Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the highest Catholic official under the Pope, has set of a whole slew of outrage at his statements that celibacy is not at cause for wide ranging pedophilia among priests . . . no, that's not the part that is outrageous (he's right, celibacy has nothing to do with pedophilia) . . . the outrage has been stirred by his followup cause in that Bertone claims that it is homosexuality that causes priests to become pedophiles.
Ugh, nope.
No legitimate study has ever shown a link between homosexuality and pedophilia . . . quite the opposite in that most pedophiles are family members and usually married men. In fact, most are attracted to pre-pubescent children and lose interest after the child begins to gain sexual maturity. It is the unformed sexuality that attracts them. The sick behavior of pedophilia is not caused by the sickness of celibacy nor the orientation of homosexuality . . . these are irrelevant . . . the sickening acts of pedophilia are caused by the sickness of pedophilia . . . cause is less relevant than safeguarding children from such acts and the coverup that has occurred.
Interestingly, Betone's comments come just as the highest profile case he is responding to involves a male priest (they are all male) having sex with underage girls, not boys, no homosexuality there, just plain ol' pedophilia and statutory rape.
Obviously, since Bertone claims that he has been told the homosexual link recently, he's listening to some really bad advisors or he's been confused on some key issues. I am assuming he's speaking as an individual in this rather than as a the word of the Pope or the Church but since he's considered the Vice-Pope it's difficult to separate the two.
See http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/04/13/vatican-cardinal-claims-homosexuality-associated-with-pedophilia/ for more on this.
Even if homosexuality did have some sort of roundabout causal link to pedophilia in some way – and it most certainly does NOT – this is irrelevant. It isn't a person's sexual orientation that is at issue, its their behavior. Since we know for certain from most available evidence that in actuality the vast majority of pedophiles are male heterosexuals (even when the pedophilia is with same-sex children, they self-designate as heterosexual) this does not mean we should immediately suspect any straight adult male of pedophilia . . . that's silly.
No, pedophilia is a specific problems and regardless of sexual orientations or political affiliations or religious inclinations, it must be identified and dealt with.
Besides, doesn't the Catholic Church claim to pre-screen priests? If so, then they need to do a much better job of it. A number of the victims in the various scandals have said that they did report the behavior . . . but nothing was done. That's the problem. There is ample evidence that a number of priests who were problems were quietly moved to other schools or churches where they continued their practice and behavior (basically, the local diocese got rid of their problems by sending these predators elsewhere to be someone else's problem while the higher ups swept things under the carpet). The bureaucracy became more concerned about protecting it's image than protecting it's flock and the children became sacrificial lambs sent to the slaughter at the end of a pedophile's staff . . . well, you get the gist.
The Catholic Church is NOT inherently "evil" . . . there are a few bad apples in any organization . . . but, these scandals and the excuses and sidestepping and abuse that have clearly been established demonstrate quite clearly that neither is it an inherently "good" organization.
Hopefully, a deep and meaningful reform can find root and break up this entrenched miasma of cancerous darkness . . . there are folks who honestly mean well and who have been working very hard to root out both the organizationally protected pedophilia and the bureaucracy that become so infinitely blind to itself to not only protect but even encourage it in some cases. There are genuinely very very GOOD people within the Catholic Church . . . let's see if they can manage genuine change for the better – in the spirit of Christ's own attitude of shepherding and protecting children – or if they are crushed beneath the weight of the institution that has grown to protect itself more than its community. We will see.
All the best,
Brian
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Brian David Phillips, PhD, CH [brian@briandavidphillips.com]
Hypnotist, Hypnotherapist, Intuitionist, Trance Wizard
President, Society of Experiential Trance
Associate Professor, NCCU, Taipei, Taiwan
