Gaylord Herald Times
In view of the turmoil caused in the Roman Catholic Church by all the scandals involving the sexual abuse or exploitation of minors (not to mention the serious divisions occasioned within the Anglican Communion with the appointment of an openly “gay” bishop in the American Episcopal Church) it is relatively easy to understand recent decision of the Vatican to reiterate its previous but largely ignored ban on accepting homosexually oriented men as candidates for the priesthood. But the policy raises some serious questions.
One is to promote the confusion of homosexuality with pedophilia. What statistics are available from criminologists would indicate that most pedophiles are heterosexual. The same is probably true of ephebophilia - the sexual molestation of adolescents. At most, according to a psychological study initiated by the Vatican, homosexual orientation can be a “contributing factor” when it comes to clerical crimes involving male adolescents. But the orientation itself is not a principal “cause” of such misbehavior. Again, criminological statistics could probably be used to show that heterosexuality is a factor in crimes (including clerical ones) against female adolescents. In either case, this “factoring” also raises the question as to what degree celibacy as a precondition for ordination is also at least a significant factor the situation.