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 Discusses Expelling Celibate Gay Men from Priesthood John Aravosis sees a 'Desperate Search for a Scapegoat' |
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Compiled by GayToday
Reports in the New York Times indicate that the Archdiocese of Boston has, in a settlement attempt, "tentatively agreed to $20 to $30 million to settle scores of cases against a former priest accused of molesting nearly 200 children in six parishes over 30 years." Because of the same priest, the Archdiocese has already paid $15 million in settlements. Pope John Paul II's spokesman, Joaquin Navarro-Valls, told theTimes this week that gay people cannot be ordained. "You cannot be in this field," he said. According to the Times: "Navarro-Valls compared the situation of a gay man who becomes a priest to that of a gay man who marries a woman unaware of his orientation. Just as such a marriage can be annulled, considered invalid from the first, the ordination might similarly be invalid." This ploy by the Vatican is not likely to work among American journalists who generally know that priests are equal opportunity molesters and that young women are also targeted by "celibate" priests. They also know that pedophilia is not related to either homosexuality or heterosexuality. The vast amount of publicity lately given to the fleshly tastes of the Roman Catholic clergy in Boston has elicited far-away remembrances of priestly infractions committed on minors from coast to coast. Other dioceses who've suspended large numbers of such priests include Philadelphia, Los Angeles and St. Louis. American media is alive with reports of wide dismay among Roman Catholic parishioners.
The Vatican's unprecedented threat to dismiss its countless gay priests would leave the United States, with only half the current number of its priests says Boston Herald reportage by Margery Eagan titled "Vatican inquisition against gays thins priest ranks to limit." She notes that "American Catholic scholars rebut such an inquisition with: "Forget about it - half of what few priests remain are gay."
"I mean here you have a church vehemently opposed to any sort of sex," writes Ms. Eagan, "except sex within marriage that could result in conception of a child. That means no marital sex using birth control, no premarital or postmarital sex. Certainly no "touching oneself'' sex, as some once phrased the deed barely whispered in those shadowy confessionals. And homosexual sex? In a Baltimore catechism word: 'disordered.' "These days true believers may be wondering: Could God himself have concocted a more torturous, ironic stew for Bernard Cardinal Law and church leaders? Could The Big One, The Supreme One, Numero Uno, Whoever, be disgusted with the hierarchy of the church Catholics believe He created? Sending a message in this meltdown, perhaps, the equivalent of a divine thunderbolt?" But in Roman Catholicism, the Herald's Ms. Eagan hurries to say, "many of its very, very finest priests, in fact - are gay." On About.com political commentator John Aravosis recalls a gay priest Father Mychal Judge http://uspolitics.about.com/library/weekly/aa030602a.htm and notes that he "gave his life as a hero of September 11. But if the Pope has his way, the late New York Fire Department Chaplain could be judged a fraud." And last fall," continues Aravosis, "a contingent of firefighters even presented Father Mike's helmet to the Pope…But it now seems the Pope may be returning that helmet." John Aravosis explains:
Aravosis sharply condemns the Vatican's know-nothing smear campaign using gays in its desperate attempt to find a scapegoat: "Not only is the Vatican shameless in its attempt to find a scapegoat in order to shift the blame away from its own inaction in the face of decades of child abuse. And not only does a potential witch hunt against gay priests threaten to ruin the lives and reputations of scores of innocent gay priests like Father Mychal Judge. But the Holy See's complete misunderstanding of the nature of the crimes of which it stands accused only means that more children may be harmed by priests in the future." |
Boston, Massachusetts-Once again the Hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church is attempting to stave off harsher financial penalties for priestly pedophilia performed on duty while, at the same time, the Vatican plays what political journalist John Aravosis is calling "The Pope's Gay Card" thereby upping the ante in a centuries-long religious war against same-sex love worldwide.
