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The Real Moral Panic

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y Barbara Kralis

The Pontifical Academy for Life has recently published their new book "Sexual Abuse and the Catholic Church: Scientific and Legal Perspectives." It is a compendium of works and findings with the other offices of the Holy See on the abuse of children and young people by Catholic priests and religious. Nothing, however, was mentioned in the excerpts and press releases that address the real scandal in the Church and that is the Catholic Priesthood has become a thriving and luxuriating profession for objectively disordered men. Where is the shock and awe?

The John Jay College has also released their survey, requested by the USCCB's National Review Board, on the sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy, revealing that 4% of all Catholic priests have, for the past 52 years, been found to abuse children. The study further states that 80-90% of these priests had sodomy or perverted sex with adolescent boys (ephebophilia), not prepubescent boys (pedophilia). Penn State Professor of History and Religion, Phil Jenkins, a non-Catholic and non-lover of Catholicism, states in his book "Pedophiles and Priests" that it is less than 2% of Catholic priests who are pedophiles. The real problem is consensual sex between priests with other priests or adult males. Donald Cozzens, the rector of one of the largest U.S. seminaries, St. Mary's in Cleveland, Ohio, writes that the problem is homosexuality instead of pedophilia, and that at least 40% of Catholic priests suffer from this evil disorder. Is this not one of the reasons why our pulpits are mostly silent on the immense number of infallible Church teachings on life of the unborn and the disabled, on chastity, on homosexuality, adultery, fornication, contraception? Has the Catholic Priesthood long been a 'Gay Profession' and are these priests causing the loss of faith in millions?

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Does God's divine call to His Holy Priesthood include these disordered men or are they entering the seminaries because of other reasons? Are these objectively disordered men's Holy Masses valid? Is the Eucharist truly Confected? Confection, of course, meaning the complete action consisting of words, movements and intention, of bringing about a valid administration of the Eucharist by a 'proper' minister. Does God consider the sodomite priest a proper minister of His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity? How many of our Holy Sacrifices of the Mass have had insufficient action for complete Confection? The Catholic laity can be deceived, but God cannot.

Cozzens said the sodomite priest is such a great problem in seminaries that these objectively disordered men turn away the normal heterosexual male seminarians. The Vatican knows this very well. This make me question why the importance placed on the Vatican's new book on the abuse of the child, and the USCCB's survey by the John Jay College, rather than addressing, researching and surveying the BIG problem, that being the enormous number of sodomite Catholic clergy (including Prelates of the highest order) and seminarians. A homosexual can not be admitted to the seminary.

Some argue that if a seminarian is a 'virginal homosexual,' he can be admitted to the seminary. However, even a virginal sodomite seminarian (one who has not acted out his objectively disordered inclination) cannot be admitted to the seminary. He is still a homosexual, he is just a virginal homosexual.

A person must overcome the inclination toward homosexuality, "this inclination which is objectively disordered" (CCC §2358), before he can safely be admitted to the seminary. A weak temptation is still a temptation, an inclination, a disorder. We must not take people with personality disorders into the seminary. The homosexual (virginal and non virginal) seminarian will always be tempted, his ministry always be hampered (especially in the confessional) because of his grave disorder. This person could not advise heterosexual young men and women about the dangers of immodesty, the sinfulness of masturbation, lust, pornography, prostitution, rape. A man must have a true inclination toward women to be a healthy candidate for a vow of chastity or celibacy in the priesthood.

Dr. Joseph Nicolosi, Ph.D., president of NARTH, an association of psychiatrists, psychologists and other health professionals who investigate and treat same-sex attractions, notes that "There is no scientific research indicating a biological or genetic cause of homosexuality. Biological factors may play a role in the predisposition to homosexuality. However, this is true of many other psychological conditions. Homosexuality can be treated, although not always successfully, but that is true of other disorders also. Some patients are cured completely, some see measurable improvement, and some report no improvement at all." Treatment consists in psychological counseling, spiritual direction and support groups such as 'Courage.'

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To the celibate heterosexual male who is truly called to the priesthood, the homosexual seminarian, virginal and non virginal, is a pox, a detriment, an antithesis. The heterosexual seminarian gives up all the joys of marriage, children, grandchildren, the conjugal love of the beautiful woman; the homosexual seminarian, virginal and non virginal, gives up none of these good gifts.

Homosexuals (virginal or non virginal) cannot be ordained to the priesthood. God does not call objectively disordered men to the priesthood. Why do some theologians find it so 'harsh' to eliminate the virginal and non virginal homosexual? We eliminate others who are equally unsuitable (women cannot be ordained to the priesthood), why not the homosexual who is most dangerous to the souls of his flock?

One of the most divulging news reports appeared in The New York Times in February, 2002. It was revealed that Pope John Paul II's spokesman told the world that homosexual men were not fit for the ordained priesthood. Dr. Joaquin Navarro-Valls, a Spanish psychiatrist, when questioned whether ordinations of gays were even valid, said "People with these inclinations just cannot be ordained. That does not imply final judgment on people with homosexuality, but you cannot be in the field (priesthood)." No one at the Vatican appeared to support Navarro-Valls' statement. However, Canon Law does support his statement, saying that men with impediments or irregularities, including psychic disorders, are unqualified and are prevented from receiving Holy Orders (c.1040, 1041)

What a grave responsibility these priests have regarding their possible contamination to their parishioners, family and friends. Even before the AIDS epidemic, in a study of men who have had sex with other men, 63% contracted STD (sexually transmitted disease). Epidemiologists predict that 50% of men who perform sodomy will become HIV positive (Catholic Medical Assoc. doc. to Catholic Bishops, "Homosexuality & Hope"). No great revelation, this.

Eliminate all homosexuals from the seminary, virginal and non virginal, and watch the swift and steady increase in the number of answered calls to the priesthood by healthy, holy men. Remove all disordered staff in seminaries and employ only holy, dedicated teachers and directors. Clean out the stench or we'll continue in scandal and corruption for centuries to come. (Sotto voce: Do all of these things, and we won't have to waste anymore time and money writing books and authorizing surveys regarding sacrilegious behavior in the Catholic priesthood.)

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Barbara Kralis, the article's author, writes for various Catholic publications, and is a member of the Catholic Media Coalition, an association of lay Catholic editors and writers (www.catholicmediacoalition.org). She and her husband Mitch live in the great State of Texas, and codirect the Jesus Through Mary Foundation. She can be reached at: Avemaria@earthlink.net