Leon J. Podles :: DIALOGUE

The Deetman commission is Holland that investigated sexual abuse has concluded that since 1945 between ten and twenty thousand children were sexually abused by Catholic priests and religious. This is in a country that currently has about five million Catholics.
The commission also suggested that homosexuality was a major factor in the abuse. FAZ reports:

Homosexuelle Subkultur [...]

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Get Religion has gathered some interesting stories on research on possible physical and genetic causes for pedophilia, that is, for a desire to have sex with children.
This is a scientific question, and I am unqualified to make any pronouncement on it.
But if pedophilia is genetically determined, and therefore “natural,” those who argue that any genetically [...]

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The Bishops will no doubt take comfort in the Canadian belief that punishment is not the proper response to sexual abuse. The National Post reports:

As North America’s top experts on sex abuse gather in Toronto this week, a philosophical debate about how to treat some of society’s most reviled criminals is coming into stark [...]

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I will comment on the John Jay Report more after I get back from a therapeutic river trip down the San Juan.
 
The report in correct that the cases of reported abuse following a bell curve. The unknown questions is whether there are unreported cases, especially form the 1950s. Victims may have died  and files should [...]

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 Supi, celibacy is going to disappear,and you can marry me - or?
 
German Catholics have long manifested a discontent with clerical celibacy. One of Luther’s first acts was to abolish clerical celibacy; Germans currently criticize Zwangszölibat, compulsory celibacy, forced celibacy. As Cardinal Brandmüller points out, the term Zwangszölibat misrepresents the discipline; no one is forced to be celibate.
 
Now [...]

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Tom put this in a comment box below, but it is so important I thought I would highlight it in a separate blog. As Berger points out, traditionalists priests are disproportionately homosexual, and traditionalist laity are homophobic – a bad combination.  This is from Pray Tell.
 
I have read with interest the lively discussion at Pray [...]

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As Rick noted in his comment, the German article on sexual abuse needs some clarification.
 
It did not specify whether the previous research that showed that in general sexual abuse victims were 25% male and 75% female was done in Germany or world-wide. I presume it was done in Germany. In the United States the percentage [...]

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In March 2010 the head of a Jesuit school in Germany had begun receiving allegations of sexual abuse by Jesuit teachers in the school. He contacted alumni about it, and received numerous allegations of abuse by priests
 
In response to this situation, the German bishops set up a hotline (telephone and e-mail) in Trier. The first [...]

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The Jesuit of the Future
Benedict sees homosexuality as incompatible with the priesthood, for two reasons, First, the Latin priesthood is celibate and celibacy does not have the same meaning for a homosexual and a heterosexual and second because the homosexual has a distorted view of the relationship of men and women.

Homosexuality is incompatible with the [...]

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