A still very serious problem in the Catholic Church that needs to be dealt with
Why do we report so much about Catholic Church developments?What is a significant factor causing the current weakness in the Church’s moral and spiritual leadership?
Much of the world looks to the Catholic Church, the largest religious denomination in the world, to provide leadership in the struggle to defend innocent human life increasingly endangered by an advancing culture of death. They also look to the Church to provide strong leadership to defend the natural family from a dictatorial and vicious movement to force acceptance of alternative sexual lifestyles.
That is why LifeSiteNews reports so much on Catholic news developments. But there are serious problems that remain unresolved in the Church before it can once again be the force for social and other good that it has been at various times in the past.
Before I continue from here let me emphasize that there are more good priests being formed and ordained and courageous and faithful bishops being selected in the Church today. This has been in large part due to the cleaning up of many seminaries and much greater attention being giving in Rome to the appointment of faithful bishops.
Not all the appointments are good for sure, but the batting average of solid bishops being appointed seems to have gone way up. Many dramatic changes for good in the US conference of Catholic Bishops are also worth praising, as are many other trends.
Pope Benedict has taken many actions to decrease the influence of the powerful distorters of the Second Vatican Council who have ravaged and weakened the Church in so many ways.
But serious problems remain. Some have been partially dealt with since the explosion of the sex abuse scandals, but the work needed to eliminate this cancer within the Church is far from finished.
The cancer I’m referring to is the presence within the Church of numerous active homosexuals among the clergy at all levels, within many of the orders and among the laity in many Catholic institutions. It also includes a rebellious acceptance of homosexuality by many non-homosexual Catholics in positions of influence within the Church. This has been and still is a much greater problem than the vast majority of Catholics realize.
LifeSiteNews recognized this very difficult to discuss reality long ago. It is ugly, disturbing and not something that most people want to hear about. It involves tales of infiltration, seduction, rape, and other abuses, rampant use of porn, sordid encounters, frequent blackmail and brutal reprisals against whistle-blower seminarians and priests and intimidation of bishops. It is nasty stuff, not for the faint of heart and holds the potential to threaten faith.
The late Fr. Richard John Neuhaus also wrote about this sordid situation in the Church. He was blunt that homosexuality among the clergy was a grave problem that was in many ways being ignored and not being acted upon as it should. He wrote a series of articles in First Things in 2002 (Part I, Part II, Part III) documenting some of the shameful lack of action by the bishops to acknowledge and rid the Church of this crippling sickness within the clerical ranks. He saw it as the primary cause of the sex abuses.
Several thoroughly documented and lengthy books have been written over the past few decades about the ugly scandal, perhaps one of the worst, if not the worst in Church history, beginning with Fr. Enrique T. Rueda’s 1982 massive book, The Homosexual Network. These books all include reams of documented evidence and interviews and naming of names and places and specific incidents.
They were written in the main by courageous and faithful Catholics who experienced all their work being deliberately ignored and not appreciated by Church authorities. They were also subjected to vicious personal attacks on their character and credibility, the same as many victims of clergy sex abuse experienced when they told Church authorizes about their abusers. These authors suffered for their fidelity.
The books that these whistle blowers wrote are excruciatingly difficult to read. I have a few in my office. I have tried, but I can’t read most of them. I did manage to get through Goodbye, Good Men by Michael Rose. Even for me, most of these books are too disturbing, such as Sacrilege by Leon Podles. And yet, I don’t doubt the validity of much, if not all that is revealed in them and other documents that have been sent to us by persons determined to publicly expose terrible things that Church authorities have refused to deal with.
LifeSiteNews began a Feature Page on the Clergy sexual abuse scandals in 2002. After 2 years of continuously adding updates to the pages in the section we stopped the updating. There was just too much.
To emphasize again, there have been many positive changes in recent years, but as Michael Voris of Church Militant TV relates in a recent broadcast, the influence of networks of homosexual clergy within the Church is still very strong. They are still an obstacle to strengthening of the Church for the great spiritual and cultural war which is building.
http://youtu.be/HlaFkxrW5JM
==========================================================
a Feature Page on the Clergy sexual abuse scandals in 2002. After 2 years of continuously adding updates to the pages in the section we stopped the updating. There was just too much. :
Why is LifeSiteNews reporting on this issue?
