WORLD NEWS HEADLINES
Gay Priests
Recent revelations of pedophilia in Boston and Florida by priests have shocked North American Catholics. Over seventy million people are adherents to the Catholic religion in this part of the world. Now a pall of doubt has settled on many practitioners as details of gross misconduct between priests and young males in their local churches appears in the headlines of national publications.
The Vatican has responded by stating that gay men should not be ordained to the priesthood. However, reports have surfaced regarding whole sub-communities of gays within the priesthood.
The financial implications are staggering. It is estimated that the cost to settle the current cases will exceed $100 million dollars. These payments do not address the real problem of homosexual behavior that has sadly been kept under wraps by the Catholic Church. Short of public disclosure, the church has been many times merely transferring problem priests to other areas–only to have the same problems repeated.
In cannot be doubted that the teaching of mandatory celebacy for the priesthood has been a contributing factor to the problems that have now been made manifest (Cp. 1 Timothy 4:3, where Paul does not approve of those who hold doctrines which include “forbidding to marry.”)
