Inner-conflict disturbs some Catholic clergy

Rudolph Kos. Gilbert Gauthe. James Porter. Paul Shanley. John J. Geoghan. Ronald H. Paquin.\nThe list goes on.\nTheir commonalities?\nAll were accused of sexually abusing minors.\nAnd all were priests within the Catholic faith.\nThe diagnosis to the ailment that seems to be plaguing America's Catholic churches varies as some say immaturity among priests is the problem. Others say homosexuality is too prevalent among the leaders of the faith. And while some say it's a direct result of these men having fallen victim to molestation as minors themselves (those in the list above were said to have been sexually abused as minors), one thing is for certain -- these acts against youths have had lasting effects. \nWhether immaturity, homosexuality, history of abuse, all or none of the above, the public outrage and cries for purifying the Church have rung from Bloomington to Rome and back.\nIn response to these calls of distress in a speech to American Cardinals, Pope John Paul II expressed his humble regret.\n"Like you, I too have been deeply grieved by the fact that priests and religious leaders, whose vocation is to help people live holy lives in the sight of God, have themselves caused such suffering and scandal to the young."\n"It must be absolutely clear to the Catholic faithful, and to the wider community, that bishops and superiors are concerned, above all else, with the spiritual good of souls," he said.\n"People need to know that there is no place in the priesthood and religious life for those who would harm the young."\nSearching for the answer to what drives those "in the priesthood and religious life" to "harm the young," Catholic priest, psychologist and noted researcher and author, Stephen J. Rossetti, noted statistics in which a number of archdioceses counted the number of priests who had sexual abuse allegations raised against them.\nIn a reprinted article from the Office of Communications for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Rossetti noted the Archdiocese of Boston counted throughout a span of 50 years that 3,000 served there as leaders of the faith. Sixty of these priests, or two percent, had been accused of sexually abusing minors.\nIn the same span of time, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia had 2,154 priests serve in its ministry, and 35 priests or 1.6 percent of those had "credible allegations" raised against them. \nRossetti also noted the Archdiocese of Chicago, whose study spanned the course of 40 years. It was reported that 40 priests of its 2,200 in that span of time were alleged sex abuse offenders as well -- a total of 1.8 percent. \n"It is a logical fallacy to generalize based on particular cases," Rossetti said.\nWhen generalizing, critics often resort to the homosexuality stance -- that gay priests taint the faith.\nA "particular case" is that of Rudolph Kos, a Dallas priest who as a teenager, sought the refuge of priest mentors because of his history of molestation and attempts to molest younger males. As a child, Kos was abused and gravitated toward the priesthood to a Texas seminary where it was said homosexuality was widely accepted. In 1998, Kos was involved in the largest settlement made in a sexual abuse case, which went for $119.6 million. He is now serving a sentence for assaulting boys, the number of which is estimated in the hundreds. \nIn comparison, Paul Shanley, a former priest of the Archdiocese of Boston who also revealed that he had been abused as a youth, is responsible for the sexual molestation for an unknown amount of young boys, particularly that of Gregory Ford between 1983-90. For those seven years, Shanley reportedly raped Ford beginning when the boy was 6 years old. \nUpon investigation, it was found that Shanley took part in openly gay activities in public. In Mary Eberstadt's article entitled, "The Elephant in the Sacristy," published in The Weekly Standard, she spoke of Shanley's sexual activity.\n"…If anyone could be said to be a credentialed member of gay Catholic social and intellectual life, it would have been Shanley," Eberstadt said. "He was, for example, affiliated with Dignity USA (an organization for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Catholics) from its early days…and he co-owned a gay resort with another gay priest."\nBut despite these accusations and investigations, Rossetti said the reason for the abuse goes beyond homosexuality. To emphasize his point, he noted those who vow lives of celibacy are more likely to molest children.\n"Celibacy distorts one's sexuality," Rossetti said. "A celibate priesthood attracts a larger proportion of men with sexual problems."\n"Some people with sexual problems seek out a celibate lifestyle in an unconscious attempt to escape their own sexuality," he said. "Most adults in society who sexually molest minors are not homosexually oriented. I have known some heterosexually oriented males who molested young males."\nRod Dreher, writer for National Review, addressed this argument in his article, "The Gay Question."\n"The reluctance arises, no doubt, partly out of a fear of antagonizing homosexual anti-defamation groups, who resent the stereotype of male homosexuals as pederasts," Dreher said. "It's much safer to focus inquiry on the question of mandatory celibacy, or the issue of ordaining women. Yet it defies common sense to imagine that an ordinary man, having made a vow not to marry, is therefore going to be sexually attracted to boys." \nDreher also noted the majority of priests who have committed sexual molestation are ephebophiles - not pedophiles as many argue. These adults are especially drawn to "post-pubescent youths" between the ages of 12 and 17. \nAnother prevalent argument is that immaturity ails the ordained, as Eberstadt addresses in her article. She notes that individuals within the Church claim that as they are brought up in seminaries as young boys, there is an adolescent attitude and as a result, they turn to like-minded adolescence because of such immaturity.\nTo further drive home the point of characterizing the minds of Catholic sex offenders as immature, Rossetti said the actions taken out by priests are acts against repression. \n"These homosexual men are emotionally stuck in adolescence themselves, and so are at risk for being sexually active with teenage males," he said. "The issue is therefore not so much homosexuality but rather their stunted emotional development." \nEberstadt disagrees.\n"…The explanation from "immaturity" bears no resemblance against language of sin and redemption. It simply medicalizes the problem, emptying the abuser's acts of moral meaning," she said.\nNo matter what the reason behind these criminal acts against youths, Bishop Wilton D. Gregory said it's important for people to come together in order to combat this plague of molestation.\n"Protecting children and eliminating abuse are goals on which we Catholics and all of society can and must be united," he said in an address to the media in Rome. "…We Bishops will always have the deepest regret for those who were abused and must live with that pain all their lives."\n"No apology can undo that, yet we must never cease to remember them, reach out to them, and ask their forgiveness"