ministers."

[Chimichurri]

1. this infuriated me as well

Vargas said the homosexual clean up was an attempt at curtailing sex abuse! This is the conservative movement towards aligning the gay community with pedophiles. It's outrageous.

[underpants]

2. Welcome to DU

:hi:

You must have seen it. Both Vargas and the reporter (Tapper?) clearly implied that the two go hand in hand. I was shocked now I am mad.

[Chimichurri]

5. aww thanks :) Glad to be here!

[terrya]

3. I have to laugh after hearing of a shortage of priests now...

the Vatican excluding even more people for the priesthood.

No women as priests. And now no gay men as priests.

Yes...this is Pope Benedict's responge to pedophiles in the Church...purge the ranks of gay men.

Wonderfully hateful, eh?

[terip64]

4. I was raised Catholic and I was sick when I heard this

I heard it on NPR. It is disgusting and makes me so proud that I left the church and didn't subject my kids to the hypocrisy of it all. To even suggest that the gay priests were the ones molesting anyone is unbelievable. We all know that is not true. I was there, I know. It was the drunks and it still is.

[underpants]

7. Did NPR report on it in the same manner?

Starting with the assumption that gay=pedophile?

The drunks huh? I had never heard that before.

[terip64]

13. Pretty much

they didn't comment on it really at all. And yes, many of the priests that people whispered about were drinkers. Many priests who weren't molesters were drinkers. The only priests that I can think of that weren't drinkers aren't priests anymore. And I also have to add that it wasn't only the priests, in my experience it was also the 8th grade math teacher of the catholic school that I attended and I am sure some of the commentators at the church. It was everywhere and everyone knew it.

[underpants]

15. Wow

sounds horrible.

[CountAllVotes]

14. very true - many priests are drunks

I should know - my father was a drunk and he knew lots of drunken priests, one which blessed his house! :grr:

:argh:
:kick:

[spuddonna]

16. I actually feel the church left us...

The people of the Catholic Church are the victims of the Church authority.

The drunks, the pedophiles, the corruption... The final straw for me was when I found out my parish priest in Waltham, MA was stealing money literally from the poor box - over $100,000...

But you know what, one of the only priests I looked up to, the one who helped our class make first communion in 3rd grade, we now believe was a gay man. He was a Jesuit priest, and he reminded me of a modern St. Francis. I always felt bad because in the winter he still wore his 'flip flops'.

He died of cancer, but my friends and family believe he died of AIDS. He was a wonderful man who spent nearly all of his time out ministering to the poorest and sickest in our parish. He didn't do 'tea' with the wealthy patrons, he didn't even own a car, he bummed rides with people in the parish. He helped organize a mini soup kitchen for our parish... needless to say, the rich people in our parish were always trying to get him transferred! I grew up thinking all priests were like him. You can imagine my disappointment...

The Catholic Church has become the antithesis of Christ's teachings. I've heard people rail against the church saying it was the Anti-Christ (Personally, I think * is the antichrist...) but they have devolved into something incredibly ugly, hateful and criminally dangerous...

[Bill McBlueState]

6. on the other hand

I don't know why people are surprised that the Catholic hierarchy has weird ideas about all things sexual. Just look at them.

It would be best for progressives of all stripes to distance themselves from such a regressive right-wing organization.

[zalinda]

8. Don't these "reporters" do any research?

I've read in a report that it's straight men that are more likely to abuse than gay men. Just think about all the cases that have come to light, gay or straight? And, even when a little boy is abused, the abuser is/lives/acts as a straight man. There are plenty of men out there that think if you are having the act done to you, you are not gay.

zalinda

[underpants]

12. Apparently not

they either believe or are feeding the belief that gays have to "recruit" and that gays are just hormone driven animals who have sex with anyone and everyone.

This was amazing to see in the 21st century.

[personman]

9. self delete

deleted

[SaveElmer]

10. Isn't this the same reason the Nazi's used

To discriminate against gays...nice to see the Pope is keeping good company..

I have never been more glad that I left the Catholic Church than I am today...

This is absolutely despicable!!!

[underpants]

11. I am waiting on the transcripts on LexisNexis

http://www.lexisnexis.com/news/
see near the bottom the page

They usually are a day or so behind.

The report itself was worse.