I find it interesting that all the sexual abuse is done exclusively by pedophiles, seemingly a heterosexual malady. Are we to believe that not one case of sexual misconduct can be attributed to a single homosexual priest? There are anywhere from 8,000 to 22,000 homosexual priests. If the priesthood is made up of such a high percentage of homosexuals, then it stands to reason that at least a high percentage of the church's so-called pedophile problem is really a homosexual problem.

The church's unbiblical, illogical, and irrational policy that priests must not marry and remain celibate is being blamed for the sexual scandal. Such an argument is off the mark. Has anyone noticed that the priests aren't, in 95 percent of reported cases, having sex with teenage girls? The male priests are having sex with young male parishioners. The problem of sex abuse is not because of celibacy; it's homosexuality. Homosexual men are becoming priests because that's where young, impressionable, and vulnerable boys are found. Of course, the idea that priests should remain unmarried is a religious fiction given that priests in the Old Testament were married and had children (Ex. 6:23), and Peter, the supposed first pope, was also married (Matt. 8:14; 1 Cor. 9:5; cf. 1 Tim. 3:4–5).

The Roman Catholic Church has had a difficult time recruiting men to the priesthood. Homosexuals see this as an opportunity. Why not go where there's an almost unlimited supply of young boys whose parents consider priests to be god-like? Are we surprised that the Boy Scouts have also become a target of homosexuals? Once again, it's where boys can be found for recruitment purposes. Liberals attack the Scouts for not opening its leadership ranks to admitted homosexuals, while these same critics attack the Catholic Church for giving "pedophile priests" easy access to children of the same age. Catholics are taught that priests and nuns are spiritually special and set apart for God's work. I can still remember sitting in my fifth grade class at St. Germaine's Catholic School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, when Father Hugo would enter the class. Sister Mary Josephine would always ask, "Who wants to be a priest when he grows up?" Only one boy, my best friend at the time, Salvatore LaMarca, refused to raise his hand. Of course we wanted to be a priest. Being a priest was a one-way ticket to heaven. It was like getting a "Get out of Hell Free" card.

Devout families-and predator priests frequently chose their victims from the most ardent parishioners-had been taught for generations to exalt, respect and trust priests. Who could imagine dear Father Tim-who came to dinner, played with the kids, counseled mom, acted like a dad-would do something so sinful? Doubting the priest would cost you your spiritual security.2

It's no accident that early Hollywood designated the priest as the most trusted of film characters. Spencer Tracy, Bing Crosby, and Pat O'Brien made their careers with movies like Angels with Dirty Faces, Boys Town, Going My Way, and The Bells of St. Mary's. Every parish dreamed of having a Father Flanagan for its priest or a priest who just looked like Pat O'Brien. Notice that almost in every case the priest was a friend and confidant to young boys. It came with the territory. Parents always knew their children were safe with a priest.

Film-making in the early years was nearly dominated by Jews, as Neal Gabler describes in his highly informative book An Empire of Their Own: How the Jews Invented Hollywood. Even so, Catholic clergy were almost universally depicted as decent and caring spiritual leaders. Louis B. Mayer "was a close friend and a great admirer of New York's Cardinal Spellman, with whom he dined every time he visited New York, and a large portrait of Spellman in his red vestments was the first sight that greeted visitors to Mayer's library."3 It was the church's "respectability" that impressed Mayer. "If a character appeared on screen wearing a clerical collar it served as a sure sign that the audience was supposed to like him."4 Toby Westerman reports, "A gay culture is growing among clergy of the American Catholic Church that receives support from members of the hierarchy as well as from those directly involved in the training of priests, according to a Catholic priest-theologian."5 The Vatican has found it nearly impossible to police its seminaries. Much of the problem is a lack of will and fear of a backlash from an already depleted clergy. There has been a redirection of focus from a discussion of homosexuality to pedophilia, a nearly universally despised predatory behavior. The charge of pedophilia is being used as a smoke screen by homosexuals to fly under the sexual radar. While the general public excoriates the pedophiles among us, the homosexuals go merrily along debauching young men in the name of sexual tolerance.

In the April 1, 2002 issue of U.S. News & World Report, homosexuality was mentioned only once in the eight-page article on the Catholic sex crisis. Rev. Joel Garner, pastor of a Catholic church in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is quick to point out in the article that "the pedophilia problem has nothing to do with celibacy or homosexuality."6 Throughout the article, the sex scandal is called a "sex-abuse scandal," "youth-sex-abuse," "sexual misconduct," "predatory sexual behavior," but never a homosexual problem. Author Marianne Szegedy-Maszak, confuses the readers of U.S. News even more (on purpose?) when she reports, "Despite the common image of a priest sodomizing a 9-year-old altar boy, most of the priest abusers are technically 'ephebophiles'-that is, they abuse adolescents rather than children."7 In any other dictionary, the description of an ephebophile would be a practicing predatory homosexual.

The article begs the question. It's not just "adolescents" who the priests are abusing, it's adolescent boys. If pedophilia is the problem, then why aren't the priests having sex with young girls in the church? The church is covering up its crisis to save its reputation, and it's no less true that thesereporters are covering up for the homosexual rights movement. John Leo, an editorial writer for U.S. News, touches on the real issue when he writes that true pedophiles are rare, and the super majority of the priests involved in this sex crisis are not pedophiles. "But the church is reluctant to mention the distinction," Leo writes, "most likely because opening up the issue of sexually active gay priests is itself explosive, even apart from charges of abuse."

The homosexual lobby is so powerful and intimidating that almost no one wants to suffer from its unbridled wrath. So for cover, the priests are charged with pedophilia in order to hide the fact that homosexuality is the real culprit.

Notes

1.Cathy Lynn Grossman, "Hot under the collar: Gay Catholics angry, say they've been singled out," USA Today (April 25, 2002), 9D.

2 Johanna McGeary, "Can the Church Be Saved?," Time (April 1, 2002), 31.

3 Neal Gabler, An Empire of Their Own: How the Jews Invented Hollywood (New York: Crown Publishers, 1988), 285.

4 Michael Medved, Hollywood VS. America: Popular Culture and the War on Traditional Values (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1992), 51. Roman Catholic and Episcopalian clergymen (e.g., Life with Father and The Bisho's Wife) were most often chosen to represent the church because they were easily identified because of their clerical garb, most specifically a special collar. Most Protestant clergymen wear no special attire. They generally look like businessmen.

5 Toby Westerman, "Suffer the Children: 'Gay' culture in Catholic Church grows Priest says scandal really about homosexuality, not pedophilia," World Net Daily (March 24, 2002).

6 Angie Cannon and Jeffery L. Sheler, "Catholicsin Crisis," U.S. News & World Report (April 1, 2002), 57.

7 Marianne Szegedy-Maszak, AChastity and lust: Is there a psychological link between sexuality, celibacy, and predation?," 55.

8 John Leo, "Of rage and revolution," 12.

---Gary DeMar is the President of American Vision.