Some Catholic bishops state orientation has no connection to child sexual abuse
In an interesting development today the Secretary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales issued a statement making clear that in England and Wales, the Roman Catholic church recognizes the sexual orientation has nothing to do with pedophilia. Not surprising, but the timing of the statement is interesting.
The statement reads in part:
"To the best of my knowledge, there is no empirical data which concludes that sexual orientation is connected to child sexual abuse.The consensus among researchers is that the sexual abuse of children is not a question of sexual ‘orientation’, whether heterosexual or homosexual, but of a disordered attraction or ‘fixation’.
Many abusers of children have never developed the capacity for mature adult relationships. Instead, their sexual attractions focus on children – boys, girls, or both.
In the sexual abuse of children the issue is the sexual fixation of the abusers and not their sexual orientation."
This isn't terribly surprising in and of itself. It represents the mainstream opinion on the question. But the release today does raise an eyebrow. Because yesterday a high-ranking official of the Roman Catholic Church said just the opposite:
Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican's secretary of state, made the comments during a news conference Monday in Chile, where one of the church's highest-profile pedophile cases involves a priest having sex with young girls."Many psychologists and psychiatrists have demonstrated that there is no relation between celibacy and pedophilia. But many others have demonstrated, I have been told recently, that there is a relation between homosexuality and pedophilia. That is true," said Bertone. "That is the problem."
This suggests to me that the closer church leaders are to regular pastoral ministry, the more likely they are to have a clear understanding of the issues involved, whereas the more isolated they are in the higher reaches of the hierarchy (Roman or any other), the more fantastic and self-serving their vision becomes.
Come to think of it, that's true in politics, too. (Does the term "beltway" strike a familiar note?)
Posted by Bill Moorhead![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.episcopalcafe.com/lead/nav-commenters.gif)
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April 14, 2010 11:00 AM
Bill, I think you are right on target here. It is absolutely disgraceful that the Vatican would attempt to delude Catholics to believe that pedophiles are homosexuals. Pedophiles are abusers and abuse the weak and the vulnerable. Some fixate on children.
Of course, until relatively recently the only access to children that priests had were boys since they were the altar boys and in the choir. Had girls always been permitted to serve in the same way as boys, no doubt we would have seen girls also being victimized.
Posted by SisterGloriamarie![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.episcopalcafe.com/lead/nav-commenters.gif)
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April 14, 2010 12:46 PM
Many abusers of children have never developed the capacity for mature adult relationships. Instead, their sexual attractions focus on children – boys, girls, or both.
Reading between the lines on this statement, it's really quite extraordinary.
In contrasting orientation w/ pedophilia, the English&Welsh RC bishops are admitting two things:
1) that people w/ either heterosexual OR homosexual orientation HAVE "developed the capacity for mature adult relationships" (which for the latter, sharply contrasts w/ the ruling that it is "intrinsically disordered") and
2) Taking away the current (wildly popular, among 'phobes) talking point of mere "same-sex attractions". No, "attractions" are what pedophiles have: homosexuals have an orientation, capable of... (see #1)
I wonder: is it because the English & Welsh RC bishops have a much greater tradition of being in the minority (Yes, I know there are more practicing RCs than Anglicans there now), that they deliberately avoided the GROSS circle-the-wagons defensiveness ("Boycott the NY Times!"), ENTITLEMENT and faux-victimization attitudes, that we see in the US, Irish, and (most of all!) Vatican hierarchies?
JC Fisher
Posted by tgflux![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.episcopalcafe.com/lead/nav-commenters.gif)
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April 14, 2010 4:03 PM