Pedophilia, Women's Ordination - and Kid Gloves for the Legion

Amid a welter of excellent commentary on the mad coupling of pedophilia and women's ordination, Nihil Obstat makes a different comparison: she notes that in  the same week as the latest madness, Pope Benedict has appointed Archbishop Velasio De Paolis to take control of the finances and assets of the Legionaries of Christ.  The need for an outsider to take control of the vast fortune was obvious. The extraordinary, horrifying part is the mild words in the news release about the problem's of the order, and the legacy of its founder, Father Marcial Maciel, who is said to have " fathered children and was guilty of other crimes.”

That has to place first as the wryest, drollest, understatement of the year.

"Shock" in Rome: Priests at Gay Sex Clubs !

In Rome, an undercover journalist from the Panorama news magazine has filmed three priests in gay sex clubs - and having sex. Assisted by a gay "accomplice", the journalist monitored the three men for almost twenty days, accompanying them to "sex clubs", restaurants and private parties, where there was dancing with naked men. The accomplice is said to have gone home with one of the priests, and had sex with him. Film footage, the magazine has promised, will be placed on the net from tomorrow - including footage of a Mass celebrated by one of them, to confirm that they are indeed genuine priests. The intention, you will be relived to learn, is not to shock or cause scandal, but only to illustrate the double life some priests lead.

Priests and Prostitutes

No, not a theme for a fancy dress party, but a real- life problem.

Mike Jones is a (former) male prostitute with first-hand personal knowledge. He was the man some years ago who outed one of his clients as Ted Haggard, then a popular and successful bible-punching preacher well-known for his regular attacks on the homos "sinful" lifestyle - but who furnished his church with homeorotic statues and populated his stage with hunky male assistants:

When I attended Haggard's New Life Church after the scandal broke, I was amazed to see all the explicitly homoerotic statues and paintings—sculptures of nude, muscular men all over the place. I also noticed that all the people on stage where Ted would preach were young men—not a female in sight. I was later told that Ted picked out all the art work and the final decision as to who was on stage lay with him.

After J0nes read reports of Father Kevin J. Gray. the Connecticut priest who is facing trial over allegations that he had stolen $1,3 million from his parish to pay for high living and hustlers in New York, he wrote at the Daily Beast that based on his extensive experience, a sizeable proportion of men hiring prostitutes are clergy. Thinking about it, this doesn't really surprise me. We know that priests after all are no more than human, and that a significant proportion of priests are not totally celibate. Some few are lucky enough to negotiate proper, stable relationships - but what, exactly are the options for a priest who is closeted? Some discreet toe tapping in a toilet cubicle, and run the risk of being rumbled, like Larry Craig? Late night cruising in the park?

No, there are sound reasons for thinking that some priests may see the safest option for some safe sex is just to buy it. There is, however, one major problem. Sex for sale is outside the pay scale for Catholic Priests. (Unlike some other preachers, such as Alan Rekers) . Mike Jones describes one solution.

But more than once I was paid for my services with a handful of crinkled ones and fives. I would think to myself, how could they take from their own church’s collection plate? The answer is simple and sad: addicts will do whatever they need to do to support their habit.

I have written before of the many ways in which the insistence on compulsory celibacy is damaging to our priests - and to their partners, where they are lucky enough to have them. What I hadn't considered, was that it might even lead some to steal from the church.

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A Looming Ecclesiastical Revolution? A Child Abuse Tsunami?

After the flood of revelations over child abuse earlier this year, emerging in country after country to ever greater outrage over abuse, cover-up, and claims of inadequate institutional response, the flow of big, really scandalous news stories has pretty well dried up. There's a limit to just how long the press can continue discussing the precise degree of personal culpability of then Archbishop Ratzinger in Munich, or of Cardinal Ratzinger at the CDF- and a limit to how long readers or television viewers will continue to pay any attention.

Sure, there continues to be a steady trickle of local news stories concerning one or other clergyman being accused or coming to trial, and we now have fresh complaints that the newly released revised guidelines don't do enough, and will be ineffective. I don't believe thought that most Catholics will pay enough attention to these details to be seriously bothered. So does this mean that the whole affair will slowly die a death, with bygones allowed to be bygones, and the present dealt with means that while not perfect, will at least ensure that it is never again quite as bad as it was?

Not a bit of it.

A Looming Ecclesiastical Revolution? A Child Abuse Tsunami?

After the flood of revelations over child abuse earlier this year, emerging in country after country to ever greater outrage over abuse, cover-up, and claims of inadequate institutional response, the flow of big, really scandalous news stories has pretty well dried up. There's a limit to just how long the press can continue discussing the precise degree of personal culpability of then Archbishop Ratzinger in Munich, or of Cardinal Ratzinger at the CDF- and a limit to how long readers or television viewers will continue to pay any attention.

Sure, there continues to be a steady trickle of local news stories concerning one or other clergyman being accused or coming to trial, and we now have fresh complaints that the newly released revised guidelines don't do enough, and will be ineffective. I don't believe thought that most Catholics will pay enough attention to these details to be seriously bothered. So does this mean that the whole affair will slowly die a death, with bygones allowed to be bygones, and the present dealt with means that while not perfect, will at least ensure that it is never again quite as bad as it was?

Not a bit of it.

Why Belgium?

At NCR, John A Dick ( a retired historical theologian and resident of Belgium)_asks the question, "Why should it be Belgium, why has it become the latest location to explode in the clergy sex abuse scandal?"


Exploring the issues, he concludes that there are four contributory factors:

• The authorities have reacted speedily to the matter of child abuse, to which they have been extra sensitive since the Marc Dutroux affair.
• Today, there is a growing demand for transparency.
• There is an intense awareness of the state of the church across Europe, and the intense scrutiny of the church everywhere on matters of abuse.
• The person of Cardinal Godfried Danneels, former archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels, who Dick suggests is the subject of a personal vendetta by "certain persons", who are said to be using the abuse problem in the church to besmirch his reputation. For what reason, the post does not make clear.

(Read the full analysis at NCR)

Vatican 13 Years Late With UN Child Rights Report

If you want rights, you must accept responsibilities. If the Vatican wants to be taken seriously as a genuine independent state, it must behave like a state. The Vatican claims representation at the UN, a status that brings with it obligations to comply with reporting requirements on a wide range of matters pertinent to global concerns. One one of these, the Vatican has neglected these obligations for thirteen years! Is is a co-incidence that the subject is child rights?

This neglect is not mere oversight. They have had repeated reminders, and officials assured the UN last year that completion of the report was imminent. But still - there is not yet any sign of a report appearing. It may be some small consolation that they are not alone. The only other states that have not yet submitted reports are   St. Kitts and Nevis and five Pacific minnow states - the Cook Islands, Nauru, Niue, Tuvalu and Tonga.

These AP news extracts are via CBS News, where you can read the full report: