:agree: Thank you, jane, for this post.

Gracie, Agree with you on that. I had too many disagreements with the Catholic church hierarchy to call myself a Catholic. So I left the Catholic church in 1996 and joined the Episcopal church. Close to half of the people at my church are former Catholics.

I too chose to leave the Catholic church a while back, but Pope Francis certainly has my attention. He seems to really walk the walk.

And the Anglicans are returning to Rome, at least they were under Pope Benedict XVI, no women "priests", etc.

:confused:Somehow I doubt this but if true, how sad.

They convert the entire Parish, their "priests" are ordained priests. They keep their own liturgy but are under the Pope, just like the Eastern Catholic Churches are.

I really do not want to hurt anyone's feeling here... but a gay priest attracted to boys is a gay priest attracted to boys and is a pedophile. A straight priest attracted to little girls is also a pedophile. In either case they are suffering from a mental disorder. In either case these guys should have been excommunicated, defrock and sent to jail. Jerry Sandusky is probably bi-sexual and that also is a mental disorder in my view. I say in my view because of political backing the DSM removed homosexuality from it list of mental disorders in 1983, yet people describe as obese are now included as having a mental disorder . Review the listing in the DSM of mental disorders and compare them to homosexuality and tell me it wasn't a political move.

Personally I do not care what people do in their private lives as long as they keep it private and they do not harm anyone. Priests not only harmed kids they did great damage to the catholic church just as Sandusky did tp Penn State and pedophile teachers do to schools,


Personal Best Regards:

When I heard the Pope's statement I thought he was speaking of Gays, not Gay priests. If he was speaking of Gay priests what difference would that make? Wouldn't the Gay priest and the straight priest both have taken the same vow of celibacy? Why is it assumed that the Gay man is incapable of being celibate?

How does being a pedophile tie into this? I'm just not getting this.

I respectfully disagree with a couple of your conclusions. A gay priest is not a pedophile until he ACTS on his tendencies. These actions are subject to judgement, but the person should not be discriminated against or condemned until he acts in an inappropriate way. Having spent years in Catholic seminary training, I know hundreds of priests. At least two of them are gay, but I don't think very many people know it. They are both held in the highest esteem by their congregations. To my knowledge, their careers are filled with many years of nothing but good works. If the Pope knew these men, they would be the kind of gay priests he referred to in his remarks.

We all have our 'tendencies'. To say that someone whose tendencies are not entirely directed toward a single sexual orientation has a mental illness is an unsupportable stretch. Again, if someone acts inappropriately, their conduct should be judged. It may also be later determined that some of those people are mentally ill. Most, I believe, are entirely free of mental illness and therefore subject to standard prosecution and sentencing penalties

Yes. Being gay does not make you bad. Being a straight hard working member of your local church that volunteers time and donates money to charity yet has a little sexual attraction to children is very bad and needs immediate help or Confinement.

Being a pedophile has nothing to do with the church, having a "little attraction" to children is not just very bad, it is a crime if and when you act upon it. Having an attraction to children and acting upon it is a criminal act whether you are a street sweeper, mailman, the guy down the street or most commonly, the mothers boyfriend. You all know that there are women pedaphiles, don't you? The irony is that teenage boys usually don't complain.

There is much to admire about "capital C" Catholicism, except for the concept of infallibility of the Pope, not to mention the politics of the priesthood. The military type chain of command is largely what has created the pedophilia problem among priests by covering up their indiscretions and moving them away from the parishes where the acts occurred and moving them to another parish, often to repeat the same behavior. The Pope is just a man who has served his church well, and earned the respect of his peers sufficiently to be elected to his exalted position. I could never be a part of a religion, or any group, that was expected, or required, to treat the leader as though he or she were infallible. It sounds as though he is trying to create a more inclusive environment in the church, but we will see how it plays out.

Okay - maybe I'm being stupid again. In my mind being "gay" is all about attraction and sexual orientation. Doesn't affect your job or how you clean your house or how you pay your bills. The difference between someone straight and someone gay is a sexual orientation - period. Sooooo if a priest vows celibacy - how does that equate to a sexual orientation??? Does that mean they are attracted to men, but don't act on it just as a straight priest might be attracted to women, but don't act on it?

Yep, that's how I see it. The same way a straight man can be celibate so can a Gay man. Just because they're Gay doesn't mean they have to act on it.

I have said this before and I will say it again. Talking about religion, that my dear grandmother warned me against...talking about it ...often causes very hurt feelings.

Like many things that affect us, it isn't completely rational, but often needed.

Maybe it is "pie in the sky" and maybe those we loved will be waiting, but it is a very personal thing and a very, very sensitive subject to most.

If I get to heaven and it is the real deal, I promise I'll save a place over in The Village section for y'all.

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Keep gay priests in nunneries...problem solved!

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Ed, you are spot on. Too many Bishops, Archbishops and Cardinals covered up for pedophile priests and passed them around from parish to parish, and this went on for decades in some cases. Some of the church hierarchy should have served jail time for this. And the parishioners in the pews in some dioceses will be paying for this for a long time. Dioceses in Portland, Milwaukee, San Diego, Tucson, Davenport, IA, Spokane, WA, Wilmington, DE and Fairbanks, AK have filed for bankruptcy protection because of the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church.

I am not a priest basher or a Catholic Church basher. There were and are many good Catholic priests who have served and are still serving their parishioners. Most of my extended family is still Catholic. I could have joined the Catholic group, Call to Action, which is trying to bring the Catholic Church into the 21st Century, but most of the changes they are working for probably will not happen in my lifetime, so I voted with my feet and joined the Episcopal Church. Just my 2 cents.

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Hi ijusluvit: First I agree with those who believe we should not bring religion in on this issue. Religion is based on blind faith and you either have it or are unsure or you don't have it.

The subject of homosexuality is difficult because it is explosive and very personal. I strongly agree with the philosophy of love the person ,hate the sin. The hedonistic behavior portrayed by some gays to me clearly demonstrates mental issues. However, I do not desire to paint all gays with a broad brush which is the reason I said keep it private. Indeed my nature is to support the underdog and in the past I have come to the defense of women, blacks and the disabled...and yes people who made fun of gays as it is all unproductive behavior.

A gay priest married my daughter and his comments made me very uncomfortable especially when at the dress rehearsal dinner he state that his superiors forbid him from being around little boys.

In my mind my daughter was not actually married nor would I confess my sins to him. In fairness I also avoided priests I knew were sleeping around with woman.

Unfortunately homosexuality abortion and race because of the extreme views by some people this nation can never have an honest dialogue and I find that particularly distressing.

Personal Best Regards:

Your daughter and her husband married each other, the Priest was the witness. Now, I would have some worries about receiving any Sacraments from him, just as I do from Priests who do not celebrate Mass as written, say Mass in clown costumes, etc. But I think your daughter was legally married in The Church.

Pope John XXIII said no one with homosexual tendencies can be ordained. These problems have made it bad for everyone. Our K of C Council wanted to get the teenagers to help the less young parisonners with raking leaves in the Fall, but couldn't since Adults can not work with younger people, per Archdiocese. So the kids don't learn to help others and the less young can't get their leaves raked.

According to my dictionary and according to internet definitions of pedophilia, it has everything to do with sexuality. Webster's definition: Pedophilia, n. sexual desire in an adult for a child. Online: Sex or sexual activity with children who have not reached puberty.