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Catholic Church Talks Abuse, Gay Marriage


PRIESTS X390 (GETTY) | ADVOCATE.COM

The Catholic Church renounced the myth that gay priests abuse children more than straight priests, while still affirming that marriage should be defined as a union between one man and one woman at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops meeting in Baltimore on Tuesday.

A preliminary report commissioned by America’s Roman Catholic Bishops released on Tuesday finds no evidence that gay priests are more likely to abuse children.

Researcher Margaret Smith of John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York said the study so far has found no connection between being gay and an increased likelihood of abuse, reports the Associated Press.

Questions about any link had been raised widely in the church because most of the known victims were boys.

Gay advocates and many experts on child sex abuse have long held that there is no link.

The ongoing study is looking at what led to the clergy sex abuse crisis. The final report is expected at the end of next year.

Also during the meeting, the nation's bishops reiterated that the Catholic Church will continue to define marriage as a union between one man and one woman and assert that sex is meant for procreation.

In a pastoral letter on the issue, the AP reports, the bishops claim that redefining marriage to allow same-sex unions would damage the common good and would ignore the proper role of husbands and wives.

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Reader Comments
  • Name: jg
    Date posted: 11/26/2009 4:45:16 PM
    Hometown: victoria

    Comment:

    This is beside the point to what the Church is saying. Obviously, emotionally, sexually immature men will perform abberant and even deviant behavior such as abusing kids and homosexual acts. It can be argued that people who identify themselves as gay started out the same way but never matured out of homosexual behavior.

  • Name: Harvard
    Date posted: 11/18/2009 5:44:50 AM
    Hometown: Cambridge, MA

    Comment:

    THEY ARE SO RETRO AND RETARD!!!!!

  • Name: Paul
    Date posted: 11/17/2009 11:09:37 PM
    Hometown: Dallas

    Comment:

    By admitting what we already knew about abuse some American bishop's shot at getting the call-up to Vatican City just took a turn for the worse. Just goes to show why science is so dangerous!

  • Name: Is it time to do it yet?
    Date posted: 11/17/2009 9:45:58 PM
    Hometown: Missionarystyle

    Comment:

    Mark, the Catholic teaching that sex is for procreation is much more far-reaching than you think. Yes, the church should oppose marriage for infertile or elderly heterosexuals who can't procreate as you say, BUT, they should also, to be consistent. oppose ALL sex between fertile heterosexual couples, unless done for the purpose of procreation! The church teaching is very clear: its wrong to use birth control pills & condoms because that would be sex without intent to procreate (a sin, obviously). But they've been hypocritical about something and someone ought to call them on it. The church says its ok to plan sex for a woman's infertile time of month & avoid sex at other times, but isn't that birth control? Isn't that a sin too? Isn't that just a calculated act of sexual intercourse (dithgusting!) with the express intent of NOT procreating? Isn't saying that that's ok just a hot, steaming pile of hypocritical bullshit? Perhaps there's a theologian out there who can help clear this up?

  • Name: newz4i
    Date posted: 11/17/2009 6:57:32 PM
    Hometown: Phoenix

    Comment:

    Pedophilia drained the Catholic Church of 100s of millions of dollars. Catholic Bishops' homilies against same-sex marriage during their mass hauls back 100s of millions. (Explain this to your Catholic family and friends)

  • Name: Jason
    Date posted: 11/17/2009 6:48:59 PM
    Hometown: Buffalo

    Comment:

    The Catholic Church is fighting to prevent non-Catholics from getting married. It is about imposing their will on all citizens.

  • Name: Mark
    Date posted: 11/17/2009 6:40:02 PM
    Hometown: Tesuque

    Comment:

    Okie dokie, time to pull this one out of the hat and have the 'church' explain it to me - very very carefully..."Jesus affirmed a gay couple" -- a reference to the gospel story of Jesus healing the "servant" of a Roman soldier (his male lover, according to some biblical scholars) -- and "Ruth loved Naomi as Adam loved Eve." Sound familiar you religious bigots? And get your effing nose out of government - Marriage IS a civil contract. All you do is blow smoke and say some fancy words around it but what happens in your church has no legal bearing upon marriage. And, using procreation as an argument; that means my parents who are in the 90's should no longer be able to be married, or my aunt who is 83 can't marry the man she's dating because he's 81 and they can't procreate. Sheesh.......

  • Name: ludwig
    Date posted: 11/17/2009 6:15:59 PM
    Hometown: greenville

    Comment:

    No one ever said that all priests are pedophiles just as no one has said that all priests have mistresses (as some do) or some are secretly married. The church needs to leave the United States Goverrnment and its states alone. They are violating the Separation of Church and State and seem to be getting away with it--we have only to look at Maine and California. It was the Catholic Church who led the fight to ban gay people's civil right just as they did the Jews during Nazi Germany---yes it was the Catholic Church that did this--just as they boiled alive people during the Spanish Inquistion which Napoleon stopped. WAKE UP PEOPLE----you are not going to have any rights left except what the Catholic Church, the Mormons and Southern Baptists tell you that you can have. WILL SOME ONE STAND UP AND ENFORCE THE LAWS AGAINST CHURCHES INFLUENCING STATES AND GETTING IN BED WITH STATE BESIDES ME? WE HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE FREE OF RELIGION AND ITS INFLUENCE BUT THAT IS SELDOM BROUTH TO FORE.

  • Name: Kevin
    Date posted: 11/17/2009 4:53:10 PM
    Hometown: Ft. Myers

    Comment:

    IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS THINK. THIS IS ABOUT SECULAR LAW, NOT YOUR DAMN FAIRY TALES. JESUS F**KING CHRIST.



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