UNITED STATES
Sunday Gazette-Mail
Christopher Ott
The Roman Catholic Church needs to recognize that gay people are not the cause of its problems.
During the next few weeks, Pope Benedict XVI is expected to sign stricter new rules for Catholic seminaries. The church will reportedly bar gay men from becoming priests — even those who remain celibate. And it is beginning a search for “evidence of homosexuality" in the seminary.
The church says this is in response to the sexual abuse scandal.
But in many ways, the worst part of the scandal was the church’s handling of the situation.
Catholic leaders tried to cover it up by pretending everything was normal. In some cases, they merely shuffled abusive priests from one parish to another. Their inept response made it easier for these priests to continue violating the trust placed in them. It also made it harder for anyone to connect the dots about what was happening.
Not all of the implicated priests were gay. And gay people are no more likely to sexually abuse children than nongay people.