Notable articles, documents and quotes from other sourcesWeb Sites on church scandals and homosexuality
Past LifeSiteNews Reports:
Notable articles, documents and quotes from other sourcesWeb Sites on church scandals and homosexuality
Past LifeSiteNews Reports:
 Concern grows over AIDS rate among priests By JUDY L. THOMAS - The Kansas City Star Date: 11/04/00 22:15Concern within the Roman Catholic Church about the number of priests who have died of AIDS-related illnesses is growing, as is evidence that the death rate exceeds earlier estimates. In January, The Kansas City Star reported that hundreds of priests had died of AIDS-related illnesses and that hundreds more were living with the virus that causes the disease. The controversial finding was based in part on estimates from AIDS experts and priests and an analysis of health statistics. The three-day series also reported that many priests thought the church could do more to address the issue. Since then, The Star has documented more than 300 AIDS-related priest deaths nationwide through death certificates and interviews with family members and religious colleagues. Because death records are closed in nearly two-thirds of the states, experts say that the exact AIDS death toll among U.S. priests will never be known. But the newspaper was able to examine documents in 14 states in which thousands of death certificates were available. The Star found that the AIDS death rate among priests was more than double that of all adult males in those states and more than six times that of the general population in those states. Those AIDS death rates exceeded the estimates and projections reported earlier this year by the newspaper. To calculate and compare death rates, the newspaper sought statistical assistance from a medical epidemiologist and AIDS expert with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. "The available data shows that the HIV death rate is higher among priests than it is in the general population of men 25 and older," said the CDC's Richard Selik. In light of the latest evidence, more voices of concern are urging the church's hierarchy to open a dialogue on how to prevent priests from dying of AIDS. "The fact that you have priests having very active sexual lives, that you have priests contracting HIV and dying of AIDS and that they have refused to come to terms with this and tend to deny it, I don't see how you look at this and not say that these are symptoms of an unresolved sexual problem within the church," said Eugene Kennedy, a former priest and biographer of the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of Chicago. "These are human tragedies piled upon human tragedies," Kennedy said. The Rev. Jim Walsh, executive director of the seminary department for the National Catholic Educational Association, said he was surprised by the latest findings. "We need to talk about celibacy and do it in the sense of people witnessing to how they're living it ... and where it's not working for them," he said. Since the series was published, the newspaper has received more than 3,000 responses from around the world. Scores of priests and lay Catholics praised The Star for examining the sensitive issue. Others, however, called the series an attack on the Catholic faith and publicly denounced the newspaper's findings. Some questioned the projections, arguing that they believed priests were dying of AIDS at a rate equal to that of other adult males. Some even rebutted The Star's estimate that many priests, who are required to be celibate, had died of AIDS. One of the harshest critics, the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in a memorandum sent earlier this year to all U.S. bishops that "the series extrapolated from a handful of tragic but isolated cases to manufacture a crisis that does not exist." In light of such criticism, The Star pursued other methods of documenting the scope of the deaths. The most statistically accurate -- and time-consuming -- approach was a state-by-state examination of thousands of death certificates over several years, aided by consultation with the CDC in determining death rates and comparisons. In states where records weren't available, the newspaper interviewed dozens of family members, doctors, colleagues and religious superiors who had firsthand knowledge of priests' deaths. The latest examination reveals that there is no longer any question that hundreds of priests have died of AIDS and that many bishops were aware of their plights. Several who died held positions of authority within the church. The newspaper found that one of the priests who died served as an AIDS consultant for the Vatican. Another was the rector of a Midwestern seminary. Two were seminary vocation directors. Three were college chaplains. Others included the spiritual director at a Catholic seminary, a Catholic prep school principal and a former employee of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops. "When I have spoken with the bishops, I always ask, 'How many of you have had a priest (with AIDS)?"' said the Rev. Ed Kilianski, a California priest and board member of the National Catholic AIDS Network, which works with the conference of bishops. "And every hand goes up all the time. ... I'm sure -- absolutely certain -- that every diocese has had at least one," Kilianski said. On Friday, Sister Mary Ann Walsh, spokeswoman for the conference of bishops, said the number of priests who have died is small when compared with the total priest population. Still, Walsh said, "Three hundred priests dying of AIDS are 300 personal tragedies ...." Walsh said the church has been active in dealing with the AIDS issue and that seminary formation programs today are doing a better job of educating priests about sexuality issues. "Of course, ordination does not immunize you from temptation," she said. "I wish there were no one else who died of AIDS. But the reality is, it happens. It shouldn't happen. People fail. It's part of the human condition."Examining the problem Signs of concern about sexual issues and AIDS are slowly emerging at many levels within the church. Among the ongoing efforts:•The National Federation of Priests' Councils is updating a 93-page document about AIDS that it published several years ago. It contains a section on how dioceses and religious orders should deal with priests who contract AIDS and addresses whether priest candidates should be tested for AIDS. Brother Bernard F. Stratman, the federation's director, said his organization remained committed to helping colleagues who have the disease. "If anything, this update demonstrates that we're still trying to keep the conversation alive on the reality of the issue," Stratman said.•A major study -- endorsed by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops -- is under way to examine problems facing priests in their first five years after ordination. The study is being conducted by the National Federation of Priests' Councils and was launched because of concerns raised by priest treatment centers and priests' superiors. "The reality is that the number of clergy continues to decline," Stratman said. "And the trend seems to be developing that a greater number of more recently ordained priests are ending up in treatment for issues that could be chemical related, alcohol related, personality problems, psychological issues or sexuality dysfunctions." Stratman said the study would try to determine whether there is a need for more practical training about sexuality and celibacy. Dean Hoge, a sociologist at The Catholic University of America and the principal investigator for the study, said celibacy would be addressed. "I can already tell you from the interviews we've done that it's a pretty big factor," Hoge said. "It might be No. 1. If it's not No. 1, it's right up there."•Several new books have included chapters on the issue of gay priests and the church's stance on homosexuality. Among clergy, the one receiving the most attention is The Changing Face of the Priesthood by the Rev. Donald B. Cozzens, the highly respected president-rector of St. Mary Seminary and Graduate School of Theology in Cleveland. It is an insider's reflection on the state of the priesthood near the close of the 20th century. Though Cozzens' book deals with a broad range of issues facing the priesthood, it is his discussion of sexuality in a chapter containing sections titled "Homosexuality and the Seminary" and "The Priesthood as a Gay Profession" that is causing the greatest stir. "For more than a decade now, voices have been heard expressing concern about the growing numbers of gay priests and seminarians," Cozzens wrote. "Their call for serious reflection and candid discussion of the issue has largely gone unheeded. ... Clearly, the issue is real." Cozzens said the quandary posed for the church by the considerable number of gay priests and seminarians is "perhaps more critical than the graying of the clergy."Breaking the silence The Rev. Thomas Doyle, a Dominican priest and canon lawyer who spent five years working at the Vatican Embassy in Washington, said the church hierarchy should not remain silent about AIDS in the priesthood. "With any other organization, by analogy -- the military, the American Bar Association, a corporation -- if you have a number of people such as in the 300 to 500 range dying of some strange disease like AIDS, I would say that would cause you to stop and say, 'We've got to take a look at this,' and at least start asking some serious questions as to why it's happening and what are we going to do about it," Doyle said. Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of the Archdiocese of Detroit said that new proof of the high rate of AIDS deaths among priests should cause concern for every Catholic bishop. "You can't dismiss it," he said. "Even if it is a small percentage ... I see no reason to minimize it or to hide it." Gumbleton noted that the latest death statistics didn't even take into account the numbers of priests now living with AIDS, or those who have left the priesthood. "These are all terrible tragedies," he said. Next week, the U.S. bishops will gather in Washington to discuss issues facing the church. Those who will attend the conference Nov. 13-16 said that, while AIDS among priests has been the topic of much discussion in recent months at the grass-roots level, the issue is not on the bishops' agenda. "I think what they figure is that they're doing something about it, each one in his own diocese, and there's no need for any national action," Gumbleton said. The bishops had an opportunity to discuss the issue at their conference in June, when they unanimously approved a document called "The National Plan for the Ongoing Formation of Priests." Crafted by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops' Priestly Life and Ministry Committee, the document examines concerns priests need to deal with in various stages of their vocations. But in the bishops' brief discussion of the document, the topics of AIDS and homosexuality never came up. The document does, however, discuss sexuality and celibacy, acknowledging that "even the very best seminary program cannot prepare priests for a lifetime of celibate living in the context of priestly ministry." Gumbleton said the document showed that the bishops "are trying to move in the right direction." "But I still don't think we're doing nearly enough," he said. One denomination trying to deal openly with AIDS and other sexual issues is the Church of England, which revealed this year that it had lost at least 25 of its priests to AIDS-related illnesses. In late September, the church announced that all Anglican bishops in southern Africa would undergo AIDS testing. The bishops said the decision was reached because of the enormity of the AIDS pandemic in southern Africa, a concern that the church has not been viewed as being at the forefront in fighting the spread of the disease, and as a way to demonstrate the church's solidarity with those who are HIV-positive. Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane said the Anglican Church "has set the ball rolling in terms of breaking the steel band of silence which makes so many people feel the need to keep quiet about being (HIV) positive."Searching for solutions In recent months, The Star interviewed dozens of priests, AIDS experts, doctors, psychologists and educators. Virtually all agreed that more education and dialogue was vital in efforts to stem the tragedy of priests dying of AIDS. The Rev. Thomas Reese, editor of America magazine, a national Jesuit publication, said one of biggest problems was the silence surrounding the issue of gay priests. "The silence highlights a tension in a church that defines homosexuality as ntrinsically disordered' but relies on many gay men to celebrate the sacraments and carry out the work of the church," Reese said. "And how can the church proclaim the redemptive value of suffering if it fosters an atmosphere that forces its priests, of all people, to deny that they suffer?" The Rev. Don Whipple, a Holy Cross Father in Cocoa Beach, Fla., has been trying for years to get the church to acknowledge the existence of gay priests. "I've sent over 58 position papers on homosexuality and religious life, and no response," said Whipple, who is openly gay. "They have been into a huge denial, while many of their men are infected and dying." Jon Fuller, a Jesuit priest and physician in Boston who specializes in AIDS, maintains that open dialogue is crucial. One obstacle, he says, is that the Vatican doesn't want frank discussions on sexuality. While the church teaches compassion and forgiveness, it also considers homosexual relations a sin and opposes the modern practice of "safe sex." "They (church leaders) clamp down on it; they discipline people," Fuller said. "It's going to take some people taking risks and just saying that we need to talk about this, despite the fact that you say we can't." Others said that, while there's no question that the Catholic Church has been a leader when it comes to AIDS programs and care for those with the disease worldwide, the church's stance on homosexuality sends a mixed message. "The Catholic Church is a major provider of AIDS services in this city," said the Rev. Jim Mitulski, co-pastor of Metropolitan Community Church of San Francisco, a predominantly gay congregation. But Mitulski, who learned he had AIDS in 1995, added: "It's compassion that comes with a price tag. ... The irony is, here's this institution that does have a heart for sick people, but at the same time, it's fostering a climate where HIV continues to be spread." David McEwan, a Honolulu physician who specializes in AIDS and founded Hawaii's AIDS Foundation, is equally frustrated. McEwan said he had treated 10 priests with AIDS -- or one in every 60 of his patients. "They (the church) need to face up to the truth," McEwan said. But Chris Matthews, a physician and founder of the Owen Clinic, an HIV//AIDS facility at the University of California-San Diego Medical Center, doubts that the church will change its theology any time soon. And because of that, Matthews, a former seminarian who has treated priests with AIDS, recommends that the church teach priests about condoms and safe sex. "It needs to acknowledge that people are sexual beings, and you need to deal with the consequences of failure," Matthews said.Epilogue Since "AIDS in the Priesthood" was published in late January and early February, at least four more priests have died of AIDS. Only one had been open about his illness to colleagues and parishioners. That, critics maintain, painfully illustrates not only that priests continue to die of AIDS, but also that they continue to suffer in silence. All the more reason, they argue, for the bishops to confront the tragedy openly. Sister Maureen Fiedler, coordinator of the church-reform group Catholics Speak Out and host of the nationwide radio talk show "Faith Matters," thinks the bishops need a national policy on priests with AIDS. She said the policy should emphasize compassion toward those dying from the disease, no matter how it was contracted. Yet the underlying issues run much deeper, Fiedler said, entwined in centuries-old church stances on sexuality and celibacy. "Theology tells us that gay and lesbian people are creations of God. If this is true, how can church teaching continue to call a part of God's creation intrinsically disordered?" Fiedler asked. "The ultimate solution for all faiths is a positive, wholesome view of human sexuality that recognizes the goodness of God's creation and welcomes all people fully, in all aspects of their being, into loving and inclusive communities of faith." -- The Star's database editor, Gregory Reeves, contributed to this report.To reach Judy L. Thomas, call (816) 234-4334 or send e-mail to jthomas@kcstar.com All content � 2000 The Kansas City Star |
No comments:
Post a Comment